Helmick Family Farm, LLC v. Comm'r of Highways

• Decision Date: 29 August 2019
• Docket Number: Record No. 180691
• Citation: 297 Va. 777,832 S.E.2d 1
• Parties: HELMICK FAMILY FARM, LLC v. COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

297 Va. 777

832 S.E.2d 1

HELMICK FAMILY FARM, LLC

v.COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS

Record No. 180691

Supreme Court of Virginia.

August 29, 2019

Michael J. Coughlin (Mathew A. Westover ; Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley & Walsh, on briefs), for appellant.

Nancy C. Auth, Senior Assistant Attorney General (Mark R. Herring, Attorney General; Stephen A. Cobb, Deputy Attorney General; Jeffrey R. Allen, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Andrea A. Adibe, Assistant Attorney General; Robert R. Dively, on brief), for appellee.

PRESENT: All the Justices

OPINION BY JUSTICE STEPHEN R. McCULLOUGH

Condemnation commissioners awarded $22,592 in compensation to the Helmick Family Farm, LLC ("Helmick") for a taking of slightly more than two acres of land, along with some easements. Helmick appeals, contending that it was erroneously prevented from presenting evidence of the reasonable probability of a rezoning and, moreover, that the jury received incorrect instructions. Helmick also argues that the testimony of its representative was improperly restricted. Exclusion of this evidence, Helmick contends, prevented the commissioners from considering probative evidence concerning the land’s fair market value. For the reasons noted below, we reverse the decision of the trial court.

BACKGROUND

Prior to the take, Helmick Family Farm consisted of approximately 168 acres. It is located in Culpeper County. The land is zoned A1 or Agricultural. The land is essentially vacant. As of the date of the take, it was being used for cattle grazing, and for growing hay. There are some businesses nearby, such as auto repair facilities and a mulch processing plant, as well as more vacant land. The farm has some road frontage, about 2,000 linear feet on Poor Farm Road, as well as a "pipestem" that leads to Greens Corner Road.

In order to build a diamond interchange at the intersection of Route 29 and Greens Corner Road, the Commissioner of Highways ("Commissioner") filed a Certificate of Take on August 20, 2014, for a portion of the farm. The Commissioner took 2.155 acres in fee simple with a .198-acre permanent drainage easement, a .318-acre temporary construction easement, and a .078-acre utility easement. Helmick refused the Commissioner’s offer of $20,281, so the Commissioner filed a petition in condemnation in the Circuit Court of Culpeper County.

Helmick planned to introduce testimony from Charles F. Carter, who was previously employed by Culpeper County as the County Planner, a position later renamed Planning Director, to manage the activities of the Office of Planning and Zoning. He currently is the owner of Carter Planning Group, a consulting firm that provides land planning services to public and private clients. In his written report, Carter opined that the parcels taken by the Commissioner had been for many years "planned for commercial/industrial development." He acknowledged the current zoning of the property was Agricultural. No application for rezoning was pending at the time of the take. Carter’s report indicated that "the subject property would be rezoned from A-1 (Agricultural) to LI (Light Industry) if application was made by the landowners." He also would have testified that "[b]ased on the intended commercial/industrial use of the subject property and its association with the adjacent LI and CS parcels, the appropriate zoning designation of the ... parcel is LI (Light Industry)." Carter would have testified that the Board of Supervisors had approved nearly every application for such rezonings between 2006 and 2015.

Helmick obtained an appraisal from Charles T. Dennis. Dennis reviewed the characteristics of the property. He noted its designation as Commercial property in the County’s Comprehensive Plan. The property is also within the Urban Services boundary. Dennis’ report details his conversations with the County’s planning staff, the fact that nearby properties are devoted to commercial services, its proximity to U.S. Routes 15 and 29 and State Route 666, and its proximity to water and sewer services. Dennis concluded that "the highest and best use of the land would be to rezone the 31.5 acres planned for commercial to LI or another commercial zoning district, and hold the remaining 136.9457 acres for investment purposes." He acknowledged that the Helmick property "will need to be rezoned prior to being used for commercial purposes" and that the rezoning process "can be time consuming." Although Dennis used land zoned Light Industrial, Heavy Industrial, or Commercial Service as comparable sales, rather than land zoned Agricultural, he acknowledged in his report that the need to rezone the Helmick land renders it "inferior to the comparable sales that are all zoned industrial or commercial." Therefore, he applied a discount factor to adjust the price of those sales downward. The price of land per acre for comparable sales ranged from $65,000 to $176,906 per acre. Dennis concluded that the Helmick Farm land was worth $130,000 per acre, a value of $280,150, and that the easements and other improvements make the take worth a total of $321,000.

