Yesterday, was a busy day in Broadmoor Land Swap land. A City Council Working session was held midday to present the "appraisal of the appraisals" to City Council. Here's a link to the full discussion. http://coloradosprings.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=464 Go to item 9A. Well worth the watch to see how much the "appraisal of the appraisal" did, essentially, nothing. We shared links in a previous post regarding the limitations of restricted appraisals. Of note was the language which said, on appraisalsColorado.com, that a Restricted Appraisal is illegal to be used beyond the "client". Well, that is fascinating as Councilman Murray asked, as the "client" for a copy of the workfile from appraiser Kyle Wigington. He was denied. When he asked the City Attorney why, she responded, "He is a 'constituent client'." Later, she went on to clarify that the Parks and Real Estate Department are the "client". Well, that's interesting. How, then, can any member of Council use the Restricted Appraisal data? What nutty policy to deny Council Members access to the supporting data behind the appraisals. Wonder if this is related to the 5, that we know of, CORA requests for the appraisals which were all denied and why a lawsuit was the only way to get them disclosed -- even still, we face transparency problems. WOW. Councilmen Strand and Knight also expressed concern that the Muegge Appraisal of the Appraisal did not provide an endorsement of the original appraisals. Mr. Muegge clarified his role was not to make a value determination as to whether the value was credible, but rather, if the appraisal was credible which he still made significant disclaimers around. Jeff Greene also pushed back strongly on granting access to Kyle Wigington's workfile which would contain email instructions and all the ajustments made -- essentially, the rationale for the projections. Bottomline: Not much solace in those appraisals -- again, we have an apples/oranges comparison regarding "Use" assigments and zoning. As a reminder, Strawberry Fields was the only property to come in UNDER, by $600,000, county assessor data. Sesame Street's "One of these things is not like the other" comes to mind. Later that night was the Town Hall which was supposed to be the event at which the appraisals were presented to the public and explained. So, that critical part was just glossed over. Instead, the public got to listen to another hour and a half regurgitation of what we have been hearing for months from Team Broadmoor. If that wasn't enough, President Merv Bennett thought it appropriate to allow ALL the supporters speak first. So, the opponents were not allowed to speak until 8:15 (of course, after the media packed up and parents with kids had to leave). When your case it weak, you stack the deck. There were some wonderful comments offered by the opponents. You can watch the entire meeting here: http://coloradosprings.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=466 Today, several opponents spoke during the Council Working Session. Attorney Bill Louis was among them citing legal reasons why this trade cannot happen. Unless the City changes its current course, there will be litigation over the future of Strawberry Fields. Here's an article discussing that in more detail: http://www.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archives/2016/05/10/save-cheyenne-threatens-to-sue-city-over-land-swap