An illustration showing the private, commercial recreation facility approved by the city late last year.
ANSONIA — Officials said a public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 28 on a “tax incentive agreement” already approved by the Ansonia Board of Aldermen last year.
The agreement, which was connected to the sale of about 10 acres on Olson Drive to companies controlled by developer John Guedes, needs to be changed because the agreement approved by Ansonia last year had incorrect information.
The agreement listed the property’s assessment at $2 million when the assessment was actually $349,580.
Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini said a bank caught the error while reviewing Guedes’ paperwork to get financing for a redevelopment project on Olson Drive.
An undated letter from Ansonia Tax Assessor David Graybosch II said Olson Drive has been “improperly assessed” since 2017.
“What I can only assume was an input error was made during the 2017 Grand List which resulted in this property’s land being listed at 162 acres when in reality the property is only 10.49 acres …,” Graybosch wrote.
Guedes purchased the property from the City of Ansonia for $510,000 and has approvals from the city to build a private, commercial recreation facility on the land. An outdoor field will serve as the home stadium for Ole Soccer.
As part of the deal to sell the land, the Aldermen approved a tax break for Guedes that saw the city collect no taxes on the land for a period of time, and then had the property’s $2 million assessment frozen for three years. The assessment on the property was then to increase 5 percent per year for 14 years.
In an interview with The Valley Indy on Monday, Feb. 13, Marini and Ansonia Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley said the $2 million assessment was listed incorrectly on records on file in Ansonia City Hall. The $2 million was then written into the tax incentive agreement and approved by the Aldermen.
However, John Feddern, the chairman of the Ansonia Democratic Town Committee, said people were questioning the accuracy of the Olson Drive tax assessment, property cards on file with the assessor, and its market value as the city got ready to sell the property.
Feddern said there are still issues with the property’s assessment and appraisals. He said the appraisals at the property only looked at the property’s value if it was developed for housing. The property should have been appraised as a commercial property, which is how the city intended the land to be used.
Feddern also said more information is needed to explain why the city’s Grand List listed the property as commercial when other City Hall documents list it as residential.
The mistaken $2 million assessment was mentioned in two private appraisals by two different appraisal companies. However, the two companies came to two very different conclusions about Olson Drive’s full market value.
A 2018 appraisal of Olson Drive by KF Appraisal stated Olson Drive’s full market value as $1,330,000.
That appraisal stated multi-family housing was the most profitable use along the 8.2 acres of Olson Drive. The appraisal said 102 units of housing could be built on the property, which straddles High Street. That appraisal was commissioned by the Ansonia Housing Authority.
A 2021 “review appraisal” by Vincent J. Guardiano of the 2018 report stated Olson Drive’s full market value was $510,000 – a 61 percent decrease in value compared to the 2018 appraisal. That review appraisal was commissioned by the city’s economic development office.
In an interview last year, Guardino said that he reviewed the KF Appraisal report, and, after talking to Jared Heon, the chairman of the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission, discovered the KF Appraisal was based on Olson Drive being zoned “GA” when it had been zoned as “BB.”
Guardino said the KF Appraisal was built upon the assumption 102 units of housing could be built on Olson Drive, while only 34 housing units, at most, were possible because of the 2014 zoning change. That dramatically decreased the value, in Guardino’s opinion.
In June 2022, while the city was getting ready to sell Olson Drive, The Valley Indy asked Guardino why the appraisals relied on Olson Drive were based on housing when no one was talking about housing. Guedes and the city were always talking about a commercial entity taking over the property, not housing.
Guardino said his review was based on the land’s zoning at the time, which was geared toward housing.
The public hearing on correcting the tax incentive agreement had been scheduled for Feb. 14. It was postponed after The Valley Indy pointed out the meeting notice mistakenly said the agreement misstated an appraised value – when the mistake, according to the city, was in the assessed value.
Marini said the city would have been within its legal right to proceed with the public hearing Feb. 14, but decided to err on the side of caution. He also mentioned “litigious parties,” a reference to a lawsuit filed by resident Matt McGowan challenging the process by which Ansonia acquired and sold Olson Drive.
A court ruled in the city’s favor, but court documents indicate McGowan is planning to appeal the decision.
The Valley Indy asked Marini how much money Ansonia was anticipating in taxes based on the $2 million assessment versus the corrected $349,580. Marini said on Tuesday morning that he would check with the city’s tax assessor.
A letter from the tax assessor states the “assessed land value” for Olson Drive had been mistakenly stated as $2,011,940 for commercial land. Neither the 2018 appraisal nor 2021 review appraisal mention commercial zoning. Those documents note housing, daycares, parking and “etc.” as potential uses on the land.
A check of the online assessor’s database on Tuesday showed the owner of Olson Drive as Primrose Companies Realty, LLC. The property card online states the land class as residential.
