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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBoard of Appeals and Equalization - 04/05/2001 CITY OF EDEN PRAIRIE BOARD OF REVIEW APPROVED MINUTES THURSDAY,APRIL 5, 2001 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER 8080 MITCHELL ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS BOARD OF REVIEW MEMBERS: Patricia Pidcock—Chair, Mike Best— Vice Chair, Judy Ilstrup, Doug Malam and Annette O'Connor BOARD OF REVIEW STAFF: City Assessor Steve Sinell, Appraiser II John Sams, Appraiser II Barb Cook, Assessing Clerks Jody Carlson and Gretchen Laven, Recording Secretary Peggy Rasmussen I. ROLL CALL/CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair Pidcock called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. All members were present. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by Malam, to open the hearing to personal appeals. Motion carried 5-0. It was the consensus to begin by hearing the appeals of those who were present. II. ORDER OF BUSINESS A. Hear Personal Appeals (2) Herman Wipperfurth, 8527 Red Oak Drive 1/2001 EMV $564,300 This appraisal was reviewed and the assessor recommended no change to the original Estimated Market Value. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by Malam, to accept the assessor's evaluation of$564,300. Motion carried 5-0. (3) Gordon Schleicher, 9656 Hampshire Lane 1/2001 EMV $144,500 This appraisal was reviewed and the assessor recommended no change to the original EMV. MOTION: Malam moved, seconded by Best, to accept the original EMV of $144,500. Motion carried 5-0. (5) Gary Johnson, 10106 Juniper Lane 1/2001 EMV $285,900 Gary Johnson said he has looked at two comparables in his area. The first house is at 10117 Juniper Lane and has the following features his does not have: a walkout basement that is recently finished, a three-stall garage, located BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING April 5, 2001 Page 2 on a woodland pond, a much larger lot. This house sold for $288,500 in November 1999. The second house is at 10101 Juniper Lane, and has the following features his does not have: a three-stall garage, a walkout basement, basement bath roughed in, is in the area of the woodland pond, larger lot and considerably larger house. Johnson said his real estate agent told him it would be worth $30,000 to $40,000 more than his house. In addition, other issues may have an impact. Pioneer Trail construction is just four houses away from his house. When it is finished it will be a four- lane highway with 18-foot median. It will be a major east-west route between I-494 and 212, so trucks will be using it. Another factor is that behind his house, where there are 50 acres of woods, a townhouse development is going to be built that will diminish the value of his house. Sinell said Colin Schmidt has started appraisal of the property. He suggested the Board refer this back to him to complete his work. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by O'Connor, to hold this appeal over to the next meeting of the Board of review, so the assessor can finish his work. Motion carried 5-0. (6) Realife Valley View Cooperative of Eden Prairie, 10785 Valley View Road 1/2001 EMV $10,395,800 Sinell gave background information. This is a four-story building on Valley View Road, overlooking Lake Smetana. It was occupied in December 2000. There are 94 cooperative housing units. It was organized as a cooperative, so the building is owned by the residents. Each of the residents is a shareholder in the cooperative and has the right to enter into an occupancy agreement. The City values the whole property and then pro-rates it back to the individual units. Individual taxpayers can file for Homestead taxes. The City then adds the total amount for all the units, and the property tax is assessed on the whole building. Jack Berry introduced himself as President of the Board of Directors, which runs the business and activities of Realife. There are 141 people living there, and all are over the age of 62. Seventy percent of them have an income under the average family income for Eden Prairie. The Board of Directors believes Realife Cooperative qualifies as a Limited Equity Cooperative. The members paid to join the Cooperative long before it was built, for a total of $2,200,000. This money was used as a loan to the developer so he could continue to develop the project. Berry said the City assessors believe the $2,200,000 belongs in the cost of the building. Berry said it doesn't, and that is one of the primary disagreements the