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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO LOCAL BOARD OF APPEAL AND EQUALIZATION MEETING <br />Wednctday, April 23,2003 <br />7:00 o’clock p.in. <br />White agreed that the house was spectacular and had been written up in several publications. He <br />thought that, surely, the house alone would be worth at least $500,000. <br />Woodhouse reiterated that, clearly, the house was worth more than the land. He felt that the values <br />that would be appropriate to his parcels would be $775,000 and $1,000,000 respectively. <br />Murphy asked his plans to develop the properties. <br />Woodhouse thought he might consider building on one of the sites and had no plans for the other. <br />Jensen stated that, generally in Orono, 2 acre sites sell for $350,000 to $450,000 in that portion of <br />town. <br />Wynn observed that the vacant site is a beautiful park-like setting. <br />Sansevere suggested Woodhouse take the appeal to the next level, in the hopes that the County <br />might have people on staff to assign more value to an architecnirally significant home. <br />Moorse was unaware whether the County had knowledgeable people on staff with regard to <br />historical significance, and suggested the applicant get an appraisal done by his own experts as <br />well. <br />Sansevere was hesitant to assign an arbitrary number to the value and suggested Woodhouse <br />acquire a copy of the neighbor’s appraisal and use that if possible. <br />Woodhouse maintained that the other neighboring parcels have sold for roughly $500,000, which <br />would not be an arbitrary number to assign to the values of his parcels. <br />Murphy complimented Mr. Woodhouse for his representation of his property and felt this was too <br />subjective a matter for them, with high values at stake, to make arbitrary judgments. He suggested <br />that the owner pursue his own resources. <br />Woodhouse asked, rather than going to great expense of hiring experts, whether they could come to <br />some sort of compromise. <br />Sansevere felt he could support the $775,000 figure. <br />Although he felt the house was undervalued versus the lot. White indicated that he could support a <br />compromise of $775,000 as well. <br />Jensen suggested that they not make a decision that night and further discuss this at the reconvened <br />meeting of May 12, which would allow her time to check for experts available at the County level <br />that could review the home. She reminded the Council that, technically, the burden of proof lies <br />with the owner. <br />Sansevere indicated that it would be to the owner’s advantage to pursue his own experts and <br />appraisals. <br />PAGE 4 of 6 <br />- >