New Jersey Turnpike Authority v. Herrontown Woods, Inc.

367 A.2d 893, 145 N.J. Super. 279, 1976 N.J. Super. LEXIS 613
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedNovember 24, 1976
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 367 A.2d 893 (New Jersey Turnpike Authority v. Herrontown Woods, Inc.) 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
New Jersey Turnpike Authority v. Herrontown Woods, Inc., 367 A.2d 893, 145 N.J. Super. 279, 1976 N.J. Super. LEXIS 613 (N.J. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority appeals from an award in this condemnation case made by the Law Division after a trial without a jury. Plaintiff filed its complaint and declaration of taking on September 28, 1971. Commissioners were appointed December 22, 1971. They entered their report on August 21, 1973 and both parties [281]*281appealed therefrom, so that a trial de novo was held before the, trial judge on a stipulation waiving a jury. The judge made a total award of damages in the sum of $133,682, being the aggregate sum of the value of the property taken, $88,914; damages to a strip subject to pipeline easement, $1,404, and damages to the remainder of the tract, $31,304.

Defendant Herrontown Woods, Inc., on the date of the taking, September 28, 1911, was the owner of an irregularly shaped parcel consisting of 35.33 acres in a rural neighborhood fronting on the Turnpike and with access on a narrow dead-end street. The property had some old dilapidated farm buildings thereon which were not affected by the taking. The land was zoned industrial and research. It was located basically at the crossing of 1-195 and the Turnpike.

During the 1960s the State undertook the planning and construction of Interstate 195, a major limited-access interstate highway running east-west across New Jersey. It was proposed to cross over and interchange with the New Jersey Turnpike in Washington Township, Mercer County. Acquisition of right-of-way for 1-195 by the State Department of Transportation in the Washington Township area took place in the 1968-1910 period.

In the late 1960s the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the State Department of Transportation commenced joint planning for the construction of the interchange between the Turnpike and 1-195. Design engineering for the interchange commenced in 1968, property acquisition took place in 1911 and construction commenced in 1912, with completion of the interchange in the fall of 1914.

Plaintiff sought by the condemnation action to take 14.83 acres in fee and 1.853 acres for utility easement, leaving title to 20.5 acres remaining1 in the owner. Only two witnesses testified below as to the value of the land which was taken, the value of the easement and the damages to the remainder. John Eapp, real estate expert, testified for the [282]*282State, and Bryce Thompson, also a real estate expert and president of defendant company, testified for defendant!

Rapp appraised the value of the subject property prior to «the taking at $4,000 an acre. Utilizing this figure for the area taken and giving a 25 % damage factor to the remainder, and finding that the new easement was worth $1,000 an acre, he testified that approximately $83,500 would represent just compensation. As a secondary valuation Rapp stated that as a result of the “special benefit” to the subject property due to the creation of the Edgewood Road overpass and the continuation of this previously dead-ended road (providing access to the property that did not exist before) the damages to the remainder should be offset by 50%, or $500 an acre, so that $71,421 would be just compensation.

Thompson appraised the subject property before the taking at $9,240 an acre, or a total value of $326,476. Utilizing this figure for the area taken and applying a 50% damage factor to the remainder, and finding that the easement had depreciated 75%, he concluded that $255,530 represented the value of that which was taken as well as the damages to the remaining land.

Each of the experts based his respective evaluation on comparable sales. Rapp enumerated the details of nine sales, of which three were in industrial zones. Thompson referred to seven sales, six of which were in areas zoned for industrial use. The judge regarded only two sales cited by Rapp and three sales cited by Thompson as significant. Ocean Cty. v. Landolfo, 132 N. J. Super. 523, 528 (App. Div. 1975). These significant sales, all of which were of land in industrial zones, were as follows:

[283]*283By Eapp:
#1 40.24 acres sold February 1970 at $7,000 an aero
#2 35.33 acres (subject property) sold July 1966 at
$1,500 an acre.
By Thompson:
#1 Same as #1 above, referred to by the parties as the “Hydroponic” sale
$b2 22.496 acres sold in October 1972 at $9,826 an acre2.
#3 35.74 acres sold in September 1973 at $12,000 an acre.

Plaintiff first argues that the trial judge erred in admitting into evidence sales which were enhanced in value by the project itself. These consisted of all sales which the judge deemed to be meaningful, except for the 1966 sale, by which defendant acquired title to the subject property. Although plaintiff’s expert first introduced the Hydroponic sale as a comparable sale although enhanced, plaintiff now submits that it was done because “its non-admissibility” was not clear. Additionally, it says it was on notice that it would be utilized by defendant’s expert and consequently proffered it “not so much as a comparable sale but in order to explain its significance and discount it to the Court due to its enhancement by the Project.”

Plaintiff urges that the “factoring out” of enhanced value is virtually impossible; that once the enhancement element is established the process of arriving at a pre-enhancement value is sheer speculation. We disagree.

Beal estate expert witnesses are often required to “factor out” elements pertaining to sales of comparable property which represent dissimilarities between the subject lands and comparable lands which have been sold, State v. Probasco, 114 N. J. Super. 546, 552 (App. Div. 1970), aff’d 58 N. J. 372 (1971) ; so also as to the value of commercial property where the comparable sales were residentially-zoned property, Rockland Elec. Co. v. Bolo Corp., 66 N. J. Super. [284]*284171, 179 (App. Div. 1961), and as to value if rezoned, by way of explaining his opinion of existing market value, State v. Gorga, 26 N. J. 113 (1958).

Thus, in State v. Probasco, supra, 114, the court stated:

The essential criterion in an expert’s decision to use a sale as a comparable is a substantial similarity of conditions. See the discussion in Moorestown Tp. v. Slack, 85 N. J. Super. 109, 113-114 (App. Div. 1964), certif. den. 43 N. J. 452 (1964). But the expert may well discount dissimilarity of one or more conditions, if there is such similarity as to others so that, after adjusting for the dissimilarities, there remains such educational value in the sale price as to help the appraiser in valuing the subject property. Id., at 114. The differences requiring consideration, and, perhaps, adjustment, may include those as to physical aspects, degree of improvement, actual or highest and best use, location, time or date of sale and the degree of deviation from the willing buyer-willing seller concept (e. g., as here, pressure on the buyer to buy or on the seller to sell). Id., at 115. [114 N. J. Super, at 552]

See also, State, by Com’r of Conservation v. Vacation Land, Inc.,

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Bluebook (online)
367 A.2d 893, 145 N.J. Super. 279, 1976 N.J. Super. LEXIS 613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-jersey-turnpike-authority-v-herrontown-woods-inc-njsuperctappdiv-1976.