Lyons goes ahead with land deals despite AG opinion

New Mexico Land Commissioner Pat Lyons plans to proceed with several land deals across the state that include a provision the attorney general says is not allowed by law.

“I want to move ahead, create economic development,” Lyons told the Albuquerque Journal for an article published on Wednesday. “We suggest the attorney general work with us, not against us.”

Lyons is now planning to proceed with land deals in Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe despite a February AG opinion that took issue with a key provision in a similar deal in Las Cruces.

The formal opinion related to The Vistas at Presidio land deal on Las Cruces’ East Mesa states that the lease agreement’s method of compensating Philip Philippou’s company for developing the land is “not comprehended by and in conflict with” a statute that allows developers who improve land for the state to be compensated only for the appraised value of the improvements. In the lease, the land office also agrees to compensate Philippou for other project costs and 40 percent of the change in value of the land as a result of the improvements.

The office of Attorney General Gary King said when it released its opinion in February that it did not plan to take Lyons to court to try to void the agreement. Later, after Lyons disputed the AG opinion, King told me he would “wait to see what happens next and then decide our next course of action,” adding that, “if the land commissioner chooses not to take our advice on this matter, he does so at his own risk.”

That prompted Lyons to put the land deals across the state with similar provisions on hold while his office met with King’s to try to resolve the issue. The two offices did not come to an agreement. Lyons is now proceeding with several deals, including the sale of land north of Highway 70 in Las Cruces that Philippou has already developed in a deal separate from The Vistas at Presidio.

King’s spokesman, Phil Sisneros, told me Wednesday that the attorney general’s position has not changed.

“We remain open to discussions with the land office,” he said.