Posted on 05/14/2002 5:05:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
EAST LAKE -- Many residents thought they owned the lake behind their $300,000 homes. They mowed up to the water line and chipped in yearly to treat the lake for algae blooms.
So it came as quite a shock Thursday when workers began erecting a 6-foot-high fence around the lake, obliterating their view.
For good measure, the workers painted a portion of the fence behind Alice Beehner's home bright pink and decorated it with sparkles.
"Isn't that atrocious?" Mrs. Beehner said Monday, pointing to the fence a few feet from her screened-in pool. "It's sickening!"
For 10 years the developer of their Tarpon Woods subdivision had let the taxes lapse on the 4-acre lake and a thin band of land around it.
A real estate speculator swooped in to purchase it for $1,000 at a delinquent tax sale in February. The speculator, 44-year-old Don Connolly of Valrico, now is offering to sell the land behind each of the homes for $30,000 per homeowner.
Residents ignored a letter from Connolly, trustee of the Lake Alice Land Trust that purchased the lake, offering to sell. Instead, someone took a couple of survey posts marking the property boundaries and threw them into the lake.
Connolly said that's when he decided to build the fence.
He started behind Beehner's meticulously landscaped property. The new fence separated her from two mature laurel oaks she planted shortly after moving into her home 17 years ago.
[Times photo: Jim Damaske] The fence behind the house of Alice Beehner, with dogs Beethoven and Bridgette, is pink with sparkles. Don Connolly says the color is to warn workers to stay away "because that person is very volatile and confronted us in the past."
"It's total extortion," Mrs. Beehner, 61, said Monday.
Connolly said he offered to sell the property to the homeowners as a courtesy.
"Is selling a piece of land extortion?" he said. "That doesn't make any sense to me."
He said he specializes in buying properties at tax sales. Records show he owns 50 properties in Pinellas County. Connolly said he owns 150 to 200 statewide.
"When people don't pay their taxes, this is what happens," he said. "I was willing to pay more than anyone else for this property. . . . The business we're in is unpleasant sometimes."
Connolly knows the consequences of failing to pay taxes.
Records show that in 1997 he was charged with failing to remit more than $100,000 worth of sales tax for an auto sales business he owned in Hillsborough County. Connolly blamed it on the company's accounting firm and said he reached a settlement with the state.
Because homeowners have rebuffed his offer, Connolly said, he now plans to develop two or three "executive" homes overlooking the lake. It might entail a dredge and fill project to move the lake a bit to the south, he said.
County officials said that would be difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.
"He can't build on it unless he replaces the stormwater drainage," said Al Navaroli, a manager for the county's Development Review Services Department. "And pretty much all of it is stormwater drainage. . . . He's limited in what he can do."
But there's nothing to prevent Connolly from erecting the fence, Navaroli said, or painting it any color he chooses.
"I certainly see the man is trying to be obnoxious to his neighbors," Navaroli said. "But I don't see that he's violating any codes."
On Monday, the fence stretched across three of the 15 waterfront lots. He plans to extend it all the way around the lake.
"My intention is not to annoy anyone," he said.
As for painting the fence pink behind Mrs. Beehner's property, Connolly said, it was done to warn workers to stay away from that site "because that person is very volatile and confronted us in the past."
Connolly said he was shocked by the vitriol from some of the residents. The offer to sell small pieces of land to individual homeowners is off the table. Connolly said he is now negotiating with one homeowner interested in buying the entire 4.7-acre property.
He would not say how much he is asking. "I'm a reasonable man," Connolly said.
Mrs. Beehner warns the pink fence behind her property could be erected behind any number of homes in Pinellas.
"People need to be warned," she said. "This could happen in your back yard."
Connolly said he owns one other lake in Pinellas County.
But Navaroli said his office believes Connolly may own several properties that neighborhoods consider common areas. Navaroli said he warned the county property appraiser's office more than a year ago about the danger of taxing undevelopable lands, such as retention ponds, or selling those lands at tax sale.
"It's a pretty disgusting mess," said County Commissioner Susan Latvala. "We have to prevent this from happening again. That kind of property should not be for sale."
As for the Tarpon Woods lake, however, county officials said there may be nothing they can do to help the homeowners.
Some homeowners blame the developer, Lloyd Ferrentino for allowing the taxes to lapse. At the very least, some said, he should have notified the property owners so they could have tried to buy it. Ferrentino could not be reached Monday.
On Monday, Connolly's workers continued their fence-building, extending it behind the home of Peter Cieslinski. Cieslinski, 44, who was just released from active duty in the Navy a week ago, said he can't believe the county would allow someone to come in and take away his view of the alligators, turtles and wading birds.
"I look at it this way: There's the spirit of the law and the letter of the law," Cieslinski said. "The county is looking at this as the letter of the law. There's got to be a legal Latin term for "the law says this, but wait a minute, look at the extenuating circumstances.' "
Mrs. Beehner said neighbors plan to hire an attorney.
Zoning and Homeowners Associations permit this.
Would they permit me to remove my neighbors as well? They ain't too easy on the eyes...
It makes it easier to be a conservative when you only have to adhere to your core principles when it's convenient. "Situational principles" seem to be popular on both sides of the political spectrum.When we stick to our basic principles in the face of adversity, we strengthen them immeasurably. When we ditch them at our convenience, we strip them of any meaning.
Some of the anti-freedon and anti-Moslem rhetoric since September 11th has made it clear that situational principles isn't just a function of the left.
-Eric
But don't you understand -- the residents have a RIGHT to the photons reflecting off that lake. This guy is replacing those God-given photons with other photons being reflected off his fence -- he's not confining those photons to his property -- and that's illegal. The Constitution says so. Somewhere. Don't go looking for it, just trust me.
I'll bet it's not landlocked, remember, he bought it from the developer who probably had a road with lake access, or perhaps even other lots.
Homeowners associations indirectly removed us, so sure.
Yes, it would be. I don't know the property law in the State of Florida but I would think the developer should be obligated to inform by letter to every property owner of his intention to let the lakefront go to default thus giving them an option to buy. The newspaper ad is a cheesy way out of it!
There are no other lots -- he was talking about dredging and backfilling to get the lots he wanted for more development.
But if he is not landlocked, there still is the county option of condemnation under Eminent Domain.
Who owns what property is the real issue. The homeowners don't own the lake or a strip of land surrounding it. Someone else does. He can put up a fence if wants to. Even if he does it to increase the desire of the homeowners to pay his asking price.
You should know. You are a statist and a lover of force.
Then he'll moan and cry about the evil "statists." But the "statists" are a monster he created and strengthened.
No, statists like you are already created and just waiting for an excuse to express themselves.
Thanks for the input. Since my beloved wife-to-be and I will be in a very similar situation -- pond-edged property with access but no ownership -- we will be very careful to let our neighbors and the developer know about this situation and we will head it off at the pass.
Agreed that property owners should be aware of such and ask for such provisions in their sale agreements. If doing so means getting the state legislature to pass a law requiring it, then so be it.
Eminent. Imminent means that the domain is JUST about to happen. ;^)
You can do what you wish with your property but not to hurt your neighors enjoyment of their property.
Running to the government and petioning them to use violence to solve the problem that they allowed to happen by their sloth and ignorance is a cherished American tradition. Embraced by liberals and consevatives alike.
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