Chesterfield Associates v. Edison Township

13 N.J. Tax 195
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedApril 26, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 13 N.J. Tax 195 (Chesterfield Associates v. Edison Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chesterfield Associates v. Edison Township, 13 N.J. Tax 195 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1993).

Opinion

ANDREW, J.T.C.

The overriding issue in this local property tax case is one of valuation and requires a determination of which appraisal technique presents the most reliable estimate of the fair market value for property tax assessment purposes for each of 95 townhouses. The Edison Township tax assessor maintains that the sales com[199]*199parison approach is the most convincing, while the taxpayer’s appraisal expert contends that a hybrid income and sales comparison approach would provide the most appropriate method for estimating the value of each of the townhouses.

The properties involved in this proceeding are 95 individual townhouses that are owned by plaintiff, Chesterfield Associates, each of which was separately assessed by the tax assessor. There are 40 two-bedroom townhouses and 55 three-bedroom townhouses. The tax years at issue are 1990, 1991 and 1992. The townhouses were individually assessed at one of three different levels for each of the tax years.1

In 1990, 12 of the townhouses were assessed at:

Land $ 48,700
Improvements 101,400
Total $150,100

Forty-one were assessed for 1990 at:

Land $ 48,700
Improvements 104,000
Total $152,700

The remaining 42 townhouses were assessed for 1990 at:

Land $ 48,700
Improvements 107,900
Total $156,600

Plaintiff appealed these assessments and the Middlesex County Board of Taxation entered judgments for 1990 dismissing each of [200]*200the petitions without prejudice.

In 1991 and 1992, 12 of the townhouses were assessed at:

Land $ 41,800
Improvements 98,200
Total $140,000

Forty-one were assessed for 1991 and 1992 at:

Land $ 41,800
Improvements 100,700
Total $142,500

The remaining 42 townhouses were assessed for 1991 and 1992 at:

Land $ 41,800
Improvements 104,500
Total $146,300

With respect to the 1991 and 1992 tax years, plaintiff, again, appealed the assessments and the Middlesex County Board of Taxation, again, entered judgments dismissing each of the petitions without prejudice, thus permitting the filing of complaints with this court. Plaintiff, for each tax year at issue, filed a timely complaint in this court challenging the assessment of each of the 95 townhouses.

It is evident, and undisputed by the parties, that the appropriate assessment ratios to be employed in this case are those set forth by the Director of the Division of Taxation pursuant to chapter 123, N.J.S.A 54:l-35a, :51A-6(b). For the 1990 tax year, the appropriate average ratio for Edison was 98.66% with an upper limit, pursuant to N.J.S.A 54:51A-6(b), of 100% and a lower limit of 83.86%. For 1991, the average ratio for Edison was 98.91% with an upper limit of 100% and a lower limit of 84.07%. In 1992, the appropriate average ratio was 97.76% with an upper limit of 100% and a lower limit of 83.10%.

In lieu of trial, this matter was submitted to me on a stipulation of facts and a number of exhibits which the parties agreed would constitute the entire record in this proceeding. The exhibits [201]*201consisted of the appraisal reports of plaintiffs appraisal expert for each of the tax years at issue, a certification by plaintiffs appraisal expert, and the certification of defendant’s tax assessor. Additionally, counsel for the parties submitted legal memoranda to support their respective positions.

The record, as presented, reveals that the parties were in substantial agreement regarding the description of the 95 townhouses and the immediate environs. As indicated by plaintiffs appraiser, these townhouses are located on both the north and south side of Hana Road and the south side of Ethel Road between Taylor Road and Victoria Court in a relatively large residential area in Edison Township. As of October 1, 1989, the first assessment date implicated in this matter, the townhouses constituted a legally permissible conditional use in what was then an RB-TH (residential-townhouse) zoning district. Without contradiction, however, defendant noted that the zoning was changed in December 1989 to residential B-townhouse, a zone in which the only permitted use is a townhouse dwelling and its customary and incidental accessory uses.

The subject townhouses, as previously mentioned, are divided into two sizes. There are 40 two-bedroom units and 55 three-bedroom units. Each of the two-bedroom units consists of 1,760 square feet of living area, while each of the three-bedroom townhouses consists of 1,804 square feet of living area. Each has, in addition to the stated bedrooms, a basement (some finished, some unfinished), living room, dining room and kitchen. The two-bedroom townhouses have one and a half baths, while the three-bedroom units have two and a half baths. Additionally, each townhouse has an attached one-car garage and is serviced by all public utilities including water, sewer, electric, gas and telephone. Although there is nothing in the record to indicate that plaintiffs appraisal expert inspected each of the townhouses, he expressed the opinion that the overall condition of the townhouses was, in general, good and well maintained.

The immediate area consists of 1,753 residential units comprised of 350 rental townhouses in a complex identified as Oxford Arms, [202]*202390 apartments in the Blueberry Village complex, 335 townhouses in the Victoria Park development, a 218-unit condominium complex in Edison Manor, 365 condominium units in the Edison Village complex, and the 95 townhouses that are the subjects of this proceeding.

The townhouses at issue in this case were constructed by the present plaintiff, Chesterfield Associates, in 1982-1983. According to plaintiffs appraiser, although Edison Township approved the construction of 95 individual townhouses and the property was registered as such with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs on October 21,1983, plaintiff has operated the entire 95 townhouses as an apartment or rental complex since the completion of construction. Apparently, again according to plaintiff’s appraiser, the market conditions at that time dictated plaintiff’s decision to rent rather than sell the individual units, because there was then a large inventory of residential units available. Presumably, the allegedly pragmatic approach was to hold the townhouses for rental instead of for sale.

The stipulation of facts submitted by the parties sets forth the agreement of the parties as to the appropriate values to be employed by me depending upon which approach to valuation is determined to be appropriate. First, the parties stipulated the unadjusted values to be ascribed to each of the townhouses pursuant to a sales comparison approach based on 45 sales of townhouses in Edison. Specifically, it was agreed that the sales comparison technique produced an unadjusted

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Bluebook (online)
13 N.J. Tax 195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chesterfield-associates-v-edison-township-njtaxct-1993.