Haigis Parkway property owner Linwood Higgins is suing the town of Scarborough over a $1.4 million assessment and subsequent lien the town has placed on his land.
The assessment stems from utility improvements the town undertook on Haigis Parkway. The $10 million project brought water and sewer to the area and, town officials believe, made the area better suited and more desirable for future development.
To pay for the project the town created a TIF district and also assessed the 24 Haigis Parkway property owners $5 million, which will provide the town with some cash flow until the TIF begins generating revenue.
In the suit filed on May 3, Higgins argues that the lien and the assessment disproportionately burdens his property compared to other properties and exceeds the added value of the utilities.
The assessment and lien “embodies a plan by the Town of Scarborough to benefit other private property owners of Town of Scarborough at the expense of plaintiff’s property,” the suit reads.
Higgins is asking that the lien and the assessment be voided, and asks the court to issue prohibit the town from attempting to enforce the lien or imposing any interest for nonpayment of the assessment. Finally, he is requesting that the lien be withdrawn.
“They weren’t consistent,” Higgins said. “They assessed my property for land outside of the Haigis Parkway Zone, yet they didn’t assess Scarborough Downs for land outside of the Haigis Parkway Zone.”
Higgins also claims there is at least one property abutting Haigis Parkway that was not assessed. In addition, he said the assessments do not calculate the number of wetlands on this property, which he estimates is about 60 percent.
“For whatever reason no consideration was given for property that wasn’t buildable, usable or inaccessible,” he said.
Higgins also is disputing the timing of the collections. He said the ordinance states the money should be collected once the project is done, which he said has not happened. Higgins has received a notice from the town outlining the payment process and other background information regarding the assessment and the improvements.
“I don’t think it is in effect,” he said.
Higgins does not think he will be selling his property anytime in the near future and questions if the added utilities will provide that much added value to the property.
“The land is for sale, is somebody going to buy it, I don’t think so,” he said.
Town Manager Ron Owens believes that Higgins does not like the assessment and feels it is unfair. Owens said the town has not yet developed a strategy on the suit, but said it has done nothing wrong.
“I don’t think it’s founded,” Owens said. “The council has enacted the assessments according to law.”
The assessments are based on a calculation developed by the Haigis Parkway Committee in consultation with property owners. The feees are based on a combination of the amount of square footage per parcel and the amount of road frontage on Haigis Parkway.
Owens said the town did not consider wetlands on the parkway properties unless they were dedicated wetlands. Every property owner in the area has some wetlands on their property and since the town did not survey any propertie, wetlands were not considered, Owens said. The wetlands on Higgins’s property are not significant and can be used with proper mitigation, Owens said.
Owens also said all property that is in the zone was assessed, including Scarborough Downs, which has some property in the zone, although not its entire parcel.
“We didn’t assess property not in the zone,” he said.
During the parkway’s planning process, most of the landowners did express concern about the assessments, but realized their property is worth more with the improvements than without, Owens said, adding the property would be virtually worthless without the new utilities.
“Water and sewer allow them to develop or sell at market rate,” Owens said.
To help negate the impacts of the assessments, the town has allowed property owners to pay in installments ranging from two to four years. For those in especially difficult financial circumstances, owners and the town could agree to a plan that would allow the payments to stretch for up to six years.
The assessments were all levied last year and have not been collected, but the letters have all been mailed out to property owners.
Higgins, through his two companies Three Diamonds Realty and Haigis Parkway LLC, is the largest landowner in the parkway with lots totaling 92 acres, and his $1.4 million assessment is the highest in the area. The next highest assessment is for $840,000 for Glendonna Inc, which owns two parcels totaling 48 acres.
The lien is simply a notification telling potential buyers that there is an assessment against the property. The town anticipates some of the property being sold and wanted to make sure that people purchasing the land were aware of the assessment.
“The lien is to ensure the assessment at some time will be collected,” Owens said.
The work at Haigis Parkway is essentially completed. The only remaining work is the construction of pump stations, which will be concluded in June. But for all intents and purposes the utilities are in operation and a business could develop land today and either end of the road and get sewer and water onto the property, Owens said.
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