A Virginia land owner wants to know how two properties next door to each other could be appraised so differently. The spot where property owner Tony Goodwin once owned property now is covered by concrete as the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) took his land to make way for a new extension.
Goodwin owned 0.3 acres, he told WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Va. A portion of the land was zoned commercial, the rest residential. His neighbor’s much smaller land also was being taken. VDOT did an appraisal on both properties. His neighbor settled with the traffic organization, but Goodwin thought his land was more valuable than what VDOT offered. A jury sided with him, but wanted to know the appraisal on his neighbor’s land. It was a document VDOT refused to give up.
Goodwin took VDOT to court and the judge agreed that his neighbor’s appraisal is public record. Goodwin’s land was valued at half of the land next door.
“How can the dirt next door be worth $6 a square foot and Goodwin’s dirt be worth $3?” Attorney Jeremy Hopkins said to WAVY-TV. “We still haven’t gotten an answer.”