{"id":6140,"date":"2009-09-14T15:11:59","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T21:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=6140"},"modified":"2009-09-15T09:39:58","modified_gmt":"2009-09-15T15:39:58","slug":"lyons-proposes-development-lease-rule-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/09\/lyons-proposes-development-lease-rule-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyons wants development lease rule change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Land

Land Commissioner Pat Lyons<\/p><\/div>\n

More than a year and a half after the attorney general took issue<\/a> with certain types of State Land Office development leases, the land commissioner is attempting to erase questions about the legality of such agreements with an administrative rule change.<\/p>\n

According to the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>, the rule change would allow the office of Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons<\/a> to pay developers who make improvements to state trust land and give them a percentage of the increase in the land\u2019s value when it sells. You can read the proposed new rule by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The land office held a public hearing on the proposed rule change today in Santa Fe. Written public comments will be accepted through Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In response to questions about a controversial land deal in Las Cruces, Attorney General Gary King\u2019s<\/a> office took issue with such lease agreements in early 2008. In the Las Cruces case, the AG\u2019s formal opinion<\/a> states that the lease agreement\u2019s<\/a> method of compensating Philip Philippou\u2019s company for developing the land is \u201cnot comprehended by and in conflict with\u201d a statute that allows developers who improve land for the state to be compensated only for the appraised value of the improvements.<\/p>\n

The agreement with Philippou stated that, when the land was sold, he would be compensated for the value of \u201creasonable project costs\u201d plus 40 percent of the \u201cchange in value\u201d as a result of his developing the land. The land office entered into several leases around the state similar to the deal with Philippou.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s opinion isn\u2019t legally binding and Lyons has disputed it. And the AG isn\u2019t currently commenting on Lyons\u2019 attempt to enact the rule change.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince nothing has been made official yet, it would be pure speculation and premature on our part to make any judgments concerning the rules,\u201d spokesman Phil Sisneros was quoted by the Journal as saying.<\/p>\n

Codifying \u2018inappropriate practices\u2019 or providing an incentive?<\/h3>\n

The development controversy has been at the center of local elections in Las Cruces and debates over reforms of the land office that have been proposed by some Las Cruces-area lawmakers. Those legislators take issue with the new rule proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese rules seem to be an attempt to codify what we consider some of the inappropriate practices of the State Land Office,\u201d said Rep. Jeff Steinborn<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, was quoted by the Journal as saying.<\/p>\n

But the land office, according to the Journal, \u201csays the lease provisions provide an incentive to developers to enhance the value of state trust land before sale and deny criticisms they haven\u2019t worked closely with local governments to ensure the developments fit in with surrounding areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a number of legislators who don\u2019t really understand how these leases work — they just don\u2019t want them,\u201d land office general counsel Robert Stranahan was quoted by the Journal as saying.<\/p>\n

According to the land office\u2019s Web site<\/a>, written comments on the proposed new rule can be e-mailed to Ley Schimoler at lschimoler@slo.state.nm.us<\/a> or mailed to Shimoler at Office of the General Counsel, New Mexico State Land Office, P.O. Box 1148, Santa Fe, NM 87504.<\/p>\n

Update, 4:10 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rep. Nate Cote<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, provided a copy of written comments he submitted today to the land office. You can read his letter by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: The land commissioner is attempting to erase questions about the legality of development leases like those the AG has said are \u201cnot comprehended by and in conflict with\u201d state law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[138,107],"class_list":["post-6140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-growth-and-development","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}