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February 3, 2006Property assessments rise despite pollutionParcels are on site of former cement plantPETOSKEY - Most Bay Harbor land owners will see double-digit property assessment hikes in 2006, despite pollution concerns and a lawsuit that alleged contamination at the former industrial site hurt property values.Petoskey City Assessor John Gehres said assessments in Bay Harbor will increase by an average of more than 10 percent this year. Notices will go out in the mail this month, Gehres said. The latest figures are based on an independent reappraisal performed last year by Flint-based Landmark Appraisal. Landmark conducted a reappraisal of every property in Petoskey between April and December 2005. Overall, the housing market in Bay Harbor remained strong enough over the past two years to warrant an average property-value boost of a little over 11 percent, said Mark MacDermaid, a partner in the firm. Contamination in Bay Harbor may have an effect on individual property values, but it has not driven down values in the entire development, he said. "That's a human loss issue that will have to be dealt with by the assessor," MacDermaid said. "Most parcels are not contaminated. The property values are based on what properties have sold for. We've had sales (in Bay Harbor) right up to the end of 2005." He added that pollution probably affected some Bay Harbor property owners. "We know there's a couple of houses that probably wouldn't sell today," he said. Once home to a cement production plant, the posh development between Petoskey and Charlevoix has been plagued by environmental problems since 2004, when it was revealed that caustic toxins left behind from the cement operation were leaching into Little Traverse Bay. At least one homeowner sued in Emmet County Court, and others approached Gehres requesting property assessment breaks. Those who lodged complaints all own land on Coastal Ridge Drive, which serves about a dozen lakefront parcels near one of the contamination hotbeds, Gehres said. Richard Franks, who filed suit in October against Bay Harbor, initial developing partner CMS Energy and primary developer David V. Johnson, also owns a home on Coastal Ridge Drive. The land owners in that area have "a legitimate gripe," Gehres said. One Coastal Ridge landowner was recently in Gehres' office and demanded a reduced assessment. Gehres obliged. "He's got a fence behind his house, on the beach side, saying 'Keep out,'" Gehres said. "They're right in the line of fire, basically." See related story:
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