Emmis Broadcasting Corp. v. Borough of East Rutherford

16 N.J. Tax 29
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJuly 23, 1996
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 16 N.J. Tax 29 (Emmis Broadcasting Corp. v. Borough of East Rutherford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Emmis Broadcasting Corp. v. Borough of East Rutherford, 16 N.J. Tax 29 (N.J. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals from a decision of the Tax Court valuing plaintiffs’ property for real property taxes for the years 1991 through 1994. Defendant contends that the judge (1) erred in certain factual findings; (2) should have assessed the property at its highest and best use; and (3) should not have held that certain radio towers were non-taxable.

After a thorough review of the record, we affirm substantially for the reasons stated by Judge Small in his comprehensive written opinion of March 21,1995.

I

The property consists of 22.58 acres and is located in a corner of the Sports Complex Zone within the Hackensack Meadowlands. The property is bordered principally by the New Jersey Turnpike and by land owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Meadowlands Sports Complex. The bordering land contains Giant Stadium, the Meadowlands Arena and the Meadowlands Race Track. Situated on the property is a 4,080 square foot brick building containing various broadcasting equipment and three 500 foot AM radio broadcast towers.

During the years 1991 and 1992, the property was assessed at $6,843,000. For the tax years 1993 and 1994, the property was assessed at $22,509,800. Plaintiffs appealed the assessments to the Bergen County Board of Taxation. The assessments were not reduced.

Plaintiffs then filed complaints in the Tax Court. A trial was held. Judge Small found that there were three fundamental issues which he resolved as follows: (1) the concrete bases on which the radio towers sit are locally assessable as real property; however, the towers are not locally assessable; (2) six and one-third acres of the 22.58 acre parcel are wetlands; and (3) the total fair market value of the property on each of the four assessing dates was $6,027,300.

[33]*33As to the towers, the judge concluded that if it were not for the Business Retention Act (“Act”), see N.J.S.A. 54:4-1(b) and N.J.S.A. 54:4-1.12 to -1.16 enacted in 1992, he would have been compelled to follow two of our cases in which broadcast antenna towers were found to be subject to local real property taxation. See NYT Cable TV v. Borough of Audubon, 230 N.J.Super. 530, 553 A.2d 1368 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 117 N.J. 646, 569 A.2d 1344 (1989), and Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 141 N.J.Super. 301, 358 A.2d 203 (App.Div.1976). Judge Small concluded, however, that under the Act, the towers are personal property used or held for use in business and therefore excluded from local real property taxes.

On the wetlands issue, the judge accepted the testimony of a wetland’s expert for plaintiffs. The testimony was based upon the expert’s field survey of the property.

As to the value of the real property, the legal experts of the parties were far apart. Plaintiffs maintained that the fair market value of the property was different in each of the tax years. Plaintiffs’ estimates of value over the four years ranged from $3,400,000 to $5,000,000. The defendant contended that the value was $18,815,000. The judge found that plaintiffs’ expert was “more credible” and that plaintiffs’ “conclusions, with some adjustments, are closer to the truth than are defendant’s conclusions of value.”

The judge found that the only comparable sale was a parcel in North Bergen, New Jersey. The judge made certain downward adjustments in the sales price of that parcel and concluded that a value of $240,800 per acre should be applied to plaintiffs’ property. The judge found that the wetlands portion of the property should be valued at the same rate as the remainder. The judge multiplied the number of acres by the per acre value of $240,800 to reach a total land value of $5,437,264. The parties stipulated a total value of $150,000 for the building on the premises and $440,000 for the concrete piers on which the towers were situated for a total of $590,000. By adding that total value to the value of [34]*34the land, the judge reached his fair market value figure of $6,027,264.

II

Real property should be assessed for tax purposes at its fiill and fair value, that is, the price which it would sell for at a fair and bona fide sale by private contract. N.J.S.A. 54:4-23. A fair sale is a transaction between a buyer willing but not obliged to buy and a seller willing but not obliged to sell. See Hackensack Water Co. v. Borough of Old Tappan, 77 N.J. 208, 213, 390 A.2d 122 (1978). In the application of that standard, “it is appropriate to consider the highest and best use of the property.” Ibid.

Defendant maintains that the property is uniquely suitable for development and should be valued accordingly. Defendant contends that the test for determining a property’s highest and best use, when that use is not presently in existence, is “the probability of obtaining necessary zoning changes.” Defendant argues that here no zoning changes were required because they were already in place and the property is “ready to go at its highest and best use.” Thus, defendant maintains, it was error to “classify” the property “as an unreasonably obtainable or speculative future use when it is presently zoned and has a present user for that use.”

Defendant also argues that the comparable property relied on by the judge in valuing the subject property is in a poor location with substantial wetlands and possibly contaminated. Defendant argues that its comparable sales are situated in the Hackensack Meadowlands Region and more appropriately reflect the market for the subject property.

The judge concluded that the value of the property for future development was too speculative. The judge said that plaintiffs’ expert testified that:

the highest and best use of the subject property as improved is its current use as a radio station. He testified that the highest and best use as vacant is for future development. He further testified that because of the soft market in the area the time at which the property could be developed was uncertain.

[35]*35The judge pointed out that, although defendant’s expert testified that the highest and best use was development, he failed to indicate when that development would take place. The judge also said:

On cross-examination it was pointed out that in other eases in which this expert [defendant’s expert] testified with regard to valuing properties which could be developed in the future he took a discount when using comparables which were currently developable. In this case, no such discount was taken.

The judge reviewed the testimony of the four witnesses presented by the defendant as to future development. For reasons set forth in his opinion, the judge rejected the estimate of these witnesses to the extent the witnesses concluded that the property had a substantially enhanced present value based on a potential for future development. The judge said:

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Bluebook (online)
16 N.J. Tax 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/emmis-broadcasting-corp-v-borough-of-east-rutherford-njsuperctappdiv-1996.