Taylor v. Township of Lower

13 N.J. Tax 371
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedAugust 30, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 13 N.J. Tax 371 (Taylor v. Township of Lower) 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
Taylor v. Township of Lower, 13 N.J. Tax 371 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1993).

Opinion

RIMM, J.T.C.

This is a local property tax matter implicating the taxation as real property of floating docks and piers claimed to be personal property under N.J.S.A 54:4-1, as amended by the “Business Retention Act,” L.1992, c. 24. The Business Retention Act, amended L.1986, c. 117, which was the legislative response to the question whether certain property should be taxed as real properly for local property tax purposes or treated as personal property and not taxed. The case will be decided under the present form of the statute which was approved June 29, 1992 to take effect immediately. In pertinent part, the act provides that it “shall ... apply ... to all tax appeals pending at the time of the enactment [373]*373regardless of the tax year in question.” L.1992, c. 24, § 7. See Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Perth Amboy, 9 N.J.Tax 205, 221 (1987).

The subject property is designated as Block 806, Lot 4.01 CB076. For the tax year 1990, the property was assessed as follows:

Land $ 5,000
Improvements 20,600
Total $25,600.

On appeal to the Cape May County Board of Taxation, the assessment was affirmed. The taxpayer then filed a complaint in the Tax Court seeking a reduction in the improvements assessment.

The subject property is one of 170 dockominium units in the Lighthouse Pointe Marina Condominium. Plaintiffs are the owners of the unit designated as B-76 with which unit they also own 0.5576273% of the common elements of the condominium complex.

The parties have stipulated that the correct land assessment is $5,000. Plaintiffs, however, challenge the improvements assessment. They claim that the improvements assessment includes an assessment on property which is personal property, namely floating docks and floating finger piers which constitute the method of access to the actual slip, or area in which plaintiffs may keep a boat, and which slip has the above referenced block and lot designation. The parties have also stipulated that, if I conclude that all of the improvements assessed should be assessed as real property, then the improvements assessment of $20,600 is correct. The parties further stipulate that, if I conclude that a portion of the improvements assessed is personal property, then the correct assessment for the improvements as real property is $17,500. In effect, plaintiffs challenge $3,100 of the improvements assessment. No value testimony was presented.

Although the amount in dispute is small, the issue is important because plaintiffs are, in reality, attempting to challenge the method of assessment for the benefit of all of the dockominium unit owners.

[374]*374Title to the subject unit is in the name of plaintiffs by deed from Taylor Mills dated September 20, 1988 and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Cape May County on September 21, 1988. The property was conveyed to Taylor Mills by Coastal Eesearch and Development Group by deed dated October 16,1987 and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Cape May County. Plaintiffs’ title includes an undivided 0.5576273% interest in the Lighthouse Pointe Marina Condominium as set forth in the condominium master deed which was recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Cape May County on August 27,1987 in Deed Book 1705, page 758. An amendment to the master deed was recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Cape May County in Deed Book 1724, page 777. The amendment permitted a change in the number of slips, which change will be discussed hereafter.

The condominium complex consists of approximately 7.85 acres, of which most is the riparian grant area where the boat slips are located. The upland area has a frontage of approximately 898.18 feet along the easterly side of Shawcrest Eoad and approximately 1,766 feet of bulkhead along Grassy Sound, the body of water in which the boat slips are located. The site is irregular in shape. Shawcrest Eoad is a 60-foot wide paved public road which has traffic flow in two directions. The entire condominium complex consists of 170 boat slips, 10 commercial condominium units, a restaurant condominium unit, 176 parking spaces and a multi-use structure with meeting space, bathrooms, showers and other amenities. The common elements also include breakwaters, shrubbery and exterior lighting. The tax rate for 1990 is $2,852 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The condominium complex is located in the MD Marine Development zone of the township. The subject properly did not conform to the zoning requirements, and a use variance was granted by the Lower Township Board of Adjustment and the Planning Board prior to construction. In applying for the variance, the developer indicated an intention to construct docks and piers to remain in place 12 months a year. In granting the variance, the municipality imposed a condition that, while boats [375]*375might remain in their slips 12 months a year, no one could live on the boats from November 15 to March 1. To enforce the condition, the municipality required that there be no water service to the slips during that period of time each year.

Plaintiffs concede that the upland, the improvements on the upland and the bulkhead are real property for local property tax purposes. Plaintiffs also concede that the ramps which are attached to the bulkhead and which lead down from the upland to the floating docks are also real property. However, plaintiffs contend that the floating docks themselves and the finger piers which are attached to the floating docks are personal property for local property tax purposes and should not be assessed as real property. Plaintiffs do concede that the pilings which hold the docks and finger piers in place are real property.

There are five ramps attached to the bulkhead each of which leads from the bulkhead to a floating dock. Four of the floating docks are 308 feet long extending from the bulkhead, to which they are not attached, out into the water. One dock is 210 feet long. At the end of each dock is a T-head, at which the dock terminates. Attached to each dock, and perpendicular to it, are finger piers which divide the water area along each dock into boat slips. Some of the finger piers are 40 feet long, and some of the finger piers are 30 feet long. Plaintiffs’ slip is 40 feet long.

Plaintiffs claim that the docks and the finger piers are personal property for two reasons. First, the docks and finger piers are movable: they float, that is to say they move up and down with the ebb and flow of the tide. Secondly, the configuration of the piers can be changed, and, since the construction of the marina, there has been one reconfiguration of the pier layout as originally set forth in the master deed establishing the condominium. The master deed was amended to provide for the removal of three finger piers resulting in a change from the 173 slips in the original master deed to 170 slips, the number of slips on the assessing date.

The floating dock system at the marina is known as an Abeille Floating Marina System, a registered trademark. The docks and [376]*376finger piers have Iroko teak-like wooden decking; foam filled gel coated fiberglass floats; and special aluminum alloy chassis. They have dual built-in top access utility channels; a unique Lumipost utility distribution system; and an adjustable cleating system.

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Bluebook (online)
13 N.J. Tax 371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-township-of-lower-njtaxct-1993.