Board denies telephone testimony requests, sets dates for grouped hearings and procedural dismissal hearings

The Board of Review denied multiple requests to testify by telephone or submit sworn written statements for commercial properties, citing the board's preference for in-person testimony and the use of a court reporter for commercial valuation hearings.

The motion to deny phone or written testimony for Welltower and Lighthouse Acquisition Group was approved on voice vote; the board took the same action regarding Realty Income Properties (the Walmart property). Board members said phone or video testimony is limited to those who show they are medically or physically unable to appear and emphasized the difficulty of making credibility and fact-finding determinations without in-person testimony and a court reporter present.

The board set a tentative schedule to hear residential valuation objections in half-hour blocks beginning at 10:30 a.m. on a later date (the record shows staff aimed for a late-September date), with grouped procedural hearings for commercial motions-to-dismiss planned for an evening session on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. The board and staff discussed allocating roughly 20 minutes per residential objection and two hours for the primary procedural hearing to consider motions to dismiss and subpoenas.