Judge to White Plains: Return Taxes to Soundview Manor
In a decision by Hon. William J. Giacomo in a State Supreme Court decision late last month, Doris Sassower, owner of historic Soundview Manor at 283 Soundview Avenue in White Plains, took a giant step towards recouping close to $100,000 in property tax overpayments made to the City of White Plains over a 10-year period beginning in 2002.
Since 1993, Sassower has allegedly run a bed and breakfast at the location, which has also been her primary residence for more 31 years. Sassower contends that New York state law gives her the right to run a bed and breakfast business in a single-family residence in spite of White Plains zoning regulations.
The court decision in Sassower’s favor comes shortly after the White Plains Common Council decided against a zoning ordinance change proposed by Sassower that would allow operation of a bed and breakfast business in a residential neighborhood. Sassower was found in violation of the White Plains Zoning Ordinance in 2007.
Soundview Manor sits on approximately 4.5 acres next to the Highlands neighborhood and close to the Scarsdale border, and offered views of Long Island Sound from its penthouse in the distant past. The estate, which includes eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen, ballroom and breakfast room, was listed on the NYS Register of Historic Places in 2008 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
In 2002, the property was reassessed by the City of White Plains and reclassified from a single-family residential property to a commercial use classification for inns, lodges, boarding and rooming houses, tourist homes, fraternity and sorority houses and taxed accordingly. In the decision-after-hearing document prepared by Judge Giacomo, he states that such “selective reassessment” is improper because no physical change was made to the property and there was no citywide reassessment in 2002, leaving the change in use as the only reason for reassessment and therefore in violation of the New York and United States Constitution. He supports a refund, plus interest.
In an e-mail, Sassower indicates that although she has won this round, she expects a further battle from White Plains and is still paying the reassessed property taxes.
