Retired appraiser criticizes land swap

Sunday, June 27, 1999 | 9:35 a.m.

Charles Hancock of Reno claims taxpayers are losing at least $8 million though an undervalued appraisal and perhaps as much as $24 million.

Hancock beat Friday's deadline to challenge the appraisal of $12,210 per acre set for the 2,498 acres in Henderson where Del Webb is building its Anthem project.

He claims it is worth at least $15,000 an acre and as much as $17,000.

Hancock has been vocal and persistent for years about the appraisals the BLM has accepted for federal lands it swaps to land developers.

The theory behind the program is that BLM gets rid of urban land it doesn't want - but developers do - and gets environmentally desirable land in exchange.

Hancock's protests were one of the reasons the federal government audited Nevada's land swap program and concluded in 1996 the taxpayers had lost an estimated $12 million in four land exchanges unrelated to Del Webb.

Del Webb and the BLM both argue critics are ignoring the $250 million in infrastructure that Del Webb is spending on the 5,000-acre project in the southeast part of the Las Vegas Valley. Ultimately, 13,000 homes will be located in Anthem, a master-planned community.