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`IN THE OREGON TAX COURT MAGISTRATE DIVISION Property Tax PLISKA INVESTMENTS, LLC, Plaintiff, v. LANE COUNTY ASSESSOR, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

TC-MD 120224C

DECISION

This matter comes before the court following trial. Plaintiff appeals the assessment of real property identified in Defendant's records as Account 1847084 (subject property) for tax year 2011-12.1 Trial was held by telephone on December 17, 2012. David Carmichael, Attorney at Law, represented Plaintiff. Appearing at trial and testifying for Plaintiff was Jim Pliska (Pliska), Member of the Plaintiff corporation and an appraiser, who either individually or through his ownership interest in various corporate entities "owns" numerous investment properties, including approximately 24 gas stations, a golf course immediately adjacent to the subject property, and a hotel down the street. Also testifying for Plaintiff were Clint C. Becraft (Becraft), an appraiser licensed by the state in 1996, and certified by the state in 2006, whose experience includes approximately five years working as an appraiser for the Lane County Assessor, leaving that position in 2005 to go to work for Duncan & Brown Real Estate Analysts (Duncan & Brown), with whom he was employed as a general appraiser at the time of trial. Plaintiff's other trial witness was Richard J. Duncan (Duncan), MAI, SRA, Duncan & Brown.
Plaintiff originally appealed three accounts, the main account, which includes land and improvements (structures, etc.), and which is referred to throughout this decision as the subject property, plus two other unimproved (i.e., land only) commercial accounts identified in the assessor's records as accounts 1810363 and 1810348. By letter dated December 6, 2012, Plaintiff withdrew the two land only accounts, leaving only the value of the Resort property at issue.
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DECISION TC-MD 120224C

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Defendant was represented by Roxanne R. Gillespie, MAI, Appraisal Supervisor, Lane County Assessment and Taxation (Lane County A & T), and Pattie Anne Paris (Paris), Registered Appraiser III, (Lane County A & T). Paris presented Defendant's case at trial. Plaintiff's Exhibit 1 and Rebuttal Exhibits 1-4 and Defendant's Exhibit A and Rebuttal Exhibits A and B, were accepted and admitted into evidence at trial.2 I. STATEMENT OF FACTS A. Property description The subject property is known as Emerald Valley Resort (Resort). The Resort, built in 1979, is adjacent to a golf course, and is located in Creswell, Oregon, a small rural community about 20 minutes south of Eugene on the I-5 corridor. (See Ptf's Ex 1 at 2; Def's Ex A at 9.) According to Becraft's appraisal, "[t]he subject [property] was constructed in 1979 as part of a planned golf/destination resort facility that was never completed. * * * The subject improvements were built as a golf club house, restaurant and a health spa complex. The original developer went bankrupt and the bank took ownership of the property. The bank then resold the property to another group of investors, who subsequently separated and sold off the golf course from the resort property." (Ptf's Ex 1 at 2.) The Emerald Valley Golf Course, which Pliska owns, is located to the north and east of the subject property. (Ptf's Ex 1 at 39.) The Resort (the subject property) consists of a 5.73 acre irregularly shaped parcel improved with a two-level, 55,280 square-foot commercial building that has 52,780 square feet ///

The court received Defendant's Rebuttal Exhibits A, B, C, and D, with prior approval, by facsimile Friday, December 14, 2012, at 4:21 p.m. However, at trial Parties never referenced Rebuttal Exhibits C or D, nor proffered either exhibit for admission into evidence. Those exhibits are therefore not part of the evidence considered by the court in reaching its Decision herein.

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DECISION TC-MD 120224C

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of net rentable area, and 45,250 square-feet excluding hallways and stairways, etc.3 (Ptf's Ex 1 at 39, 43; Def's Ex A at 2.) The space within the Resort structure consists of a mixture of office space, a fitness center with fitness equipment, a swimming pool, whirlpool and sauna, and some restaurant space (including a commercial kitchen), plus hallways, an elevator, stairways, restrooms, a lobby and storage space. (Ptf's Ex 1 at 43; Def's Ex A at 12-15; 31.) Two unimproved land parcels 3.01 and 2.83 acres in size (the ones appealed and then withdrawn from this case), identified as Accounts 1810363 and 1810348, respectively, are situated to the west of the Resort. (See Ptf's Ex 1 at 39; Def's Ex A at 2-3, 9-10.) Dale Kuni Road, which cuts between the Resort and the adjacent undeveloped parcels, provides direct access to the Resort. (Ptf's Ex 1 at 39; see also Def's Ex A at 11, 17.) The upper level of the Resort has 21,780 square feet of floor space, and includes four individual offices, collectively totally 12,880 square-feet of office space, and an 8,900 squarefoot restaurant. (See Ptf's Ex 1 at 43.) A fitness center and additional office space make up the approximately 23,460 square-feet of the Resort's lower level; the bulk of this space

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