01-07-09
A-4779-06T1
The Borough reasonably relied on the legislative definitions set forth in ISRA and applied them to determine whether an environmentally contaminated property was "in use" or "shut down" for taxation valuation purposes. ISRA provides a rational, objective standard in an environmental context by which one can determine whether property "in use" or "closed down" for purposes of triggering the obligation to remediate.
Nothing in the Supreme Court's opinion in Inmar, which preceded ISRA and its "ten percent standard," precludes a taxing municipality from utilizing that standard to determine whether a property is "in use" for the purpose of valuation.
