David and Nancy Dawson were unable to sell their picturesque, 348-acre Knox County spread of
pastures and woods when it was listed for $1.24 million in February 2009.
They had purchased the land in 2006 for $695,989, but the couple found no one amid a depressed
real-estate market willing to pay seven figures for a property, along with a house and
outbuildings, that the county auditor valued at $734,740.
No one except the Knox County Park District.
Prompted by the district’s longstanding interest in the property, which sits across from an
existing county park, the Westerville couple obtained a new valuation of their holding.
A July 2009 appraisal valued their land at $1.9 million. It did not, however, disclose prior
lower asking prices, nor did it provide reasons for such a dramatic increase in value.
Despite its own appraisal showing a value $400,000 lower, the park district agreed in 2010 to
pay the full amount of the Dawsons’ appraisal, with a state grant providing $1.1 million and the
Dawsons donating nearly $800,000 of the purchase price.
The sale has led to disciplinary proceedings against the Dawsons’ appraiser and raised questions
about whether too high a price was paid for the property.
With the proceeds from the creation of Honey Run Highlands Park, the Dawsons paid off the
mortgages, received $397,324 in cash and were given credit for a $798,000 charitable gift that
could be used as a tax deduction.
David Dawson, chief executive officer of the Columbus Laser Cataract Center and Columbus
Snoring Inc., declined to discuss the sale. Kim Marshall, director of the Knox County Park
District, defended the deal.
She said she was unaware that the land was listed for sale at $1.24 million shortly before the
$1.9 million appraisal. Still, she called the price “reasonable” and said the district’s $1.5
million appraisal “validated” the purchase price.
She disputes a critic’s claims that the sales price was inflated to allow a larger amount to be
donated by the Dawsons for use as the park district’s local match. The Knox County proposal was
awarded more points in the state grant evaluation process because it had a large local match.
Doug Givens, a retired Kenyon College administrator and managing director of the Philander Chase
Corp., a nonprofit land trust that seeks to preserve farmland around Gambier, objected to the
“exorbitant and mind-boggling” sale.
He filed objections after an area advisory council recommended the park project for state
funding but before the Ohio Public Works Commission awarded $1.1 million in Clean Ohio green-space
funds on Feb. 4, 2010.
“The consequence is that the citizens of Ohio overpaid by several hundred thousand dollars. …
The system was gamed, and steps should be taken by all of the government entities involved to
assure that situations like this never happen again,” Givens said.
He fears that the high sales price diverted state dollars that could have been spent on other
projects to preserve green space.
A year after the office of former Gov. Ted Strickland asked the Ohio Public Works Commission
about the transaction and the potential need to better evaluate appraisals, nothing has changed at
the state level.
Commission Director Michael Miller said officials still are studying whether to upgrade their
evaluation of appraisals. “The validity of this appraisal has yet to be undermined,” he said. “We
count on appraisers to do their job in our process.”
The area advisory council that rated competing park proposals and recommended Honey Run
Highlands Park for funding has changed its procedures. It now better examines auditors’ valuations
and requires justification for large “donated” amounts that could inflate prices.
The Dawsons’ appraiser, Jayne Young of Newark, is scheduled to appear before an Ohio Department
of Commerce hearing officer on June 30.
In response to a complaint filed by Givens, the department accused Young of violating appraisal
laws by failing to disclose lower prior-sales prices and not justifying her $1.9 million valuation.
She denies the allegations.
rludlow@dispatch.com