Principle, not money, is the reason David Segura is holding out on selling his two Arroyo Seco properties to the state Highway Department.
“For me it’s a fairness issue,” Segura said.
Segura said he is not fundamentally opposed to the $3 per foot the Department is offering to pay for roughly 6,700 square feet of his two properties. That price, which according to documents and property owners’ accounts is the standard sum the state is offering for right-of-way purchases on this Highway 84/285 reconstruction project, amounts to $130,680 an acre.
“That’s actually an OK price,” Segura said.
But one thing that irks Segura is that the Department is offering him the exact same price as other property owners along the highway — though their properties are zoned residential or agricultural, while his land has a more sought-after commercial zoning.
“This is unlimited commercial,” Segura said. “You could have anything on here. A store, anything. This house, it was a bar for a while, back in the day.”
What’s worse, his properties will be close to useless for commercial purposes if he sells the easement, and Segura claims the Department is playing foul to avoid properly indemnifying him.
The Department is in the process of buying frontage property from Segura and 41 other property owners along Highway 84/285 between Pojoaque and Española, where the Department has already kicked off a $68 million reconstruction project (see sidebar). The Department plans to use part of Segura’s properties for a planned frontage road between Arroyo Seco and the Pojoaque Pueblo.
Segura owns a home and rents space to businesses on two adjacent, 0.764-acre properties off the southbound lanes of Highway 84/285, just north of the Pueblo. Until recently, he leased to Zia Factory Outlets, which sold trailers from one his properties. Now he has plans to build an office there and lease to a car dealership.
However, if Segura accepts the Department’s offer, it would shrink each of his lots to less than 0.75 acres — the minimum lot size Santa Fe County requires for new construction. That would dash Segura’s plans for building an office there. It would also make it harder for him to sell his properties separately, because the future owner could not build on them.
In its offer, the Department treats Segura’s two properties as a single, 1.528-acre lot, which would make it harder for Segura to argue that the state is obligated to buy both properties instead of just taking a portion of each property.
This contradicts documents on file with Santa Fe County and the Department.
A warranty deed on file with the County clerk describes Segura’s property as two separate lots. So do the Department’s own right-of-way maps.
Segura argues the Department should purchase both properties outright rather than leave him with two lots that would be too small for business purposes. Short of that, Segura has asked the Department to at least leave intact a driveway on each of the two properties.
The Department has denied his request for two driveways, arguing that because he only owns one property, he should only get one driveway, Segura said.
Segura said that will cripple his business.
Joe C. Diaz, an Albuquerque lawyer who specializes in condemnation law, said a property owner like Segura could force the Department to buy both properties if he can prove in court that selling to the state would irreparably harm his property.
“Say you’re taking my property, and I can show that what you’re taking doesn’t leave me enough land to use the property for what its best suited for, the court can make you buy it all,” Diaz said.
Diaz said the zoning, too, could give someone like Segura a foothold in court — provided an appraiser can show his commercial property is worth more than what the state is offering him.
Department spokesman S.U. Mahesh declined to comment on Segura’s situation.
Segura said he received a letter from the Department last week saying it intended to file condemnation proceedings against him.
State eminent domain law allows the Department to condemn through court order the property of land owners who refuse to sell during “good faith” negotiations with the state. Generally, the purpose of a condemnation proceeding is to debate how much the owner should receive in compensation from the state.
Segura is among 12 property owners who have so far refused to strike a bargain with the state. The Department has already filed condemnation proceedings on six properties, and continues to negotiate with Segura and five others. By holding out, Segura is now in the company of Speaker of the House Ben Lujan (D-Nambé), whose land the state is also trying to acquire (see related story in the city section of this web site).