Opinion based ‘on 37 years experience’
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Negative “visual amenities,” such as high-tension electric power lines and cell towers, have an equally negative effect on real estate values, the Zoning Board of Adjustment was told last week.
Real estate appraiser Robert Heffernan, hired by residents objecting to a proposed cell tower on the Peterson’s Nursery property on Route 206, offered that assessment at the zoning board’s Nov. 28 special meeting.
The Cellco Partnership is seeking a use variance to build a 140-foot tower on the Peterson’s Nursery property. A use variance is needed because a cell tower is not a permitted use in the residential Environmental Protection-1 Zone.
The zoning board has scheduled two back-to-back meetings in December to wrap up the application. The board will hear additional testimony at its regular meeting Dec. 19, and at a special meeting Dec. 20, both at 7 p.m.
Last week, Mr. Heffernan outlined analyses of several residential developments in Warren, Bernards, Randolph and Readington townships and the impact on real estate values posed by a telecommunications tower, a water tower and high-tension power lines. In each case, there was a negative impact on a property’s value when these were visible, he said.
Mr. Heffernan cautioned that while it is difficult to find two identical properties in order to make a comparison, appraisers may deduct certain improvements — a hot tub, Jacuzzi or the size of an outdoor deck, for example — in order to make properties roughly comparable.
The appraiser analyzed the sale of two houses in the same development in Warren Township in Somerset County. One house had four bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms, a two-car attached garage, a deck and fireplace. It sold for $333,000 in November 1986.
Another house in the same development had five bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, plus a two-car attached garage, a deck, fireplace, Jacuzzi and walkout basement. It sold for $425,900 in December 1986. When the values of the extra bedroom and bathroom, Jacuzzi and walkout basement were deducted, the adjusted price was $410,900.
The house that sold for $333,000 had a view of a water tower and telecommunications tower from the rear of the home, Mr. Heffernan said. The house that sold for more money did not have these in view, he said.
”Based on my 37 years of experience, I have never dealt with a situation where a negative visual amenity has not had an effect (on real estate values),” Mr. Heffernan said. A property that has a good view is worth 20 to 25 percent more than a house that does not have a good view, he added.
Mr. Heffernan also disputed the findings presented by John Gillooly, the Cellco Partnership’s appraiser, at the zoning board’s Oct. 17 meeting. Mr. Gillooly had outlined a study of houses in a subdivision on the Princeton Township-Montgomery Township border that were close to a telecommunications tower on Route 206.
At the Oct. 17 meeting, Mr. Gillooly testified that the telecommunications tower did not have an impact on the sales price of the houses. At that meeting, he said he could not detect a pattern in the appreciation rates of the houses, adding that in his opinion, “there is no systematic impact on housing values.”
Last week, Mr. Heffernan told the zoning board he inspected the subdivision Mr. Gillooly cited, finding the houses were 1,400 to 3,000 feet away from the telecommunications tower on Route 206 in Princeton Township. Only one of the houses had a direct view of the tower, he added.
The houses in Mr. Gillooly’s study also were smaller and less expensive than the houses near the Cellco Partnership’s proposed cell tower, he said. The lots also were smaller — about one-quarter acre in the Gillooly study, as compared to 2 acres adjacent to the Peterson’s Nursery property. The impact on less expensive homes is not as great as it is on more expensive homes, he said.
The Cellco Partnership’s proposed tower will be within 400 to 1,000 feet of the neighboring houses, and property owners do not want to see a tower, Mr. Heffernan said.
”It will tower over the tree line,” he said. “Despite the fact that it is camouflaged, it will be quite recognizable as something not usual. There is no doubt in my mind, it will have an effect (on property values).”