Greenleaf Cove Association’s request to the State Board of Property Tax Review Board for a continuance has been denied, and the appeal hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, March 6 and Thursday, March 7.

The application for an appeal is on 1.1 acres of land referred to as the “Common Lot” for the association, a nonprofit homeowners association on Westport Island.

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.

The Greenleaf Cove Association applied to have part of its property classified as “Open Space.” Westport Island denied that application, and the association is now appealing that decision to the State Bureau of Property Tax Review Board.

The Association is asking the state board to consider putting the property in Open Space which would reduce the assessed value of the property. The amount of the reduction would be determined on the classification of Open Space. There are four categories of Open Space: Ordinary open space 20 percent reduction; Permanently protected open space, 50 percent reduction; Forever wild open space 70 percent reduction, and Public access qualifies for 25 percent reduction over the other three categories.  

According to Dennis Dunbar, a member of the Greenleaf Cove Association, the association is asking for a 95 percent reduction, but certainly hopes to get a minimum of a 20 percent reduction in the valuation of their common lot.

A 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 Registry of Historic places.

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

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