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Perhaps the locals should be required to get a license before they given an opion of value?!

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POCATELLO --The city has completed an internal investigation into the appraisal process that paved the way for the city to purchase 7.5 acres of land along South Fifth Avenue for $1.05 million.

Mayor Brian Blad said city officials have thoroughly reviewed the appraisal process and are satisfied that everything was legal and above board regarding the purchase of the land, which will be the new base of operations for the Pocatello Transit Department.

"The appraisal that was done looks like a good, valid appraisal," Blad said about the initial 97-page appraisal, which was performed by local appraiser Bryan Shadix. "It was looked at by three other appraisers and they all concurred with his findings."

The investigation was in response to a request by a group of local citizens who have been gathering signatures on a petition that asks the city to reconsider the deal.

"Everybody that we've talked to wanted to sign it," said LaRae Oram, who presented the petition to the City Council during its Aug. 19 meeting. "They were not happy about it."

Oram was joined by about 11 other people at the meeting who believed the city paid too much for the land, which is located directly across from the Bannock County Jail.

The land at 5775 S. Fifth Ave. was purchased for $372,000 in 2007. The council voted 4-2 July 15 to purchase the same land from Realtor Steve Vigliaturo and builder Gary Chisum for $1.05 million.

Federal dollars will cover 80 percent of the cost and the purchase was made following a lengthy, detailed federal appraisal process that included local, state and federal appraisers.

Oram said there has to be a different alternative that is affordable.

"We do not want any tax dollars --local, state or federal --to be spent on it," she said. "Buyer's remorse would be an appropriate term."

On the reason Vigliaturo and Chisum were able to sell the land for so much more than they purchased it, Shadix said a lot of the land sales across Eastern Idaho are by agricultural people to commercial investors.

"I would bet that 80 percent of these are acquired at a price below their market values by more savvy developers," he states. "I would think virtually anyone in Pocatello would acknowledge that Mr. Gary Chisum and Mr. Steve Vigliaturo are two of the better commercial brokers as well as developers, and they opted for a level site with immediate utilities that did not have volcanic rock, fill or dirt removal issues."

Shadix says the keys to understanding his appraisal can be found on pages 32-36. Those pages can be viewed on the Journal's website at www.idahostatejournal.com.

Copyright Idaho State Journal Sep 1, 2010

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