In a market where economic indicators continue to show encouraging signs (e.g., sustained favorable employment numbers and rental rates, and continuing low levels of inflation), the prospect that property values will appreciate remains real. Because of questionable municipal assessment practices, often blindly motivated by the objective of maximizing tax ratables, careful scrutiny of assessments, especially
Carl A. Rizzo
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For-Profit Operations at a State Owned University Found to Qualify for Tax Exemption
By Carl A. Rizzo on
Posted in Tax Exemptions
In what may prove to be a watershed moment for real property tax exemption jurisprudence in New Jersey, the Appellate Division has held that property located on the campus of Kean University (a State owned institution of higher education), but being utilized and occupied, in part, by a for-profit restaurant, is nonetheless still entitled to…
New Jersey Court Rejects Zoning Board’s Issuance of a Variance That Discriminates Against Tenants
By Carl A. Rizzo & Christopher P. Massaro on
Posted in Land Use and Development, Real Estate
The Appellate Division has once again confirmed that “distinctions between renters or property owners in the application of zoning and land use laws have no place in the application of legitimate objectives of zoning.”
In Tirpak v. Bor. of Point Pleasant Beach, A-5088-17T1/A-5147-17T1, decided Feb. 11, 2019, the property owner sought to remove a…
Zoning Boards Are Not Free to Disregard Prior Rulings Where Property Conditions Remain Unchanged
By Carl A. Rizzo & Christopher P. Massaro on
Posted in Land Use and Development
In a recent unpublished decision, the Appellate Division again confirmed that a zoning board may not reverse course without justification once it has made findings regarding a specific property.
In Oster v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Township of Middletown (Docket No. A-0037-17T3, decided January 11, 2019), the applicant sought and obtained a hardship…
The Local Property Tax Appeal Filing Deadline Remains Inviolate and Cannot be Circumvented by Use of the Intervention Tool
By Carl A. Rizzo on
In Farmland Dairies, Inc. v. Borough of Wallington, N.J. Super. App. Div. (per curiam) (unpublished decision) (35-2-7909), the Appellate Division upheld the decision of the Tax Court in denying an unrelated neighboring property owner’s efforts at intervening in a pending local property tax appeal between the property owner and the Borough. The court concluded that…