West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

The supply of private property in the San Bernardino and Los Angeles subareasrepresents 55.0 and 20.0 percent of total private land in the West Mojave. The correspondingshare of private property value, however, equates to nearly 60.0 percent and nearly 30.0 percentof the total assessed value of the West Mojave. In general, private property in the SanBernardino and Los Angeles subareas is being assessed at a higher value per acre than is the casefor private property in Kern and Inyo County.For the West Mojave overall, only about 15.0 percent of all private property is locatedwithin a City but accounts for 62.0 percent of total assessed value. A substantial portion of WestMojave assessed value (principal determinant of property tax revenue) is concentrated onrelatively limited amounts of private property located within existing City jurisdictions.3.4.1.5.2 Habitat Conservation Area ValuationTo account for vast distinctions that might influence average land value throughout theWest Mojave, a large sample of 2002 property data exceeding 500,000 records was compiledfrom County Assessor records as procured from electronic appraisal data purveyors. In effect, adata sample was compiled that consists of all property records available from Assessor MapBook records roughly approximating the entire West Mojave in order to reduce bias that may beinherent to a limited sampling randomly selected from diverse micro-market environments. Thesample set used to estimate the average value of private unimproved land within the HCA isbased on a smaller subset of roughly 38,500 data records due to vast amounts of governmentowned lands in these areas.The appropriate mitigation fee reflects an average value reference describing lands to beacquired for habitat conservation, specifically unimproved private property within the proposedHCA. Table 3-42 below summarizes the estimated average value of unimproved privateproperty closely associated with the proposed HCA boundaries.Table 3-42West Mojave Habitat Conservation Area – Reference Land ValueREF.VALUEChapter 3 3-209SAMPLE SAMPLE REFERENCE LANDAREAEST. OFPRIVATEPrivate Lands/Subareas Per Acre Records Mix Land Area Mix Land Value2002 Assessed ValueSan Bernardino $489 20,208 52% 401,005 64% $196,091,000Los Angeles 2,587 7,755 20% 77,842 12% 201,377,000Kern 650 10,509 27% 95,682 15% 62,193,000Inyo 1 0 0 0% 0 0% 0Previously AcquiredLR2000 Database $457 38 0.1% 51,769 8% $23,658,000Critical Habitat Lands: $772 38,510 100% 626,298 100% $483,319,000Source: County Assessor Records; BLM LR2000 Database; Alfred Gobar AssociatesNote: The designated HCA within Inyo County specifically excludes privately held property.