A request from Greenleaf Cove Association to the State Board of Property Tax Review for a continuance has been denied. The appeal will be heard on Wednesday, March 6, and Thursday, March 7.

The nonprofit homeowners association on Westport Island requested the continuance because, according to member Dennis Dunbar, it did not receive the notice, which had sat in the post office for a couple of weeks, until February 21. The notice had been sent to the late John Way, the former secretary of the association. The association had not notified the state that Lisa Cooney had been appointed the new secretary and registered agent.

The State Bureau of Property Tax Review turned down the request for the continuance shortly after it was requested, said Dunbar.

The Greenleaf Cove Association applied to have part of its property -- 1.1. acres -- classified as open space. Westport Island denied that application and the association is now appealing that decision.

The appeal is for the refusal of the assessors to abate a tax for the year 2011. According to information received by the town, the assessed value of the land is $272,260, with a tax rate of $7 per $1,000; the taxes amount to about $1,900 per year.

A common lot within a homeowners association is shared by the property owners within the association, which includes the responsibility of sharing the cost of maintenance and taxes of the common lot. There are about 10 homeowners in the association that share in the common lot.

According to a letter written to the Westport Island selectmen on July 15, 2011, from Maine Certified Assessor Eugene Huskins, the application for open space designation was denied because of a 176-square-foot pier attached to the land that is considered an improvement to the property. Huskins quoted from the Maine Open Space Tax Law in his letter to the selectmen, recommending the denial of the application. “If a parcel of land for which the owner or owners are seeking classification as Open Space contains any principal or accessory structures that are inconsistent with the preservation of the land as Open Space, the owner or owners in their schedule shall exclude from their application or classification as Open Space a parcel of land containing those buildings or improvements.”

The association disagrees with this, indicating the pier serves as viewing platform and offers the only public views of a historic 1789 saltwater farm homestead, trading post and tidal mile site recorded on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Not only does the appeal ask for open space designation for the property, it also is requesting a reduced assessed value of $272,260 to $217,808, a reduction of 20 percent, to reflect the valuation of undeveloped open space.

The Westport Planning Board and code enforcement officer have also ruled the lot can be built upon and have denied the abatement application.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com