After a day and a half of testimony before the State Board of Property Tax in Augusta between representatives of the Greenleaf Cove Association and the town of Westport Island, both sides now must submit to the state board and to each other, evidentiary materials and other documentation to support their case.

Representing the Greenleaf Cove Association at the hearing in Augusta on March 6 and 7 were Dennis Dunbar and Lisa Mooney.

The town was represented by Attorney William Dale, First Selectman George Richardson, and Maine Certified Assessor Eugene Huskins.

The information requested by the state must be submitted by April 19; the state board has allowed another 10 days for both sides to respond in a brief and the state board will meet sometime in May to decide on the appeal.

 Greenleaf Cove Association’s appeal to the State Board of Property Tax Review Board is based on the refusal of the assessors to abate a tax for the 2011 year. The application for an appeal is for 1.1 acres of land referred to as the “Common Lot” for the association, a nonprofit homeowners association on Westport Island

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.

The common lot within a homeowners association is shared by the property owners within the association, which includes the responsibility sharing the cost of maintenance and taxes of the common lot. There are about 10 homeowners in the Greenleaf Cove Association that share in the 1.1 acres being requested to go into open space.

According to a letter written to the town selectmen on July 15, 2011, from the 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 salt water farm homestead, trading post and tidal mile site recorded on the National Register 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.