Soller Town Hall has been ordered to pay just over 201,000 euros for a plot valued at 18,000 which is classified as urban land in the 1998 General Plan.
When the property was presented years ago, demand for forced expropriation valued the land at more than 668,000 euros and in response the Town Hall valued it at just 18,000 euros. Because of the massive difference in price the council went to the court of forced expropriation and a final ruling was made this year, partially appreciating the demand of the owners and fixing the payment of a "Solomon" amount.
The lot in question is a 349 square metre orchard that borders the tramway but in the General Plan it states that a road of 187 square meters must be transferred, so the remaining land was not used for urban purposes.
Other cases
It’s not the first time that Soller Town Hall has agreed to splash out big money for qualified urban land or public green areas in the General Plan. A few years ago, 400,000 euros was paid for a plot located in the Muleta urbanisation which was totally unusable and in some places it was only about two meters wide.
Soller Town Hall faces several more expropriations in the future, including the sports field in Puerto Soller. A deposit of 2 million euros has already been paid leaving a balance of 5 million.