Riegel Products Corp. v. Milford Borough

13 N.J. Tax 546
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 12, 1994
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 13 N.J. Tax 546 (Riegel Products Corp. v. Milford 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
Riegel Products Corp. v. Milford Borough, 13 N.J. Tax 546 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1994).

Opinion

LASSER, P.J.T.C.

Taxpayer contests the 1990, 1991 and 1992 real property tax assessments on taxpayer’s paper manufacturing facility located on Frenchtown Road at its intersection with Ravine Road in Milford Borough, shown as Block 19, Lot 51 on the Milford Borough tax map. Taxing district filed counterclaims for the years 1990 and 1991 seeking an increase of the property’s assessment. The assessments in issue are:

1990 & 1991 1992
Land $ 748,500 $ 738,500
Improvements 11,983,800 11,983,800
Total $12,732,300 $12,722,300

The relevant ratios of assessment to true value of the Director

of the Division of Taxation for Milford Borough pursuant to N.J.S.A, 54:1-35.1 et seq. for the applicable years are:

Year Common Level Lower Limit Upper Limit
1990 99.67% 84.72% 114.62%
1991 103.23% 87.75% 118.71%
1992 90.12% 76.6% 103.64%

At the close of trial, taxpayer moved to dismiss taxing district’s 1990 and 1991 counterclaims on the ground that taxing district failed to present any supporting evidence of value.

The subject property is a manufacturing complex producing specialty papers and is owned and occupied by Riegel Products, a Division of James River Corporation. This 56.54-acre parcel of land is located on the west side of Frenchtown Road and Milford [549]*549Creek and at the east bank of the Delaware River in Milford Borough, Hunterdon County. The property’s shape is irregular with frontage of approximately 1,000 feet on Frenchtown Road, 108 feet on Ravine Road and 88 feet on Carpenter Street.

Located on the subject is a masonry and steel-frame industrial complex constructed between 1907 and 1971 having a gross building area of 870,169 square feet as follows:

Area (sq. ft.) Percentage of total area
Office 60,871 7%
Warehouse 353,498 40.6%
Manufacturing 388,313 44.6%
Cogeneration 1,820 .2%
Service 65,667 7.6%
Total 870,169 100%

The floor areas of this complex are:

Area Percentage of
(sq. ft.) total area
Basement 275,935 31.7%
Ground 541,322 62.2%
Elevated 51,092 5.9%
Cogeneration 1,820 .2%
Total 870,169 100%

The property has a land-to-building ratio of approximately 2.8 to 1. The principal buildings are the main manufacturing complex containing 794,535 square feet and the coating plant containing 43,453 square feet. The remaining structures include two brick dwellings, a wood-frame dwelling used as a health center, a cogeneration facility and a drum-storage facility. The buildings located on the subject were constructed during the following time periods:

[550]*550Area Percentage of total area Time period (sq. ft.)
Pre- 1910 152,644 18%
247,527 From 1910 up to 1930 28%
163,913 From 1930 up to 1940 19%
107,784 From 1940 up to 1950 12%
162,420 From 1950 up to 1960 19%
35,881 ■ 1960 and later 4%
Total 870,169 100%

The subject is serviced by public utilities including water and sewer. In áddition, Riegel’s paper manufacturing process, which requires substantial quantities of water and power, draws approximately 4.5 million gallons of water each day from the Delaware River and three on-site wells. This water is returned to the river after solid and organic matter has been removed by on-site primary and secondary water treatment processes.

This facility produces approximately 175 tons of paper each day operating three shifts, 24 hours a day. An average of 1,000 pounds of steam are required to produce each ton of paper. A cogeneration facility, renovated in 1989, produces steam and electricity for primary use in RiegeFs paper manufacturing operations.1 Steam or electricity produced in excess of the plant’s needs is sold to Jersey Central Power and Light Co.

Yard improvements include 460,000 square feet of macadam and gravel-paved internal roads, parking and storage areas and 4,000 lineal feet of barbwire cyclone fencing with gates. The property [551]*551also has approximately 3,100 lineal feet of rail siding which includes track serving an eight rail car loading platform located inside the main complex and on-site switching facilities.

Substantially all of the complex is situated in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “A” flood zone. There is no evidence that any part of the property is wetland.

The subject is zoned for industrial use but does not conform with present zoning ordinances which restrict permissible lot coverage, building height and front-yard depth.

/.

Taxpayer’s Sales Comparison Approach.

Taxpayer’s expert testified that the highest and best use for the subject is general manufacturing, industrial and warehousing use. Taxpayer’s expert testified that he did not value the property as a paper manufacturing plant but as a general manufacturing and warehouse facility. He testified that he did not include the value of specific features of the property such as rail sidings, high ceilings, water supply and water treatment facility.2 Taxpayer’s expert states that there is no certainty that a buyer, who requires such features, would be found and therefore, such features should not be included in the value determination. He estimated the value of the subject by use of the sales comparison and cost approaches to value. This expert disregarded the income approach as too speculative due to what he regarded as a substantial amount of available industrial space in the region and the difficulty an investor would have locating financing for a complex the size of the subject.

In his sales comparison approach, this expert relied on sales of five industrial complexes, two in Mercer County and one each in Burlington, Union and Camden counties, occurring between November 1987 and July 1991:

[552]*552Sale Gross Bldg. Land Area Area Price Sale Sale In Sq. In Ratio No. of % Per Location Date Price Feet Acres L/B Stories Office Age Sq.Ft.
#1 USG, Delanco Tp., 11/87 Burlington Co., NJ ,000 312,700 47.5 6.6:1 > 1965- $ 9.11 1972
1 & #2 Sleeper, Linden 7/87 $8,750,000 607,529 26.5 2:1 pt.2 Union Co., NJ 5% 1919- $14.40 1935
#3 Roebling, Trenton 4/88 $2,000,000 292,388 9.94 1.5:1 1 Mercer Co., NJ Z% 1920’s $ 6.84
#4 Muirfield 7/91 $1,900,000 192,586 9.565 2.16:1 1 Pennsauken Tp., Camden Co., NJ 4% 1960, $ 9.87 1964, 1970

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Westwood Lanes, Inc. v. Garwood Borough
24 N.J. Tax 239 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2008)
General Motors Corp. v. Linden City
22 N.J. Tax 95 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2005)
Pepperidge Tree Realty Corp. v. Kinnelon Borough
21 N.J. Tax 57 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2003)
S & R Realty v. Town of Kearny
20 N.J. Tax 488 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2001)
Newport Center v. City of Jersey City
17 N.J. Tax 405 (New Jersey Tax Court, 1998)
Mori v. Town of Secaucus
15 N.J. Tax 607 (New Jersey Tax Court, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 N.J. Tax 546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riegel-products-corp-v-milford-borough-njtaxct-1994.