Criteria for Valuation of Vacant Land Explained

The Second Department determined Supreme Court properly valued the condemned vacant land. Supreme Court rejected the village’s contention that Supreme Court had improperly incorporated the enhancement of value resulting from the inclusion of the property in the village’s urban redevelopment plan. The court explained the criteria for determining the value of vacant land:

In a case involving the taking of property, “[t]he measure of damages must reflect the fair market value of the property in its highest and best use on the date of the taking, regardless of whether the property is being put to such use at the time” … .Where an increment is added to the value of vacant land to reflect its development potential, “the specific increment which is selected and applied must be based on sufficient evidence and be satisfactorily explained” … . Moreover “[i]t is … necessary to show that there is a reasonable possibility that the property’s highest and best asserted use could or would have been made within the reasonably near future, and a use which is no more than a speculative or hypothetical arrangement may not be accepted as the basis for an award” … .”[A] condemnee may not receive an enhanced value for its property where the enhancement is due to the property’s inclusion within a redevelopment plan” … . Thus, for example, property zoned for industrial use “should be valued in accordance with the industrial zoning designation which would apply if the redevelopment plan did not exist,” for “[a] condemnee is only entitled to compensation for what it has lost, not for what the condemnor has gained”… . Matter of Village of Haverstraw (AAA Electricians Inc), 2014 NY Slip Op 01332, 2nd Dept 2-26-14