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• • LAW OFFICES OF William G. Hawkins and Associates Legal Assistant WILLIAM G. HAWKINS TAMMI J. UVEGES BARRY A. SULLIVAN September 3, 1999 Mr. Richard DeGardner Public Services Director Lino Lakes Public Services Department 600 Town Center Parkway Lino Lakes, MN 55014 Re: Reshanau Trail Condemnation Dear Rick: 2140 FOURTH AVENUE NORTH ANOKA, MINNESOTA 55303 PHONE (612) 427 -8877 FAX (612) 421 -4213 I am responding to your letter of September 1, 1999 regarding an estimate of costs for the City to pursue an eminent domain proceeding to acquire trail easement over several properties. The City, as the initiator of the eminent domain proceeding, is responsible for nearly all of the costs associated with the legal proceeding. This includes court filing fees, abstracting, court commissioners' fees, City appraisal fee, land owner's appraisal fee up to $500 per parcel, and attorneys' fees. On a project of this nature it would not be unusual for the City to incur for all of these charges between $15,000 and $20,000 of expenses. This would be through the commissioners' hearing. If either the City or the landowners appealed the commissioners' award to the Anoka County District Court for jury trial, this amount could conceivably double. You also asked for an educated guess as to the purchase price of the property. Unfortunately, I am not able to do that since I am not certain where the trail would be located and what effect it would have on the remaining property owned by the landowners. The only way that the amount can be estimated would be for the City to obtain an appraiser who would do a thorough analysis of the values in this area and whether or not there would be any severance damage to the remainder of the landowner's property. If you would like me to arrange to have an appraiser perform this service, please advise. If you have any further questions, please contact me. rely, illiam G. Hawkins WGH /tju