Prior to trial, the Commissioner filed a motion in limine to exclude all evidence concerning "a hypothetical rezoning of the subject property from Agricultural (A-1) to Light Industrial or Commercial before the take on August 20, 2014." The court agreed, reasoning that such evidence is too speculative and remote.

The court ruled that "all testimony and evidence regarding hypothetical rezoning of the subject property is excluded from trial." Accordingly, the court held that Carter "is prohibited and excluded from testifying as to various facts about the area surrounding the property or about the reasonable probability of rezoning the subject property at the time of the take." The trial court further held that Dennis could not testify regarding the comparable sales he used in his appraisal. The trial court also excluded Dennis' "opinion of the highest and best use of the property, regarding the comparable sales he used to come up with his value of the take, and the methodology" he employed.

At the trial, Walter Robinson, the appraiser who testified on behalf of the Commissioner, estimated the value of the land to be $22,464. He opined that the highest and best use of the land is for it to continue as farmland. In reaching his opinion, he relied on sales of property zoned for agricultural use. He acknowledged that none of the comparable sales he used to value the property were designated as Commercial on the County’s Land Use Map of its Comprehensive Plan and that none of these sales were within the County’s Urban Services Area.

The Culpeper Comprehensive Plan is a document that is prepared every three to five years that serves as a general guide for what possible future development might be for a property or for the County. According to its introduction, "[i]t identifies those areas planned for future growth and the anticipated land use associated with such growth." It is not binding. As Robinson put it, the Comprehensive Plan represents "the best available information that the county wants to give about how they want to see parts of the county develop." Robinson acknowledged that the Comprehensive Plan designation for a property can influence its value. The Comprehensive Plan does not cover the entirety of the Helmick farm, but designates a portion of the Helmick farm as "Commercial," including the portion taken by the Commissioner. The County also produced a future land use map, itself part of the Comprehensive Plan, that designates the Helmick property as commercial.

The court permitted Melvin Helmick, the general manager of Helmick Family Farm, to testify. Mr. Helmick testified that the land taken by the Commissioner was worth $6 per square foot, which, when combined with the value of the easements, had a total value of $640,435.51. He, among others, testified that the land taken is near sewer and water utilities. Helmick testified how much he initially paid for the property, and that he donated 20 acres of land to the County for the purpose of building a sewage treatment plant. In exchange, the County agreed to allow him 16 sewer taps. His testimony was extensive, and it covered his experience as a developer of residential property for more than two decades. He addressed the Comprehensive Plan and nearby commercial development. He also testified that the zoning of nearby properties has a bearing on the value of Helmick’s land. His estimate of the value of the property was based on the value of commercial properties nearby. He pointed out that some of those commercial properties, which he described as "within a stone’s throw" of Helmick’s land, sold for $9 per square foot. He noted that medical buildings were built in close proximity to Helmick’s property. He explained that "there’s a huge amount of commercial development ... surrounding" the farm.

The court excluded certain documentary evidence offered by Helmick. Specifically, the court sustained the Commissioner’s objections to Helmick’s proffered exhibits 27 and 44-47. Exhibit 27 was a letter from the County informing Mr. Helmick that the property had been added to the sewer and water district, and exhibits 44-47 were deeds reflecting land sales that Mr. Helmick relied upon in forming an opinion about the value of the land.

The trial court provided the commissioners with two instructions that are at issue in this appeal. Instruction 7, to which Helmick objected, App. 1094, provided:

In determining the fair market value of the subject land, you shall only consider the uses that may be made of the land under its existing zoning category of A-1 Agricultural. You may not consider a hypothetical rezoning of the subject land from A-1 Agricultural to a different zoning category before, on, or after the date of take on August 20, 2014 or an envisioned future change from the existing zoning category of A-1 Agricultural to a different zoning category. A hypothetical

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