Columbus Board of Education v. Franklin County Board of Revision, Franklin County Auditor, and Karl Road Corp.

• Decision Date: 29 September 1992
• Docket Number: 92-LW-4364,92AP-281
• Parties: Columbus Board of Education, Appellant-Appellee v. Franklin County Board of Revision, Franklin County Auditor, and Karl Road Corp., Appellees-Appellants
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

Columbus Board of Education Appellant-Appellee v. Franklin County Board of Revision, Franklin County Auditor, and Karl Road Corp., Appellees-Appellants

No. 92AP-281.

92-LW-4364 (10th)

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Tenth District Franklin.

September 29, 1992

APPEAL from the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals.

Teaford Rich, Coffman & Wheeler, Jeffrey A. Rich and Karol L Cassell, for appellee.

Michael Miller, Prosecuting Attorney, and James R. Gorry; and Robert D. Holmes, for appellants.

DECISION

PETREE J.

Appellants, Franklin County Board of Revision, Franklin County Auditor and the Karl Road Corp., appeal from a judgment of the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ("BTA"), valuing the subject property at $200,000. Appellants raise the following assignment of error:

"The Board of Tax Appeals erred in determining that the actual sale price of the property reflected its true value in money for real property tax purposes under R.C. 5713.03."

Appellant Karl Road Corp. owns a 260-bed extended care nursing home located on separate parcels north of the subject property. Karl Road Corp. had construction plans drawn up in 1987 for an addition to be located on those separate parcels adding to the existing nursing home a new pediatric wing and parking lot. These plans required a new curb cut to be on the south side of the existing nursing home property, adjacent to the subject property then owned by Charles Sgandurra. The new curb cut contemplated in the KarlRoad Corp.'s plans was only thirty-seven feet from Mr. Sgandurra's existing curb cut. The city of Columbus zoning code requires at least one hundred fifty feet between curb cuts on Karl Road. Mr. Sgandurra and representatives of the Karl Road Corp. entered into discussions concerning the sale of Mr. Sgandurra's property. Mr. Sgandurra informed the Karl Road Corp. he was willing to sell the property to the nursing home for $200,000 on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Karl Road Corp. agreed to pay the asking price of $200,000 and the sale closed on March 23, 1988.

The purchase of the Sgandurra property allowed the Karl Road Corp. to abandon the curb cut on the purchased property and obtain a permit from the city to open a new curb cut on its existing property. Karl Road Corp. rented the Sgandurra property back to Mr. Sgandurra and did not use it for any other purpose nor was the property rezoned for institutional use.

Appellant Franklin County Auditor had appraised the property at $58,000 for the 1988 tax year. Due to the March 29 deed transfer for $200,000, appellee Columbus Board of Education filed a complaint with the Franklin County Board of Revision requesting the tax valuation coincide with the sale price. A hearing was held and the Franklin County Board of Revision upheld the auditor's assessment. The board of education appealed to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals. A...