Boathouse owners, Town Council want deal done

The controversial boathouse litigation was the main topic of discussion at the Windermere Town Council meeting Tuesday, Aug. 13, following a settlement offer sent to the town from the boathouse owners.

 

Boathouse owners Trevor and Bo Siemian, Anne Fanelli, Russell and Cindy Gentry, George Poelker, Joyce Rose, and Doug and Jerry Fay sent the settlement offer giving the town 45 days to respond. The offer expired on Thursday, Aug. 15, and the owners said they received no response from the town.

The settlement offer included seven points: the boathouse owners would retain private ownership and possession of their respective boathouses; the town would disclaim any interest in the boathouses and the associated area; the town would agree that its officers, employees and agents would not interfere with the boathouse owners; the boathouse owners would pay property taxes directly to the Orange County Tax Collector; the boathouse owners would not use the boathouses for any commercial purposes or any business or trade; the boathouse owners would maintain their respective boathouse in good repair and sanitary condition; the complaints and counterclaims would be dismissed with prejudice by all parties’; and all parties would bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs.

Jerry Fay and his wife have owned their boathouse since the mid 1960s. 

“We’ve maintained it, paid insurance, paid taxes and even paid the town their lease to cross public property,” he said. “I’m the last person left that actually signed the original lease. The way it was put to us back then was that we could either sign the lease and kick the can down the road 20 years, or we could get involved in an expensive legal battle now, and we all just decided on the first option. Now, here we are 20 years later. …  We sent them the proposal with the response date and we didn’t even get a response. They just totally ignored it. 

“I’ve lived here a long time, and this little town means a lot to me,” he said. “We would like this whole thing to be over. We would like the town to recognize the fact that we own the boathouses and that if we win we’re not going to go after them for legal fees. They sued us; we didn’t sue them. We just want the whole thing to be dropped, so they can lick their wounds, and we can lick our wounds. Everyone can just go on with their lives. I never dreamed this thing would cost so much money to defend. This has just been crazy.”

LITIGATION

The five Palmer Park boathouses, built between 1910 and 1915 on West Third Avenue, have become a strong point of contention through the years.

The original lease agreement was signed in 1985, before being extended in 2001. It then expired in 2021 and was again extended on a month-to-month basis until March 2022. 

The Town Council then voted to terminate the leases, giving the boathouse owners 60 days to leave the structures. The town sued in July 2022 after the boathouse owners refused to vacate.

At its September 2022 meeting, the Town Council approved a resolution to officially authorize the town attorney to proceed with a lawsuit filed against occupants of the boathouses. 

The town previously filed lawsuits against each of seven boathouse owners July 15, 2022. 

However, the boathouse occupants’ attorney, A. Kurt Ardaman, argued the lawsuits were not valid because of a lack of a signed resolution that had not accompanied the filings.

Town leaders discussed the litigation in May. Town Attorney Nick Dancaescu said the mediation reached an impasse, but he could not share what happened in the mediation because of Florida Statutes.

At the meeting, Town Council Member Tom Stroup said he was hoping the issues of the litigation would have been resolved in mediation. He said hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on both sides of the argument and he believes the trial will double those numbers.

Stroup made several suggestions, including that both parties drop the lawsuit and neither party seeks legal cost restitution, the previous lease agreements be terminated and the town sell the boathouses to the previous lessees with the cost of the boathouse sales to be determined by the council, and the boathouse upkeep and maintenance fall under the same rules and regulations as all residential property in Windermere.

However, the offer was never brought before the council again for a vote. 

SEARCHING FOR A SOLUTION

Town attorneys Summer DeGel and Dancaescu, of Gray Robinson, said the settlement proposal outlines several points the boathouse owners say to be true — such as the lagoon being privately owned and the determination of the ordinary high-water line. However, an email from the attorneys to the Town Council states “the proposal purports to set forth several facts to which we disagree.”

In the proposal, the boathouse owners reference Stroup’s concerns and ideas regarding the lawsuit.

“We agree with Mr. Stroup,” they wrote. “No matter the outcome, if this ends in trial, there will be no real winner. In that vein, we would like to make a written settlement proposal. We hope this proposal is received in the spirit in which it is intended, i.e. we are all residents of this beautiful town and would like to start the healing process of mending any hard feelings or unintended animosities.”

Siemian said when he moved his family back to Windermere a year ago, he couldn’t wait to raise his kids in the same tight-knit community in which he grew up. 

“It’s difficult for me to understand how the mayor, town manager and most of the Town Council can be so comfortable wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to sue upstanding members of this community over their private property,” he said. “It’s a scary display of government overreach and being financially irresponsible. The town has tried to make us out to be the instigators and attempted to vilify us in the community. It’s sad, because five of the boathouse owners have lived in and contributed to this community for (more than) 30 years.

“To be clear, the town is the one suing us,” he said. “We have acted in good faith and tried to seek a long-term resolution. The town has not reciprocated our effort to resolve this matter.”

“No one likes this type of litigation,” Mayor Jim O’Brien said. “No one wins, and that’s pretty clear. I don’t think that anyone is naive enough to think that. I think what we’re talking about here and how we got to this point is very hard. Our issues, our questions and our challenges that over a long period of time have never truly come to a solution or an agreement.”

Council Member Mandy David said the boathouse owners have not seemed open to negotiations.

“I understand everybody wants what they want,” Council Member Andy Williams said. “This is never going to end well, but we need to make a final decision on this. … We’re almost there, and I think we’re on the right track right now.”

Stroup asked the council to give a shade meeting another shot, to which all council members consented too.

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