Criteria for Valuation of a Partial Taking of Vacant Land Explained

The Second Department determined the valuation of a partial taking of vacant land (the value before minus the value after the taking based on the highest and best use of the land)  was flawed and remitted the matter for a new valuation.  The decision is detailed and fact-specific and therefore is not fully summarized here.  The court explained some of the most significant valuation criteria, noting that any comparable sales considered in the valuation must be similar in character to the subject land (not so here):

When private property is taken for public use, the condemning authority must “compensate the owner so that he may be put in the same relative position, insofar as this is possible, as if the taking had not occurred'” … . Where, as here, there is a partial taking of real property, “the measure of damages is the difference between the value of the whole before the taking and the value of the remainder after the taking” … . “The 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”… . The determination of highest and best use must be based upon evidence of a use which reasonably could or would be made of the property in the near future … . Matter of County of Orange v Monroe Bakertown Rd. Realty, Inc., 2015 NY Slip Op 06143, 2nd Dept 7-15-15