County
commissioners decided Tuesday not to offer a settlement in an ongoing lawsuit
with the St. Joe Company.
The St. Joe company
is suing Franklin county for six and a half million dollars
for damages it said it suffered when the county removed four future land use
maps from the county’s comprehensive plan.
The 4 land use
maps were added to the comp plan in 2005; they set out areas east of Carrabelle
where the St. Joe Company may yet build thousands of
homes.
That was
before the property market crashed.
In 2009 the
county voted to remove the Future Land Use Maps to protect Franklin County from a glut of buildable lots in the
future.
The St. Joe
Company said the move caused them financial damage and filed a suit under Florida’s Bert Harris law which is designed to
protect private landowners from overreaching government intrusion.
The county has
long argued that this case does not fall under the Bert Harris rules and the
county has not harmed the St. Joe Company.
The county
argues that the St. Joe company still has every right to build on its land, its
just going to have to work with the county commission every step of the way to
make sure the developments are right for the area.
As part of the
Bert Harris process, however, the county is obligated to offer a settlement
even if the settlement offer is to offer nothing.
And that’s the
route the commission voted to take this week.
The board said
it has taken no action to harm St. Joe and feels no obligation to offer the
company anything.
The ball is now
in St. Joe’s court.
The company
can choose to accept what Franklin County has done or can continue forward with the
suit.
It has plenty
of time to think about it – the deadline for filing suit is March of 2014.
http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments
No comments:
Post a Comment