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Author Archive | Michael Rikon

February 10, 2020

How’s the Wall Going?

Texas           In Texas, the U.S.-Mexico Border is a river, and 95 percent of the adjoining land is privately owned.  Anywhere Trump builds his wall in Texas, he’ll have to wrench land from farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs and deeply rooted Hispanic families.  Just downriver from the target land, for example, lies a stretch that includes an RV park frequented by Winter Texans, a bar and grill that offers river cruises, and the historic La Lomita chapel.  No construction contract has been awarded there yet, but the feds expect to do so… read more

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Posted in Historic Monuments, Native American Sites, Trump's Wall, Uncategorized
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February 3, 2020

CHANGES TO SIGNAGE AND SEATING IN PRIVATELY OWNED PUBLIC SPACES

          In an excellent article written by Kramer Levin Naftalis and Frankel LLP, we are advised that the New York City Council recently adopted a zoning text that updates public space signage and seating regulations at privately owned public spaces (POPS) like plazas, arcades, sidewalk widenings and other public accessible spaces.  These spaces are usually created by a variance or floor area bonus.           The new ordinance also applies to seating including benches, movable chairs and seat walls.  The tables and chairs must be available to the public without restriction… read more

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Posted in POPS, Public Sign Requirements, Seating in POPS, Uncategorized
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January 27, 2020

REDEVELOPMENT: HOW DOES AN OWNER STAND ITS GROUND?

          This article is written from the New York State perspective.  There are factors in play in New York which are very different from the remainder of the country.  First, Kelo v City of New London, 545 US 469 (2005) hardly presented a shock to the New York condemnation bar.  New York’s law was always, and still is, decidedly slanted towards condemnors.  Secondly, redevelopment never stopped.  There was never any recession impact on redevelopment. Authorizing and Challenging the Condemnation Article 2 of New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law sets forth… read more

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Posted in Contesting a Taking, Redevelopment, Uncategorized
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January 21, 2020

How to Value Contaminated Land

          This Appellate Division, in Matter of City of New York v Mobil Oil Corp., 12 AD3d 77 (2d Dept, 2004), a case of first impression in New York, held that the most efficacious way to acknowledge that land may be contaminated in an eminent domain proceeding is to value the condemned property as if remediated, but to hold in escrow any condemnation award pending the outcome of the Navigation Law proceeding.[1]  This court stated, [B]y excluding evidence of remediation costs in an eminent domain proceeding, the potential that the… read more

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Posted in Contaminated Land, Uncategorized, Valuing Contaminated Land
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January 14, 2020

Creative Approaches to Solving Difficult Appraisal Problems

          We start any evaluation of a parcel which has been taken by the exercise of eminent domain by the application of the overriding principal of the concept of highest and best use.           The concept of highest and best use is well founded in appraisal practice.  Regardless of whether property has been condemned, in valuing any parcel of real estate an appraiser must make a highest and best use of the land analysis as though the property were vacant and as though it were improved.  This is an essential… read more

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Posted in Highest and Best Use, Uncategorized, Unusual Land
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