Monday, October 15, 2012

Board Finds Petitioner Failed to Show Land "Retained and Preserved for its Natural Characteristics" Sufficient for Exemption


Marineland claims that the subject parcels are exempt under Ind. Code § 6-1.1-10-16(c)(3), which provides the following:

(c) A tract of land, including the campus and athletic grounds of an educational institution, is exempt from property taxation if:
(3) the tract:
(A) is owned by a nonprofit entity established for the purpose of retaining and preserving land and water for their natural characteristics;
(B) does not exceed five hundred (500) acres; and
(C) is not used by the nonprofit entity to make a profit.

I.C. § 6-1.1-10-16(c)(3).

Marineland failed to offer any evidence to prove one of the essential elements of its claim:  that it was established for the purpose of retaining and preserving land and water for their natural characteristics.  Indeed, Marineland offered scant evidence to show the purposes for which it was established.  Although Marineland offered its By-Laws, those By-Laws do not indicate the purposes for which Marineland was organized.  They instead address how Marineland is governed and lay out certain restrictions on how parcels within the subdivision can be used.

Indeed, some aspects of how Marineland used the parcels, such as laying down gravel to make one of the parcels available for parking, are inconsistent with retaining and preserving land and water for their natural characteristics.  While Marineland also used the parcels in other ways that might be consistent with preserving and retaining land and water for their natural characteristics, those uses are also consistent with a variety of other purposes, such as providing members with recreational opportunities.  In fact, those were the purposes that Steuer highlighted the most in his testimony. 

Even when pressed by counsel, Marineland’s president, Roger Steuer, did not clearly testify that Marineland was established for the purpose of retaining and preserving land and water for their natural characteristics.  At best, Steuer pointed to some minimal steps that Marineland has taken to maintain land and water—it does not fence the parcels, which allows geese and other animals to gather on them, and it applied for a grant to dredge the channel.  Of course, Marineland did not apply for that grant until January 2012—well after the assessment years at issue in these appeals and more than 40 years after Marineland was organized. 

Thus, Marineland’s ambiguous evidence about how it used the subject parcels does not suffice to show that Marineland was established for the purpose of preserving and retaining land and water for their natural characteristics.  That is especially true in light of the absence of articles of incorporation or any other organizational documents laying out the purpose or purposes for which Marineland was organized.