Appeals DEP ruling denying historic site certification.
By: Jennifer Potash
University Cottage Club has appealed the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s denial of its application for historic property certification.
The eating club, in filing its appeal Monday with the Appellate Division of Superior Court, claims it never received a hearing on its request for certification as a historic site, a designation that would lead to its removal from the tax rolls.
"The (DEP’s) denial of historic site certification under (state law) was arbitrary and capricious," according to the appeal, which claims DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell’s denial is contrary to the facts and the law.
In October, Commissioner Campbell denied the University Cottage Club’s application, which would have paved the way for it seeking tax-exempt status, because the club did not meet requirements in state law.
"As a private club, the building and property of the University Cottage Club are not and cannot be freely accessible to the public on a regular basis," Mr. Campbell wrote in an Oct. 17 letter to Thomas Olson, the club’s attorney.
Mr. Olson said Wednesday he would not comment on the appeal.
The DEP had not yet seen the appeal, said spokeswoman Elaine Makatura on Thursday.
The borough intends to file court papers opposing the historic property certification, said Borough Attorney Michael J. Herbert.
"Our interests are critical on this question," Mr. Herbert said.
Mayor Marvin Reed said the borough would fight Cottage Club’s appeal in the courts and in the Legislature if necessary.
"There is no way we can have any building that is historic but not open to the public on a regular basis exempt from the tax rolls," Mayor Reed said. "It would be devastating not only to Princeton Borough but to any town in the state of New Jersey."
The Legislature’s intent in crafting the law that allows historic properties to be exempt from property taxes is for properties used as museums or for other public purposes, Mayor Reed said.
The Cottage Club is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. State law allows for property owned by a nonprofit corporation and certified as a historic site to seek tax-exempt status.
While the criteria for tax exemption under state law are ownership by a nonprofit corporation and listing on the state registry of historic places, the DEP uses a higher standard: The nonprofit organization must agree to preserve the historic property and the public must have access to the property on a regular basis.
The state standard is not clear, and until new regulations are in place, Commissioner Campbell said he will deny all applications that do not meet "objectively reasonable standards of public accessibility."
Princeton Borough officials argued Cottage Club is not open to the public on a regular basis. Part of the club’s application to the DEP was a 1999 resolution adopted by the club’s board of governors allowing for the facility to be open to the public 12 days a year with the dates published in a local newspaper.
The 12 private eating clubs occupy large mansions along Prospect Avenue, many valued at over $1 million, and paid over $400,000 in property taxes last year. The clubs are not part of the Princeton University campus. One club, Tower, won tax-exempt status in 1972 because it provides preceptorials open to the university community.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton Borough) has said he will introduce legislation in January to clarify the historic designation laws to ensure tax-exempt property status is granted only when the property is sufficiently accessible to the public and removal from the tax rolls does not overburden the municipality.