Ski valley resident questions gondola property valuation

Suggests swapping 4.4-acre lot for new firehouse

Although the next Village of Taos Ski Valley Planning and Zoning Commission meeting isn’t slated to take place until Feb. 6, one ski valley resident gave the commission’s members — and ski valley voters — some food for thought at the Village Council’s regular meeting Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 27).

Mike Fitzpatrick and other ski valley residents have been collecting signatures to support a request that the village hold a referendum, in which the village’s voters would decide whether or not the village will follow through on its planned purchase of a $2.5-million, 6,000-square-foot three-bay garage space to house its fire department. The space comprises most of the ground floor in a new Taos Ski Valley, Inc. office building being constructed on Firehouse Road.

Fitzpatrick told councilors during public comments in Tuesday’s meeting that voters should be given the opportunity to consider whether a trade for — rather than the purchase of — the new firehouse space might be in the best interests of the village. His proposed trade revolves around Taos Ski Valley Inc.’s request to purchase 4.4 acres of land for $90,000 from the Village of Taos Ski Valley for a planned gondola project — a request that was rejected by the village Planning and Zoning Commission in a 4-3 vote at its Nov. 14 meeting.

Fitzpatrick and others believe the property’s valuation was exceedingly low. The appraisals of the 4.4-acre parcels did not take into account the value of “avoided cost,” for example, which would calculate the expense of purchasing another property — and even rerouting the proposed gondola — if the desired property simply isn’t available.

“I’d like to request that the staff and administration consider the following quick questions to be placed upon the referendum: a trade between TSVI and the village for the gondola [land] parcel, which with a proper appraisal would be valued somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-5 million, for the [new] firehouse, which with a proper appraisal would be valued somewhere between $1.5 and $2.5 million,” Fitzpatrick, who spent years working as a master appraiser, said. “The straight-across trade would take a lot of pressure off the village; it would be fair. And, because of the ranges employed, would meet the requirements of state statute.

“Most appraisers know that ranges are the only reasonable way of performing an appraisal,” Fitzpatrick continued. “An exact number, you know, at least when I was trained, was not the way appraisals were to be done. But in any event, I’d like that to be placed on the referendum to put the options to the citizens to empower the village to negotiate.”

There was no discussion of a possible real estate swap or the proposed referendum during Tuesday’s meeting, but Councilor Henry Caldwell told the Taos News that it’s important to get the valuation right if the village is going to again consider either selling the 4.4-acre property outright or selling the ski corporation a right-of-way through it.

“The proper valuation on something like that can get complicated,” Caldwell said. “Market value is one valuation method, but what I remember from many decades ago is that you have to have willing buyer and willing seller — both properly informed — to come up with a value.

“We should look at everything,” Caldwell added. “If the village is going to sell an asset, we need to make sure we get a proper valuation on it, so everything is known.”