Hackensack Water Co. v. Woodcliff Lake Borough

9 N.J. Tax 545
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedMarch 16, 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 9 N.J. Tax 545 (Hackensack Water Co. v. Woodcliff Lake Borough) 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
Hackensack Water Co. v. Woodcliff Lake Borough, 9 N.J. Tax 545 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1988).

Opinion

CRABTREE, J.T.C.

These are local property tax cases wherein plaintiff seeks review of the 1984 and 1985 assessments on its reservoir and property adjacent thereto lying within defendant taxing district. The case involves 11 separately assessed parcels. The Block and Lot designations and the assessments (which are the same for both years) are all shown on Schedule “A” attached hereto and incorporated herein by this reference.

Plaintiffs complaint for 1984 constitutes an appeal from a Bergen County Board of Taxation judgment affirming the assessments, while plaintiffs complaint for 1985 is a direct appeal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 54:3-21.

At issue are the true value of the subject property and, with respect to 1985, the applicability of N.J.S.A. 54:51A-6 (chapter 123).

Plaintiff is a regulated private water utility supplying water service to more than 800,000 customers in northern New Jersey. The subject property is a reservoir for part of plaintiffs water supply, together with upland acreage. Approximately 153 acres are involved, of which about 97 acres are under water. The balance of the acreage consists of an island in the reservoir, an embankment and marshland adjoining the submerged land, and uplands. All the subject property is included in plaintiffs rate base as used and useful property devoted to public service. Two lots were withdrawn at the outset of the [548]*548trial. These were among the parcels to be conveyed to a related corporation pursuant to an order of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU). The BPU order followed the submission of a detailed engineering study which contained recommendations concerning the lands owned by plaintiff which should remain in plaintiff’s rate base as property used and useful in providing water service to plaintiff’s customers. The two parcels withdrawn at the trial represented substantially all the land which the study found were not required for water supply purposes.

The engineering study commissioned by plaintiff at the direction of the BPU indicated that the remaining useful life of the reservoir was approximately 180 years. The credible evidence in this case indicates that the upland acreage, along with the island and embankment and marshlands referred to below, are needed to protect plaintiff’s water supply in the reservoir.

Plaintiff’s expert estimated the true value of the subject property on October 1, 1983 to be $1,402,850. In developing this estimate he relied exclusively upon the market data approach to value. He concluded, on the basis of his comparable sales, that the unit value of the residentially zoned uplands, before adjustments, was $75,000 an acre. He posited an unadjusted value for the commercially zoned uplands of $150,000 an acre; and he estimated the value of the under water land at $500 an acre. While the expert made adjustments for size, topography, location and zoning, his principal adjustment pertained to the regulatory constraints imposed by law upon the disposition of the subject property by plaintiff as a regulated public utility. He posited a 50% downward adjustment for all lands which, he concluded, were necessary for the protection of the reservoir. These protective parcels represent all the lands included in this case except for 1.96 acres, a part of Block 2301, Lot 1, which is residentially zoned upland. The expert concluded that this property was “outside the parameters,” i.e., it was not required for the protection of plaintiff’s water supply; and he made only a 30% adjustment for shape and fill requirements.

[549]*549Block 2301, Lot 1, the largest assessed lot, also includes 3.776 acres constituting an island in the reservoir, 26.18 acres of embankment land, 4.55 acres of marshland and 96.42 acres of land underlying the reservoir. The expert applied the 50% adjustment for regulatory constraints to all these parcels. In addition he adjusted the island 45% for utility, the embankment land 30% for size and topography, the marshland 45% for topography and utility, and the under water acreage 50% for size, utility and topography. As the adjustments to the underwater land equal 100% of his value estimate the expert assigned a nominal value of $500 an acre to the submerged land.

The 2.33 acres of commercially zoned upland is, in the expert’s judgment, also to be considered as protective land, i.e., it is necessary for the protection of the reservoir. He therefore made the same 50% adjustment to his value estimate of $150,-000 an acre. He also adjusted for location, fill requirements, easements and topography. His unadjusted value estimate of $150,000 an acre was supported by five allegedly comparable sales of commercial property located in Hillsdale, Washington Township (2), Hackensack and Paramus. The critical data on these sales is best shown in tabular form as follows:

Municipality * ale Date Acreage Price Price/acre
Hillsdale 11/21/83 1.753 $330,000 $ 188,248
Washington Tp. 11/15/78 5.3 275.000 51,885
Hackensack 6/83 1.87 300.000 160,085
Washington Tp. 8/18/81 9.74 586.000 60,162
Paramus 7/81 1.05 175.000 166,667
* All the municipalities are in Bergen County

The expert concluded that the highest and best use of the subject property was its continued use as a reservoir. His 50% adjustment for the water supply was predicated upon two related factors: none of plaintiff’s property could be sold without BPU approval and plaintiff, as a regulated public utility, was not permitted to sell its property for any amount in excess [550]*550of the original cost to plaintiff, which, as plaintiff acquired the property in the early years of this century, was very low.

In estimating the true value of the subject property on October 1, 1984, for tax year 1985, plaintiffs expert simply increased his October 1, 1983 valuation 10% except for the submerged land which remained at $500 per acre.

Defendant’s expert estimated the true value of the subject to be $8,049,000, but this included the lots withdrawn at trial as well as acreage which had not been assessed. Notwithstanding these disparities the court can evaluate the unit values estimated by defendant’s expert for the several categories of land.

Defendant’s expert estimated the value of the residentially zoned lands at $75,000 an acre; he valued the commercially zoned lands at $185,000 an acre and the island and submerged lands at $18,750 an acre. These are his estimates for October 1, 1983. He increased all the unit value estimates 10% for October 1, 1984.

The defendant’s expert’s unadjusted value estimate for the residentially zoned land, including the embankment and marshland adjoining the reservoir, is in accord with the unadjusted value posited by plaintiff’s expert. The experts diverge, however, on the value of the commercially zoned uplands. Defendant’s expert, as indicated, posits an unadjusted unit value of $185,000. He supported his conclusion with five allegedly comparable sales of commercial property, all in defendant municipality. The critical data on those sales is best shown in tabular form as follows:

Sale/date Acreage Price Price/acre
6/25/82 4.09 $ 586,500 $ 143,328
8/12/81 7.64 1.295.000 169,392

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Bluebook (online)
9 N.J. Tax 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hackensack-water-co-v-woodcliff-lake-borough-njtaxct-1988.