Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
22 <br /> 1 In Chapel Hill, we seem to value our privacy, our views, our aesthetics, more than some <br /> 2 other areas of the state. Chapel Hill is not Burlington, where there is industrial and commercial <br /> 3 development everywhere. Chapel Hill is - prides itself on maintaining wooded areas, natural <br /> 4 areas. It is more valuable in Chapel Hill than anywhere else to maintain a beautiful view. <br /> 5 Buyers will pay a premium for lots or homes with views of golf courses, or lakes, or mountains, <br /> 6 or anything that's pretty to look at— a meadow. That view over there is very gorgeous. It's very <br /> 7 serene. It's very pretty. I estimated the value of their property with the 2 acres, their home, <br /> 8 which is about 2200 square feet, built in 1990, in its existing condition and its existing view, to <br /> 9 be $365,000. I then went back and re-evaluated, using some of the same and some different <br /> 10 comps to estimate what would that property be worth with the second view in the backyard, <br /> 11 taking away the value of that view. And I came up with $330,000. That is a 10 percent decline <br /> 12 in value for that particular property. I did the same thing with the lot, the vacant lot, and I <br /> 13 estimated the value of that lot with the view to be $95,000 as it currently is. I estimated the view <br /> 14 — I mean excuse me, the property with the solar farm view, as of the same day, to be $62,000. <br /> 15 That's roughly a 35 percent decline in value. That is a vacant lot. It's gonna—the external <br /> 16 obsolescence is going to impose a higher penalty on the vacant land than it does the total <br /> 17 property. And then I believe my support has been submitted, both before and after, for both <br /> 18 properties, and it was specific to the Cantwell's house. I didn't do an appraisal of any other <br /> 19 property—just that property. <br /> 20 <br /> 21 David Rooks: Mrs. Davis, did you use the term external obsolescence? <br /> 22 <br /> 23 Pam Davis: Yes. <br /> 24 <br /> 25 David Rooks: And would you explain to the board what that means. <br /> 26 <br /> 27 Pam Davis: External obsolescence is an effect on a value of a property from something <br /> 28 outside the property. Again, it could be anything. It could be - It could be anything. It could be <br /> 29 a highway. It could be a power line. It could be a sewer plant, noise, view. It creates a <br /> 30 negative impact on property value, but it isn't on the property itself. It's adjacent. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 David Rooks: So that's a term used in the appraisal business for something external to the <br /> 33 property that has an impact on value. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 Pam Davis: Yes. <br /> 36 <br /> 37 David Rooks: Mrs. Davis, did you have occasion to form an opinion as to whether the use, as <br /> 38 proposed by the applicant - and you have heard their application, read their application and <br /> 39 heard their testimony tonight— Did you form an opinion as to whether the use as proposed, of <br /> 40 the adjacent property for a solar farm, would maintain or enhance the value of the contiguous <br /> 41 property that you appraised? <br /> 42 <br /> 43 Pam Davis: I have. <br /> 44 <br /> 45 David Rooks: And what is that opinion? <br /> 46 <br /> 47 Pam Davis: As I stated on this particular property I thought it was a 10 percent negative effect <br /> 48 on the home with the 2 acres and a 35 percent effect on the vacant lot. <br /> 49 <br /> 50 David Rooks: Is it your opinion that the use as proposed, if it were installed, would not <br /> 51 enhance or maintain the value of the contiguous property? <br />