The valuation of a lakeside parcel including a legally protected Native American burial mound must be lowered because a split of the property as envisioned by assessors would have been unlikely to gain the needed approvals, the Minnesota Tax Court said.
In a decision filed Friday, the tax court reduced the valuation of the 7-acre parcel, composed of two lots with frontage on Lake Minnetonka, from about $18.3 million as assessed by the Hennepin County assessor’s office for tax year 2021 to $13.9 million as argued by the owner, Indian Mound LLC. The court agreed with the owner that the highest and best use of the parcel was its continued use as a combined property, not as divided into its two underlying lots as suggested by the county assessor.
Noting that the hypothetical division of the property would bisect the burial mound, complicating its maintenance and preservation, the court said the county failed to show evidence that the relevant authorities would approve split ownership of the site. With the question of the property’s highest and best use settled, the court adopted the owner’s proposed valuation, relying on cost and comparable sales approaches.
