PARIS — Appraisers for the town of Norway and former Opera House owner Barry Mazzaglia disagreed on the highest and best use for the historic downtown Norway building during seven hours of testimony in Oxford County Superior Court Thursday.

The case, which continues Friday, will determine how much the town must pay Mazzaglia for taking the Opera House by eminent domain last year.

“The highest and best use drives the appraisal,” said J. Chet Rogers, a New Hampshire appraiser hired by Mazzaglia. He said the fair market price should be based on the building’s income-producing ability.

Mazzaglia contends the historic 1894 building is worth $328,000 based on Roger’s appraisal, while the town maintains the building is worth $185,000, according to an appraisal by Patricia Amidon of Amidon Appraisal Co. in Portland. Amidon said she believes the highest and best use of the building is by the municipality or a historic preservation organization.

The first day of testimony got under way in Oxford Superior Court Thursday at 8:30 a.m. with James E. Belleau of the Auburn law form of Skelton, Taintor & Abbott questioning witnesses on behalf of the town, and Durward Parkinson of Bergen & Parkinson in Kennebunk on behalf of the plaintiff, Mazzaglia.

Last year, special town meeting voters authorized selectmen to take the Opera House property by eminent domain after a portion of the roof collapsed on Sept. 21, 2007, severing a sprinkler pipe which flooded first-floor occupied spaces in the building and compromised the stability of the building.

The move was initiated after attempts by the town to work with  Mazzaglia to ensure the building was safe became nonproductive. The town has since stabilized the back wall of the building that showed signs of collapsing.

Both appraisers differed significantly on what they think is the “highest and best” use of the 17,618-square-foot building.

During the more than four hours of testimony by the two appraisers concerning how they reached their value, Amidon said her appraisal was conducted on a sales comparison basis, which meant she looked for similar properties as part of the criteria, while Rogers depended on an income approach.

Rogers said he did not take the building’s clock tower and the upper floors into account as adding any value to the property as an income producer. He looked at it strictly as six potential first floor retail spaces.

“This is an investor’s property,” said Rogers, who said he looked at a number of variables including potential income from the tenants and owner’s expenses, such as taxes and insurances to reach the building’s potential value before determining a value.

Amidon, on the other hand, said she based her appraisal on her belief that the best use of the building is for a municipality or historical organization to take it over.

Amidon used, in part, market values of similar historic buildings in the region, such as the Harris Hotel in Rumford, as comparable “unique” buildings and made adjustments to the value based on a number of criteria such as land, condition and so forth.

Amidon also challenged the plaintiff’s appraisal calling parts of it “unreliable” and “astonishing.”

Amidon said that based on Roger’s appraisal, it would cost a tenant more than $51 per square foot to rent space at the Opera House when the highest unit price in downtown Norway is $35.20.

“No wise investor is going to buy that building then put $22,000 in to get it rented,” said Amidon, referring to the amount of money Mazzaglia put into the temporary stabilization repairs.

“It’s highly unlikely (you’ll) find an investor interested in purchasing the property,” she said.

Engineers for the both the town and Mazzaglia agreed that the former owner’s repairs in 2007 and 2008 were inadequate to prevent the building from “falling in the street” and that at the time of the town taking the building in December of 2009, additional repairs by an engineer were necessary.

“It needed work. Absolutely,” said James Potter, an engineer hired by Mazzaglia to review the initial temporary structural repairs by the former building owner.

Both sides disagreed, however, on whether the $22,000 that Mazzaglia put into the repairs was sufficient.

Al Hodson III of Resurgence Engineering and Preservation Inc. in Portland, who was hired by the town in 2007 shortly after the partial roof collapse, testified that the building was still at risk of collapsing when the town began its stabilization project that shored up the back wall and stabilized the building at a cost of about $150,000 in 2009.

“The project went well beyond the scope of a well intentioned building owner trying to do it by himself,” Hodson said.

When the testimony continues Friday at 8:30 a.m., Mazzaglia and his contractor are expected to take the witness stand.

Environmental expert Mark Coleman, Norway Town Manager David Holt and former Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Van Decker may also be called to testify for the defense on Friday.

Justice Robert Clifford is presiding over the proceeding.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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