Lost highway: Valuation of homes abutting I-95 criticized

Owners of homes along Greenwich's bustling Interstate 95 corridor and other major traffic arteries recently learned that it's the town's way or the highway.

The land valuation discounts that they historically received from the town, which vary from location to location and were recently revisited by the assessor's office, are no longer as generous in some cases.

The net result is higher property taxes for an unspecified number of homeowners following a recently completed townwide property revaluation.

Byram Neighborhood Association President Michael Bocchino, was floored to find out that real estate taxes on his Tingue Street property will be going up next year when average assessment in town went down 11.6 percent in the revaluation.

Assessments are 70 percent of full market value.

"I live on the southbound entrance ramp at Exit 2," Bocchino said. "I'm looking at it right now. You want to hear it?"

The sound of rush hour in the background, Bocchino said he is not alone either.

"I've heard from neighbors in the community along 95 that they've had similar situations and similar concerns," said Bocchino, who declined to reveal how much his taxes went up. "There never seems to be any consideration for quality-of-life issues like noise and pollution."

Assessor Ted Gwartney said discounts are determined on a case-by-case basis and not set in stone.

"Each time you do a revaluation, you have to start with fresh eyes and viewpoints." Gwartney said.

Gwartney could not say exactly how many homeowners saw their discount, which his office refers to as a land influence factor, decrease or increase.

"If it impacts land value, you get a downward adjustment," Gwartney said. "It could be 1 or 2 percent (savings) or as much as 10 or 15 percent."

A Leonard Avenue homeowner in Riverside, who asked not to be identified because she just had an informal hearing with an appraiser about her valuation and feared repercussions, said the 35 percent discount she received for abutting I-95 was sliced in half.

Property owners were sent notices with their new assessments in mid-November, with informal hearings to follow in December and January for those who have questions or concerns about their valuation.

Formal hearings by the Board of Assessment Appeals will be held next spring for aggrieved property owners, who can then go to state Superior Court in Stamford if they are still unhappy.

The new assessments will be applied to taxes owed in July 2011.

Gwartney contested the details of the Leonard Avenue property owner's situation, however.

"I would find it hard to believe that the property would lose one third of its value from being near the highway," Gwartney said. "That's probably an error from years ago that was corrected."

The revaluation process also revealed a number of discounts that Gwartney said were inherently flawed and had no justification.

"In some cases, they were removed altogether," Gwartney said.

Among the discounts that Gwartney said was eliminated was a 5 percent land reduction for properties on upper Lake Avenue and North Street, which the assessor said didn't exactly amount to a hardship.

"No one could figure out why," Gwartney said. "Basically, they're basically calm and low traffic-bearing streets. At one point, people thought it was negative to live on those streets, but no longer is that true. It was a judgment of the past that got changed."

This is the first revaluation in Connecticut's most land-rich town since the housing bubble burst, a yeoman-like task of adjusting values for 22,500 properties to reflect five years of market volatility.

Currently totaling $34.4 billion, assessments on residential, commercial and personal property and automobiles stand to lose $4 billion in value when Gwartney signs the Grand List in February.

Russell Pruner, an owner and partner of Shore & Country Properties and a past president of the Greenwich Association of Realtors, said that many buyers are willing to accept the trade-offs of a home abutting Interstate 95.

"A lot of people are willing to take that impact to get the other great benefits that the town has to offer," Pruner said. "You do find them to be more affordable than other properties. It's difficult to find a house that's under $1 million or even $1.5 million in Riverside that you can send your kids to Riverside School or Eastern Middle School."

Staff writer Neil Vigdor can be reached at neil.vigdor@scni.com or at 203-625-4436.