Published: 10:17 AM, 09/16/2009

Last updated: 12:52 PM, 11/17/2009

By: Scott Nicholson

Three appraisers involved in county purchases of property assembled for the new high school tract had their licenses suspended by a state board.

The North Carolina Appraisal Board's August bulletin announced the disciplinary actions against Hope W. Teaster, Pattie J. Tennille and David R. Roberts.

According to the bulletin and consent order, Roberts performed four appraisals for Watauga County in 2006. Roberts' appraisal was for a 59-acre tract, valued at $60,000 an acre and noted the "highest and best use" of the property was retail, office or possible multi-family development, though the Town of Boone zoning at that time wouldn't have allowed those uses. The appraisal board determined the appraisal was based on "an undisclosed hypothetical condition or extraordinary assumption." The bulletin also said that Roberts hadn't noted a prior sale of the property in 2004.

Roberts was also cited for combining multiple tracts owned by members of the same family, appraising them as one tract, and failing to note a graveyard on one of the properties. Roberts' appraisal said the highest and best use of the property was retail, office or multifamily residential, which would require a special-use permit from the Town of Boone and which the appraisal board deemed "an extraordinary assumption."

A fourth property, a two-acre tract, was appraised at $171,000 in 2006. "These three parcels were appraised as one tract without noting in the report that it was being appraised under the hypothetical condition that all the tracts could be considered as one," the bulletin said.

Pattie J. Tennille and Hope W. Teaster were cited for six appraisals of four properties involving the county. They valued a 2,271-square-foot brick home with basement at $745,000.

"The subject is located near the base of a valley and sales were selected from mountaintop areas," the bulletin said. "Inadequate adjustments were made for view."

Tennille and Teaster used similar comparative sales in appraising two other properties but made adjustments to a fourth report "with no explanation," the report stated

A third property received an appraisal based on an exterior examination in April 2006, then an interior inspection led to an appraisal that was $5,000 lower than the original appraisal.

"Ms. Teaster and Ms. Tennille used two of the same sales in the third and fourth reports," the bulletin said. "Adjustments to these sales were different in the fourth report, with no explanation."

Adjustments were also made for changes on two reports for the same property, one an exterior examination and the other an interior examination, arriving at a value of $470,000.

"Adjustments changed from the fifth report to the sixth with no explanation," the bulletin said.

Roberts' and Tennille's appraisal certifications were suspended for a year, and Teaster's trainee registration was suspended for one year, with three months of the suspension active for each. The rest of the suspension was stayed until Dec. 1 on condition of the three successfully completing five business and appraisal courses.

An N.C. Appraisal Board spokesperson said the courses had been completed and the case was closed on July 5.
N.C. Appraisal Board assistant attorney general Roberta Ouellete said a complaint had been filed in December 2006 and went into effect in March 2008. Ouellette said the county was never under investigation and no hearings were held on the matter.

The county paid $7.3 million million to assemble a 90-acre tract for the high school and other undetermined future uses. Baker Edmisten received $842,000 for 4.2 acres and a home, and the county is currently selling the home along with nearly half an acre of property, with an asking price of $340,000.

Claudeen Edmisten was paid $125,000 for approximately an acre; Joe and Bill Miller were paid $1.2 million for two tracts constituting nearly 15 acres; The county eventually found and relocated 39 graves found on the Miller property.

B.W. Greene was paid $500,000 for a little more than two acres and a home. Tony and Doris Isaacs were paid $469,000 for half an acre and a home; Shirley Ray was paid $191,500 for nearly a acre and a home; and Gordon and Nancy Shore were paid $525,000 for half an acre and a home.

The county also paid $675,000 for five acres of a residential subdivision under development as "Miller Meadows." The 59-acre tract, informally known as the "Edmisten property," was purchased by Appalachian State University for $2 million in 2004. The county paid $2.45 million for the property in 2006.

The county later purchased two tracts for future uses, to expand the high school site and to possibly develop a community center. The Fred Carroll heirs were paid $425,00 for a house and half an acre, and Ray Dell Staley Greene was paid $214,640 for a 2.7-acre tract consisting of lots on Spruce Street.

Roberts, Teaster and Tennille signed consent orders on Jan. 14 and the orders took effect on March 1.
Watauga County manager Rocky Nelson said the appraisals were requested as a starting point for negotiations with property owners and that individual settlements with those owners were above appraised value to grant an allowance for moving and resettling.

The N.C. Appraisal Board requested documents and interviewed county staff in the matter, but were not investigating the county, Ouellette and Nelson said.

"The county did not receive any correspondence with the appraisal board in the outcome of this," Nelson said. "This was strictly between the appraisal board and the appraisers."

Nelson said about 25 acres of the lower portion of the property was reserved for future use, and four lots on Spruce Street would likely have homes built for sale through the high school's vocational program. The high school is expected to open in August 2010.

The NCAB August bulletin can be downloaded online at www.ncappraisalboard.org/bulletins/Aug09.pdf

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