Brennan v. Board of Assessment Appeals

Citations

• 226 Conn. App. 191

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court affirming the decision of the defendant board of assessment appeals, which upheld the revaluation of the plaintiff's residential dwelling and the declassification of his nonresidential land as farmland by the town tax assessor. During a trial to the court, the plaintiff presented testimony from H, a licensed appraiser, that the residential portion of the plaintiff's property was valued at $105,000, a valuation which exceeded the asses- sor's allegedly excessive valuation. The court thereafter suggested that it could rely on the $105,000 valuation given by H and issue a decision only as to the plaintiff's claim regarding the declassification of his nonres- idential property, and counsel for both parties agreed. Following trial, the court determined that the plaintiff had abandoned his claim regarding the valuation of his residential dwelling during the trial and that the nonresidential property was not currently being used as farmland in accordance with the factors set forth in the applicable statute (§ 12- 107c). Held: 1. The plaintiff could not prevail on his claim that the trial court erred in determining that he had abandoned his claim regarding the proper valuation of his residential dwelling; because the plaintiff's counsel agreed with the court at trial that it did not have to resolve the plaintiff's claim regarding the valuation of his residential dwelling and expressly assented to the court's suggestion that it needed to address only the claim regarding the declassification of the plaintiff's nonresidential property as farmland, the plaintiff had abandoned his claim regarding the valua- tion of his residential dwelling. 2. The plaintiff's claim that the trial court improperly considered the factors set forth in § 12-107c (a) in determining whether the plaintiff's nonresi- dential property was still being used as a farm for purposes of the statute (§ 12-504h) governing the termination o