City and the Board of Directors have had. Realife qualifies for six out of seven BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING April 5, 2001 Page 3 requirements of qualification as a Limited Equity Cooperative. When a member of the Cooperative moves out, the unit is purchased by the Board of Directors for exactly what the owner paid into it and that is replaced by a loan to the next owner coming in to purchase it at exactly the same amount. This is done according to HUD's regulations, not Realife's bylaws. The property tax for 2001 of $143,434 will amount to 16 percent of the Cooperative's operating budget. They had budgeted for 8 percent, which was more than HUD recommended. The developer of Realife has developed 17 projects over 23 years. He has a history of what taxes are in these various groups. None has ever approached the estimated value of the amount put on this project. There is a cooperative located at 7500 York Avenue in Edina. Their tax bill estimated for 2001 is less than $80,000. The building is many times bigger than Realife and is on some of the most valuable land in the Twin Cities. Berry asked the Board of Review to take another look at this property and find a way of doing a fair and equitable appraisal. O'Connor asked if the property tax for the organization is paid out of its budget. Barry replied it is paid out of the monthly fees the Board collects from the members of the Cooperative. That amount varies by the square footage of the units, which averages 1138 square feet. O'Connor wondered if concessions to cooperatives have been made by other cities. Edina has a much different tax base from Eden Prairie so it is difficult to compare the building on York Avenue. Sinell said the classification of property that qualifies as a Limited Equity Cooperative is included in the information received by the Board of Review. State statutes governing Limited Equity Cooperatives say the amount that would go back to the cooperative upon sale of a unit cannot be more than $500. Realife has set a higher amount than that. According to Section 273.11, Valuation of Property, the City is not to adopt a different standard of value for cooperatives. Therefore, unless a cooperative meets all the requirements of Subdivision 8, the assessor shall assess the lesser of its market value or the qualifying comparable. Sinell said the assessors have reviewed the Realife Cooperative's documents and bylaws, the CIC regulatory declaration, and the HUD agreement, and the property doesn't appear to qualify. The distribution of more than $500 upon sale of a unit disqualifies it. Barry asked how the City could find a market value of $10 million on a Limited Equity Cooperative. Sinell replied the assessors still have to find what the appropriate market value is. The County attorney has said it doesn't qualify for a limited market value. They are waiting for some further information on the documented cost from Dick Hanson from Realife. Barry said that would be available within the next five days. BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING April 5, 2001 Page 4 Pidcock suggested waiting for the next meeting of the Board of Review, and the assessors should work with Realife to try to settle it before that time. At this stage the Board doesn't have enough information to make a decision. She asked Sinell to also share any legal information he obtains. Barry said the Board of Directors would work with the assessors to come up with a fair assessment. HUD and the state are trying to write laws that will support affordable housing. Sinell said the laws are pretty specific; he agreed some statutory changes are needed. MOTION: O'Connor moved, seconded by llstrup, to continue this appeal to the next meeting of the Board of Review. Motion carried 5-0. (7) Michael Dunn, 8661 Red Oak Drive 1/2001 EMV $171,500 Appraisal is in process by John Sams. Pidcock said the Board could accept the Estimated Market Value, or hold the appeal over to the next meeting. The property is on a half-acre lot on Red Rock Lake. MOTION: llstrup moved, seconded by Best, to accept the original EMV of $171,500. Motion carried 5-0. (8) Mahmoud Yousefzadeh, 9652 Clark Circle 1/2001 EMV $162,100 Appraisal is in process by Colin Schmidt. MOTION: Malam moved, seconded by Best, to accept the original EMV of $162,100. Motion carried 5-0. (9) Scott& Lesa Kaldenberg, 8848 Cottonwood Lane 1/2001 EMV $326,100 Sinell said he recommends reduction of the EMV to $300,000. MOTION: O'Connor moved, seconded by llstrup, to accept the reduced appraisal of$300,000. Motion carried 5-0. (10) Philip