Whitecaps Homes, Inc. v. Kenosha County Board of Review

569 N.W.2d 714, 212 Wis. 2d 714, 1997 Wisc. App. LEXIS 911
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedAugust 6, 1997
DocketNo. 96-1913
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 569 N.W.2d 714 (Whitecaps Homes, Inc. v. Kenosha County Board of Review) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitecaps Homes, Inc. v. Kenosha County Board of Review, 569 N.W.2d 714, 212 Wis. 2d 714, 1997 Wisc. App. LEXIS 911 (Wis. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

SNYDER, P.J.

Whitecaps Homes, Inc. (Whitecaps) appeals from a judgment by the circuit court of Kenosha county which affirmed a decision by the Kenosha County Board of Review on assessments of individual, subdivided pieces of property owned by Whitecaps. See § 70.47(13), Stats. The action originated with an appeal regarding the 1994 Kenosha county assessor's valuation of individual lots that were [718]*718part of a parcel owned and developed by Whitecaps. In reviewing the original assessments, the Board did not fully adopt the position of either the county assessor or Whitecaps. From the Board's decision, Whitecaps filed a writ of certiorari with the circuit court. See id. The circuit court upheld the Board's findings.

Whitecaps claims that: (1) the Board's assessment is without evidentiary support in the record; (2) the Board ignored evidence of a recent arm's-length transaction of the land; and (3) the actions of the Board were arbitrary, oppressive and unreasonable and represented its will and not its judgment. We conclude that the Board properly reached its decision and therefore affirm.

Whitecaps buys large tracts of undeveloped land and develops and subdivides the land for residential home buyers. Included in this process are improvements to the land to prepare it for residential use, such as grading, water and sewer lines, and roadways. Whitecaps does not sell individual undeveloped lots; rather, the land sale is included as part of a "home package," which includes the construction of a selected model home.

Whitecaps' assessment includes four different types of lots: (1) platted, unimproved lots; (2) platted, improved lots; (3) platted, improved lots with partially constructed homes; and (4) outlots.1 Whitecaps does not appeal the assessments on the outlots.

The Board heard the testimony of Rocco Vita, a Kenosha county assessor. For lots which were platted but unimproved, he testified that the "front foot" method was utilized in determining value; because these lots had not been improved, the value arrived at [719]*719was then reduced by 50%. He testified that this same method was used to arrive at the values for the platted, improved lots, but without the 50% reducing factor. In utilizing this method the assessor also included adjustments for any irregularly shaped lots. For lots that included partial construction, Vita testified that the assessment was based on assigning a value to the lot itself, utilizing the above methodology, and then factoring in a fair market value for the home. The fair market value was arrived at by determining a value for the home upon completion and then multiplying that number by the percentage of completion. .

Michael Pitts, a state certified real estate appraiser, testified on behalf of Whitecaps. He presented the "square foot" method as the proper means of assessment in this case. This method relies on the number of square feet in a given lot which is then multiplied by a price per square foot.2 Both Vita's and Pitts' approaches to land valuation are recognized as proper. See 1 Property Assessment Manual for Wisconsin Assessors, Part I at 8-2 (1997).

After hearing the conflicting testimony of the county assessor and Whitecaps' expert, the Board reduced the value of the unimproved lots to $10,000 per lot and decreased the assessed values of the improved lots by 3% each. The Board accepted Kenosha county's assessments as they related to the partially constructed homes and accepted the assessor's [720]*720valuation of the outlots. Circuit court review affirmed the Board's actions. Whitecaps now appeals.

The scope of this court's review is identical to that of the circuit court; our review is independent and does not rely on the circuit court's conclusions. See Steenburg v. Town of Oakfield, 167 Wis. 2d 566, 571, 482 N.W.2d 326, 327 (1992). In determining whether a valuation has been made upon the statutory basis, a court adheres to a number of principles. See id. at 571, 482 N.W.2d at 328. The court must consider: " '(1) [wjhether the board kept within its jurisdiction; (2) whether it acted according to law; (3) whether its action was arbitrary, oppressive or unreasonable and represented its will and not its judgment; and (4) whether the evidence was such that it might reasonably make the order or determination in question.'" Metropolitan Holding Co. v. Board of Review, 173 Wis. 2d 626, 630, 495 N.W.2d 314, 316 (1993) (quoted source omitted). If there is conflicting testimony concerning the value of the property, the court will not substitute its opinion for that of the board. See Steenburg, 167 Wis. 2d at 572, 482 N.W.2d at 328. The valuation must be upheld if there is credible evidence before the board which in any reasonable view supports the valuation. See id.

Platted and Improved Lots

We begin our analysis with the method of land valuation utilized for the platted and improved lots. Some of these had partially constructed homes on them; others were awaiting the start of construction. We initially direct our attention to the means of valuing the lots themselves. The Board heard testimony from two experts who explained the use of [721]*721two different methods of land valuation — the "front foot" method and the "square foot" method. While both methods are acceptable, the 1 PROPERTY ASSESSMENT MANUAL, Part I at 8-2 states that "[t]he front foot is generally used ... in built up areas where the lots are relatively small." In contrast, the manual states that "[t]he square foot is an appropriate unit of comparison in areas where the lots are irregularly shaped and where frontage is not the primary factor contributing to the value of the site." Id. The manual goes on to describe how this valuation is particularly useful in areas of excessively large lots because the excess amount of land, beyond the standard-sized lot, will generally sell for less per square foot than the rest of the lot. See id. We note that the Whitecaps development is in a densely built up area, and that the lots range in size from 6900 to 8050 square feet, which is relatively small.

Vita testified that he had used 95 comparable lot sales from other subdivisions in order to arrive at his valuation of $425 per front foot for the Whitecaps development. He noted that he used sales that had occurred within the Whitecaps development, but also from other subdivisions which he considered to be comparable. He testified that some of his comparables were taken from another subdivision, with lot sizes ranging from 60 to 67 feet wide and 125 to 130 feet deep. In analyzing those sales, he determined that comparable lots were selling for a price of between $417 to $500 per front foot. He also noted that when sales of completed homes within the comparable subdivision were compared to sales of Whitecaps homes, the Whitecaps average of $149,000 was very close to the average sale price of $141,600 in the comparable subdivision.

[722]*722Whitecaps' expert submitted his own list of "comparable" lots. However, Vita demonstrated that a number of these were from subdivisions in which the lot sizes ranged from 13,000 to 18,000 square feet, which were more than twice the size of the lots in the Whitecaps subdivision.

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Bluebook (online)
569 N.W.2d 714, 212 Wis. 2d 714, 1997 Wisc. App. LEXIS 911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitecaps-homes-inc-v-kenosha-county-board-of-review-wisctapp-1997.