(Gideon Fountain writing for Christopher Fountain)
About 10 years ago I was asked by the Town of Greenwich Assessor’s Office to come in and discuss waterfront property value (I was flattered, I suppose, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one they asked). When I got there I was shown a huge wall-sized map of the Greenwich coastline stretching from Shore Road, Old Greenwich all the way west, to the tip of Byram Shore Road.
I told them they had been unfairly categorizing (and taxing) all property, from marsh land and tidal inlets, to open Sound views as “waterfront”. I pointed to properties on the map (like the one I cited in the previous post) that backed up to marsh land and tidal inlets
that become mud at low tide and said “These are ‘D’ waterfront. Then I pointed out the spectacular spots on streets like Field Point Circle, Greenwich and the end of Indian Head Road, Riverside and said “These are ‘A’ waterfront. Everything that’s in between, you can call ‘B’, or ‘C’. And you know what? I believe they adopted my clever system (that a kindergartener could have devised)!