Robbins v. Capo

42 Fla. Supp. 2d 162
CourtCircuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida
DecidedMay 31, 1990
DocketCase No. 88-25150 CA 30
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 42 Fla. Supp. 2d 162 (Robbins v. Capo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robbins v. Capo, 42 Fla. Supp. 2d 162 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

MURRAY GOLDMAN, Circuit Judge.

[163]*163 FINAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

THIS CAUSE came before the Court on May 30, 1990, pursuant to notice, on the Plaintiff Property Appraiser’s motion for final summary judgment against the Defendant-taxpayers and on the Plaintiffs objection to filing and ore tenus motion to strike Property Appraisal Adjustment Board (P.A.A.B.) transcript. The Court reviewed the filed pleadings, admissions, affidavits, and documents and considered the motion in light of arguments of counsel and the applicable authorities. Thereupon, it is:

ORDERED and ADJUDGED as follows:

1. The Property Appraiser’s Motion for Final Summary Judgment against the taxpayers is granted.

2. The Plaintiffs objection to the taxpayers’ filing of the P.A.A.B. transcript at the summary judgment hearing is overruled, and Plaintiffs’ ore tenus motion to strike the transcript is denied.

3. This Court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter hereof.

4. As to the Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment and the defenses raised by the taxpayers, there are no genuine issues of material fact and the Plaintiff Property Appraiser is entitled to judgment in his favor as a matter of law.

FINDINGS OF UNDISPUTED FACT

5. Defendants Manuel and Aida Capo were the owners of the subject property on the January 1, 1987 assessment date.

6. The subject parcel consists of five (5) acres situated within the City of Hialeah, Florida.

7. The subject property was rezoned from G-U (general use or Interim District) to M-l (Industrial District) at the request of the owner in 1981. At the time of the rezoning request, the subject property was vacant.

8. The property was purchased by Manuel and Aida Capo in April 1985 for $333,000, 74 times its agricultural assessment of $4,500.

9. The taxpayers applied to the Property Appraiser for agricultural classification for 1987, claiming use of the subject property as cropland. In filing their application for agricultural classification, the taxpayers claimed their property was being used for “bona fide” agricultural purposes, which, pursuant to section 193.461(3)(b), Florida Statutes, [164]*164means “good faith” commercial agricultural use. The Dade County Property Appraiser denied the requested classification.

10. The taxpayers petitioned the Property Appraisal Adjustment Board (P.A.A.B.) for relief. The P.A.A.B. adopted the special master’s recommendations, reclassifying four (4) acres as “bona fide” agricultural and upholding denial of agricultural classification with respect to the remaining one acre.

11. Disagreeing with the P.A.A.B.’s decision, the Property Appraiser filed this de novo proceeding pursuant to section 194.036, Florida Statutes, seeking reinstatement of his preliminary nonagricultural assessment.

12. For nearly fourteen months during the pendency of this action, the taxpayers did not respond to the Plaintiffs request to admit that as of the January 1, 1987 assessment date, the subject property was not used in good faith for commercial agricultural purposes.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The Property Appraiser’s denial of agricultural classification is presumed correct. This presumption follows the assessment and denial of agricultural classification in the trial court and on appeal. Markham v June Rose, 495 So.2d 865 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986). The Appraiser’s denial of agricultural classification is entitled to reinstatement if supported by any reasonable hypothesis of legal assessment. Bystrom v Whitman, 488 So.2d 520, 521 (Fla. 1986); Straughn v Tuck, 354 So.2d 368 (Fla. 1978). Herein, the Property Appraiser presented without objection by the taxpayers not just one, but four separate statutory hypotheses supporting denial of Greenbelt exemption to the subject property for 1987. These will be discussed seriatim.

I.

Agricultural classification or “exemption” for property tax purposes is governed by section 193.461, Florida Statutes, Florida’s Greenbelt Law. In passing the Greenbelt Law, the Legislature intended to encourage agricultural pursuits and to protect property owners using property for “bona fide” agricultural purposes. As amended, the Greenbelt Law restricts agricultural classification to lands which are used primarily for “bona fide” — i.e., “good faith” — agricultural purposes. § 193.461(3)(b), Fla. Stat.

By request for admission served February 23, 1989, the Property Appraiser requested the taxpayers to admit that “[a]s of January 1, 1987 the subject property was not used in good faith for commercial [165]*165agricultural purposes.” Defendants failed to respond to this request for admission within the prescribed thirty days. Formal denial came nearly fourteen months after the request for admission, on the same day this Court entered its pre-trial order. Under these circumstances, the request is deemed admitted. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.370(b). Consequently, the lack of good faith commercial agricultural use of the property as of the assessment date is conclusively established. Id. The taxpayers made no motion to withdraw or amend this admission. This admission, without more, is sufficient to mandate reinstatement of the Property Appraiser’s denial of Greenbelt exemption herein. § 193.461(3)(b). Even absent this admission, however, such denial is mandated by three additional statutory principles embedded in the Greenbelt Law.

II.

The affidavit of the Zoning Director of the City of Hialeah and accompanying zoning documents establish without dispute that the subject property was zoned exclusively for industrial use at the time it was purchased by the Capos in April 1985. Any use of the subject property as cropland or for planting fruit trees was prohibited as of January 1, 1987. §§ 32-17, -18, -19, -20, City of Hialeah Code. No argument was (or, on the record before this Court, could have been) made that any such use was “grandfathered in” as a legal nonconforming use. Id. § 32-25(b). Consequently, unless and until the rule of law recently announced by the Third District Court of Appeal is reversed by the Supreme Court, such industrially-zoned land is ineligible for Greenbelt exemption. Robbins v Yusem, 15 F.L.W. D554 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 17, 1990), reh. denied, May 17, 1990 [559 So.2d 1185]; Robbins v Stuart International Corp., case no. 89-994 (Fla. 3d DCA March 6, 1990); reh. denied, April 20, 1990 [559 So.2d 1188]; Robbins v Carol Management, Inc., case no. 89-571 (Fla. 3d DCA March 6, 1990), reh. denied, May 21, 1990 [559 So.2d 1189]; Kendall Industrial Park, Ltd. v Robbins, case no. 89-829 (Fla. 3d DCA March 6, 1990), reh. denied, May 21, 1990 [559 So.2d 1189].

III.

Denial of agricultural classification is mandated by the rezoning provision of the Greenbelt statute, § 193.461(4)(a)3, and the decision in Markham v Fogg, 458 So.2d 1122 (Fla. 1984). The subject property was rezoned from an agricultural to a nonagricultural use at the request of the owner in 1981. Such rezoning gives rise to the presumptive denial of agricultural classification. § 193.461(4)(a)3; Fogg.

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Related

Robbins v. Yusem
48 Fla. Supp. 2d 156 (Florida Circuit Courts, 1991)
Robbins v. M. C. Property Management, Inc.
46 Fla. Supp. 2d 79 (Florida Circuit Courts, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
42 Fla. Supp. 2d 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robbins-v-capo-flacirct-1990.