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interest." Minn. Stat. § 435.37, subd. 1(b). Given the existing driveway and bridge, their <br />location relative to the subject property, and the minor amount of modifications required on the <br />HOA's property, no other route meets the statutory standard. <br />Damages <br />Damages must be paid by Petitioner to the City before the cartway is opened. Minn. Stat. § <br />435.37, subd. 1(c). Damages "means the compensation, if any, awarded to the owner of the land <br />upon which the cartway is established" along with maintenance costs and the City's costs. As <br />you are aware, the parties' positions on damages are wildly divergent. <br />In most cases, cartways are created where no road exists, so the use of the land changes when the <br />cartway is built. What was once open land, timber or field is now a road. Here, a road two rods <br />wide already exists except for a 4 1/2' x 33' section where the cartway turns northeast into the <br />subject property. The questions is, what are the damages to the HOA for establishing a cartway <br />upon a portion of the existing driveway, where the only new section of road will be <br />approximately 147 square feet for the turn off? <br />Petitioner <br />Petitioner's most recent damage calculation is as follows: <br />The cartway is 16,120.5 square feet in size. Using the HOA's land value of $.50 per square foot, <br />the total land value of the cartway is $8,060.25. Because Petitioner is just one of six property <br />owners who will utilize the cartway, his share (1/6) of the land value to be paid as damages is <br />$1,343.38. <br />This analysis does not take into account the impact, if any, on the remaining HOA property, <br />including the improvements, incurred as a result of creating the cartway, nor does it address <br />ongoing maintenance costs. <br />HOA <br />The HOA asserts damages of at least $747,987.25, which consists of three components: <br />land value, improvement value and severance damages. <br />Land Value <br />The HOA's appraiser values Outlot A at $.50 per square foot. Using the entire width and <br />length of the Outlot, which is calculated as 131,304 square feet, the estimated value of the entire <br />Outlot is $65,652. The HOA takes this number and simply adds it to their damage calculation. <br />A few issues come to mind with this approach. <br />First, the $.50 per square foot amount was calculated using the sales comparison <br />approach. The properties used as comparable sales appear to all be home lots, whereas Outlot A <br />is an outlot platted for the specific purpose of being used as a road. Roadway outlots and single- <br />3 <br />