After many months of discussions and court proceedings involving both the property owner and the City of Brentwood, we received notice of the objective assessment by three independent and experienced individuals who were selected by the court and who heard evidence from both sides. They unanimously determined the value of the property that had to be taken for the benefit of the public – land in the flood zone without any buildings on it, which the owner acknowledged to the commissioners to be subject to flooding – to be $188,178.
The City has been unable to locate any business license issued to a business operating on the property. The amount of $188,178 will be paid by the City into the court for distribution by the court to those entitled to it, which may include the property owner and St. Louis County in satisfaction of real estate taxes assessed to the property, including delinquent 2018 and 2019 real estate taxes. That figure, while less than what the property owner wanted, is nearly 50% higher than St. Louis County's appraised value and higher than the value the City was given by its independent appraiser.
The law provides both the property owner and the City the opportunity to appeal this decision through the court system and ultimately have the value determined by a jury. The City is still open to working toward an amicable resolution of the issues related to this property and will assess its options in the coming days.
For those interested, images of the property from the City’s appraisal can be found on the City’s website: http://brentwoodmo.org/DocumentCenter/View/28086/8722-Suburban-Tracks-Street---Images
An image from Google Maps can be found here: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6096004,-90.34716,3a,75y,207.23h,82.74t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2TYvFhqnqNEScpnLTuX4ww!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D2TYvFhqnqNEScpnLTuX4ww%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D212.98618%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=fr