Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Developer Steve Strauss will end up paying $120,000 less than the original county assessment on his Cotton Hill Road property - but the $818,800 is still significantly more than the assessment the appeals board had considered last month.
The Board of Equalization, which hears appeals of property owners' annual assessments, voted to lower the assessment on 24 acres of Strauss's 77-acre tract and keep the rest at the same value the county assessors placed on it.
Board members first reviewed the assessment in May, when Strauss appeared before them to argue that the $938,800 appraisal should be reduced. The board's order from that meeting - which they held off signing after the county challenged it - shows the property's value lowered to $561,000 but does not show a vote recorded. Members said Tuesday they don't think they voted on it, so their decision Tuesday was just "another adjustment."
"This whole thing may have gotten out of hand for no reason," secretary Harold Richardson said.
The board Tuesday voted unanimously to drop Strauss' assessment from $938,800 to $818,800. The board lowered the assessment on the 24-acre back parcel, with no road frontage and steep slopes, to make it comparable to an adjoining tract that developer Len Boone plans to build on.
The two developments, Boone's in particular, caused much controversy last year because they adjoin the Blue Ridge Parkway, which depends on rural scenery for much of its appeal. The properties' assessments shot up last year when they were rezoned from agricultural to residential. The Strauss property had been assessed at a little more than $300,000.
Strauss plans a 147-lot subdivision on the 77 acres. He argued that the property's assessment was too high because he is restricted by court order to fewer houses per acre than the R-1 zoning normally would allow, and the land had no public water or sewer as of Jan. 1. A locality must base its assessment on the condition of a property on that date.
County Administrator Elmer Hodge and County Attorney Paul Mahoney two weeks ago made the highly unusual move of challenging the $561,000 value that the Board of Equalization was said to have approved for the Strauss property in May.
Strauss, told of the new assessment by a reporter, said he would reserve comment until he is officially notified by the county.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***