Schmidt, 7256 Gerard Drive 1/2001 EMV $186,100 Mr. Schmidt said he lives in an area that has a lot of traffic noise. Gerard Drive backs up to I-494 and there is no noise barrier. He has asked a friend who is a realtor to give him a list of comparable houses sold recently in this area. Mr. Schmidt had the list with him. He said the house that compares the most closely to his sold for$187,100,but it is on a quiet cul de sac. BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING April 5, 2001 Page 5 Best noted that John Sams is working on the appraisal. Sams said he would like to look at some of the sales in the neighborhood. He asked Schmidt to share the list of comparable houses he had and he would share with him anything he finds out. He offered to call Schmidt and let him know the results of his appraisal prior to the next meeting of the Board in twenty days. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by O'Connor, to hold over this appeal to the next meeting of the Board of Review. Motion carried 5-0. (11) Kevin Witthuhn, 8902 Pine Bluff Court 1/2001 EMV $226,100 An appraisal is in process by Colin Schmidt. Sinell said Mr. Witthuhn could not be at the meeting to present his appeal, but if the Board does not agree with his EMV of $212,000, he would like to come back to speak at the next Board of Review meeting. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by Malam, to postpone a decision to the next meeting of the Board of Review. Motion carried 5-0. (12) Edenvale Family Housing, 7489 Mitchell Road 1/2001 EMV $2,866,000 Sinell said one of the owners is to supply income and expense information for review of appraisal. MOTION: O'Connor moved, seconded by Best, to continue this appeal to the next meeting. Motion carried 5-0. (13) Curtis Fischer, 8863 Hidden Oaks Drive 1/2001 EMV $353,600 Appraisal is in process by Colin Schmidt. Sinell said Mr. Fischer was out of town and could not be present at the meeting. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by Malam, to continue this appeal to the next meeting. Motion carried 5-0. B. Written Appeals (15) John P. Peterson& Harriet Peterson, 7828 Bailey Dr. 1/2001 EMV $504,700 (16) Robert P. Liska, 11232 Mount Curve Road 1/2001 EMV $380,200 Sinell said these two written appeals came in that day, April 5. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by llstrup, to carry over both of the above written appeals to the next meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Malam asked if the Liska property is homestead or not. Sams said it should be homestead. The owner filled out a homestead application form but the card didn't BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING April 5, 2001 Page 6 get into the City's file for some unknown reason. A new homestead application will be mailed out to him. C. Hear Other Appeals (14) Ronald Van Asten, 8233 Hillside Drive 1/2001 EMV 150,900 Mr. Van Asten said he moved to this address in 1969. His intention is to fix it up. A handyman estimated it would cost $130,000. It needs new siding, a new roof, new furnace, new electrical, and eventually new windows. The insulation is old. It has one bathroom. He believes the house is very poorly built. The basement is partially finished and has a low ceiling. The house is on a half-acre lot. He said Colin Schmidt has not appraised this house for about two years. Pidcock suggested that Mr. Van Asten and Colin Schmidt get together and see if they can reach an agreement before the Board of Review meets again. MOTION: Malam moved, seconded by O'Connor, to continue this appeal to the next meeting of the Board of Review. Motion carried 5-0. D. Schedule next meeting. MOTION: Best moved, seconded by Malam, to meet on Tuesday, April 24, 2001, at 7:00 p.m. Motion carried 5-0. E. Close the Board of Review Meeting to Additional Appeals MOTION: O'Connor moved, seconded by Ilstrup, to close the Board of Review Meeting to additional appeals. Motion carried 5-0. There was further discussion on the appeal by Realife Valley View Cooperative. Sinell said he would take the Cooperative's legal documents to an attorney who works on property taxes at the County Attorney's Office and find out if it qualifies as a Limited Equity Cooperative. He will send any information he receives to the Board members prior to the April 24 meeting. III. CLOSE THE BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING MOTION: Best moved, seconded by Malam, to close the Board of Review Meeting and to reconvene on April 24, 2001. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Pidcock adjourned the meeting at 8:25 p.m.