Holland v. Walker

492 So. 2d 1093, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1515, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 8653
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 9, 1986
DocketNo. 85-577
StatusPublished

This text of 492 So. 2d 1093 (Holland v. Walker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holland v. Walker, 492 So. 2d 1093, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1515, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 8653 (Fla. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinions

DOWNEY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment upholding a tax assessment on real property in Palm Beach County. Appellants, the property owners, sued Rebecca E. Walker, the county property appraiser, and Allen C. Clark, the county tax collector, contesting the 1982 tax valuation of $1,042,500 assessed against approximately fifty-one acres of unimproved property owned by them in the City of West Palm Beach. The owners’ complaint alleged that they successfully sought administrative relief from said assessment by petitioning the Palm Beach County Property Appraisal Adjustment Board, where the assessment was reduced to $765,000. The property appraiser accepted the board’s assessment, but the owners, being dissatisfied with the reduction, sought relief in the circuit court. The trial court found that the owners had failed to meet their burden of proof to overturn the assessment and entered judgment for the property appraiser and tax collector, and the owners perfected this appeal.

The property in question is “L” shaped and has a ten-acre lake at the south end. It is located adjacent to St. Mary’s Hospital and the Royal Palm Memorial Gardens Cemetery, which is also owned by appellants. The east end of the property fronts Old Dixie Highway and the north side of the property is adjacent to a series of Florida Power and Light electricity transmission lines. A portion of the property is spanned by a row of power lines pursuant to easements owned by Florida Power and Light. Under the City of West Palm Beach [1095]*1095Zoning Code Section 53-21, the property is zoned “P” Parks District.1

The City of West Palm Beach has adopted a comprehensive land use plan pursuant to Chapter 163, Florida Statutes. Under that plan the property in question is shown in an area designated “Community Service.” While the plan does not contain a formal definition of community service, there is a definition in the minutes of the Planning Board Case No. 677 where the board requested that a definition of community service be added to page ninety-one of the plan.2

The owners’ appraiser valued the land at $163,000 based on twenty-three usable acres. He found numerous factors which denigrated the value of the overall property, such as: the Florida Power and Light easement, which involved some high tension lines that spanned a portion of the property; the proximity to a cemetery; the property was located in a high crime area; and the existence of a ten-acre lake located on the south end of the tract.

The property appraiser’s expert, Mr. Stahman, valued the property at $1,130,000 based on forty-one usable acres. He testified that he considered each of the eight criteria found in section 193.011, Florida Statutes, in arriving at the just value of the property. Regarding the criteria of “[t]he highest and best use to which the property can be expected to be put in the immediate future and the present use of the property, taking into consideration any applicable local or state land use regulation ...,” section 193.011(2), he stated that his “opinion was based on the permitted uses and the current zoning which is applicable to the subject property.” Further, he considered the highest and best use of the property to be one of those permitted under the community service classification of the comprehensive land use plan, and he stated that what is presently permitted under the “P” zoning designation would be private and semi-private types of uses subject to approval by the city commission. Mr. Stah-man testified that government buildings could be placed on property in the “P” zoning, and that golf courses and institutions (such as schools and churches) could be constructed in the “P” zoning once approvals were obtained from the city commission. Although he recognized that a life care facility would not be a permitted use under the “P” zoning, he stated that, based upon his discussions with the city zoning director, there was a favorable possibility that the city commission would approve use of the property for a residential life care facility in light of the community service designation under the land use plan. Under the plan, there was a determination that a major medical facility should be located in the vicinity of the subject property. Additionally, Mr. Stahman determined that there was a demand for other uses of the subject property. He stated that there was a demand for school sites in the area, and that the school board had purchased property nearby for use as the [1096]*1096relocation of Twin Lakes High School. He pointed out that Scripps-Howard was proposing to expand its existing broadcast facility and to construct an additional new facility, and that Channel 29 is newly located on the south side of Blue Heron Boulevard. He also stated that there was a drug and alcohol user’s rehabilitation center under construction near the property, at St. Mary’s Hospital.

With regard to the detrimental factors which the property owners’ expert described, Mr. Stahman found their impact on value either nonexistent or disagreed with many of them. He testified that he considered the allegation that the property was located in a high crime area, noting that a nearby facility had only had five criminal incidents in the past five years. He opined that it would be possible to provide sufficient on-site security for any development on the property to overcome any adverse influence caused by crime in the neighborhood. As to the allegation that the lake would require substantial land fill, Mr. Stahman stated that the trend of today’s market development procedures is to have on-site retention for water runoff and, therefore, the lake could easily serve this purpose. Regarding the power lines over a portion of the property, Mr. Stahman did not believe that they would have to be moved, and that the area underneath could be used for purposes such as parking, landscaping and “heart trails.” It should also be noted that Mr. Stahman properly considered the value of Florida Power and Light’s easements in his appraisal of the property, whereas the owners’ expert did not.3 Finally, Mr. Stahman did not think that the location of the property next to the cemetery had a negative influence on its value.

Thus, the bottom line is that the property owners contend that the fair market value of the property (only twenty-three acres) is $8,500 per acre, which they discounted to $163,000, whereas the board of adjustment’s valuation of the property is $15,000 per acre, or a total of $765,000 for fifty-one acres.

On appeal the owners never discuss the valuation of $765,000 set by the board— they discuss only the valuation set* by the property appraiser’s witness at $1,130,000. However, since the property appraiser did not contest the board’s valuation, the board’s valuation became the property appraiser’s valuation for the taxable year in question. Furthermore, that valuation carries the same presumption of validity as is usually accorded the property appraiser’s valuation. Bystrom v. Equitable Life Assurance Society, 416 So.2d 1133 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).

The property owners’ first point on appeal is that the property appraiser’s valuation is unacceptable because it disregards the present zoning on the property and relies on uses available under the comprehensive plan. The owners contend that the valuation must be based on the existing zoning, which in this case is “P” Parks District, allowing only the uses described in footnote one.

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Bluebook (online)
492 So. 2d 1093, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1515, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 8653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holland-v-walker-fladistctapp-1986.