Land sought by Indiana county valued at 4 times county offer

NEW CARLISLE, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana county official says he's surprised a 37-acre tract the county hopes to buy has been valued by court-appointed appraisers at more than four times what the county offered its owner.

St. Joseph County officials offered a farmer $344,000 for the property near a power plant that's under construction in the city of New Carlisle. But the South Bend Tribune reports three court-appointed appraisers recently valued the land at $1.4 million.

County economic development director Bill Schalliol says he's surprised by the appraisers' "wildly different" value for the property.

Their valuation was part of the county's eminent domain case against the farmer to try to force him to sell the land for a planned rail spur that would serve an industrial park planned in the area.

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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com