Let a Circuit Court jury decide: City of St. Augustine must vote to use eminent domain to take back Echo House

Since good faith negotiations have apparently failed, St. Augustine City Commissioners must vote tonight to direct the City Attorney to follow the steps required to condemn what's left of Echo House for a public purpose, as allowed by the City's right of reverter and by Florida eminent domain law. First article on negotiations, then statute:


Echo House negotiations crumble
By Sheldon Gardner
Posted at 2:20 PM
As of Friday morning, negotiations had come to a standstill on saving a nearly century-old building in Lincolnville.

The city of St. Augustine and St. Paul AME Church officials met recently to discuss the city’s proposal for preserving Echo House, which St. Paul AME rejected, said the Rev. Ron Rawls, pastor of the church.

Commissioners are expected to discuss their options at tonight’s City Commission meeting, City Manager John Regan said.

Those options include allowing the demolition to take place or refusing to issue a demolition permit, Regan said. In the meantime, Regan said he planned to be in touch with St. Paul AME officials to try and work something out before Monday night.

“We’re going to have a discussion about what happens [as of] April 16,” Regan said.

St. Paul AME plans to demolish the property, which is on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in St. Augustine near the church, on April 16 or later if nothing is resolved. That’s when a 10-month waiting period will expire that was set by the city’s Historic Architectural Review Board, which reviews demolition requests for older structures and which approved a certificate of demolition for Echo House. The waiting period was intended to give the community time to find a way to save Echo House. A demolition permit is still needed from the city’s Planning and Building Department.

Opened in the 1920s as a community center, the property belongs to the church. The city has a reverter clause on the property that says it has to be used for charitable, philanthropic and nonprofit purposes, or ownership goes back to the city.

The latest attempt to save the building from demolition was led by members of the nonprofit Lincolnville Historical Preservation and Restoration Society, including co-chair Madeline Wise.

Wise said she wants the city to have a judge determine whether St. Paul’s plans to use the property in part for parking count as a nonprofit, charitable and philanthropic purpose.


“They don’t want to save the place,” Wise said of St. Paul AME.

The property changed hands and deteriorated over the years. After St. Paul AME Church took over the property in 2010, the church planned to rehabilitate the building, but that hasn’t happened. And in recent years, Rawls has applied to demolish the property in part to make room for parking.

The city’s recent offer to St. Paul AME Church included: Dividing the property into two parcels. The building and part of the land would go to the city. The rest would go to the church, and the city would remove its reverter clause from the church’s part of the land. The city would also provide $90,000 to help the church upgrade its property for parking and open space for children to play during summer camps, or other uses.

The city would also have committed, if the commission had approved the agreement, to restoring the building and looking for grants. The budget was expected to be $350,000. The city would also have sought to use it for low-intensity uses, such as a nonprofit office or museum, that wouldn’t compete with the church’s needs for parking.

But church leaders rejected the deal, Rawls said.

“We’re open for any more conversations they want to have,” Rawls said. “We’re not accepting that request to give them a portion of ownership of our land.”

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73.015 Presuit negotiation.— (1) Effective July 1, 2000, before an eminent domain proceeding is brought under this chapter or chapter 74, the condemning authority must attempt to negotiate in good faith with the fee owner of the parcel to be acquired, must provide the fee owner with a written offer and, if requested, a copy of the appraisal upon which the offer is based, and must attempt to reach an agreement regarding the amount of compensation to be paid for the parcel. (a) No later than the time the initial written or oral offer of compensation for acquisition is made to the fee owner, the condemning authority must notify the fee owner of the following: 1. That all or a portion of his or her property is necessary for a project. 2. The nature of the project for which the parcel is considered necessary, and the parcel designation of the property to be acquired. 3. That, within 15 business days after receipt of a request by the fee owner, the condemning authority will provide a copy of the appraisal report upon which the offer to the fee owner is based; copies, to the extent prepared, of the right-of-way maps or other documents that depict the proposed taking; and copies, to the extent prepared, of the construction plans that depict project improvements to be constructed on the property taken and improvements to be constructed adjacent to the remaining property, including, but not limited to, plan, profile, cross-section, drainage, and pavement marking sheets, and driveway connection detail. The condemning authority shall provide any additional plan sheets within 15 days of request. 4. The fee owner’s statutory rights under ss. 73.091 and 73.092, or alternatively provide copies of these provisions of law. 5. The fee owner’s rights and responsibilities under paragraphs (b) and (c) and subsection (4), or alternatively provide copies of these provisions of law. (b) The condemning authority must provide a written offer of compensation to the fee owner as to the value of the property sought to be appropriated and, where less than the entire property is sought to be appropriated, any damages to the remainder caused by the taking. The owner must be given at least 30 days after either receipt of the notice or the date the notice is returned as undeliverable by the postal authorities to respond to the offer, before the condemning authority files a condemnation proceeding for the parcel identified in the offer. (c) The notice and written offer must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the fee owner’s last known address listed on the county ad valorem tax roll. Alternatively, the notice and written offer may be personally delivered to the fee owner of the property. If there is more than one owner of a property, notice to one owner constitutes notice to all owners of the property. The return of the notice as undeliverable by the postal authorities constitutes compliance with this provision. The condemning authority is not required to give notice or a written offer to a person who acquires title to the property after the notice required by this section has been given. (d) Notwithstanding this subsection, with respect to lands acquired under s. 253.025, the condemning authority is not required to give the fee owner the current appraisal before executing an option contract. (2) Effective July 1, 2000, before an eminent domain proceeding is brought under this chapter or chapter 74 by the Department of Transportation or by a county, municipality, board, district, or other public body for the condemnation of right-of-way, the condemning authority must make a good faith effort to notify the business owners, including lessees, who operate a business located on the property to be acquired. (a) The condemning authority must notify the business owner of the following: 1. That all or a portion of his or her property is necessary for a project. 2. The nature of the project for which the parcel is considered necessary, and the parcel designation of the property to be acquired. 3. That, within 15 business days after receipt of a request by the business owner, the condemning authority will provide a copy of the appraisal report upon which the offer to the fee owner is based; copies, to the extent prepared, of the right-of-way maps or other documents that depict the proposed taking; and copies, to the extent prepared, of the construction plans that depict project improvements to be constructed on the property taken and improvements to be constructed adjacent to the remaining property, including, but not limited to, plan, profile, cross-section, drainage, pavement marking sheets, and driveway connection detail. The condemning authority shall provide any additional plan sheets within 15 days of request. 4. The business owner’s statutory rights under ss. 73.071, 73.091, and 73.092. 5. The business owner’s rights and responsibilities under paragraphs (b) and (c) and subsection (4). (b) The notice must be made subsequent to or concurrent with the condemning authority’s making the written offer of compensation to the fee owner pursuant to subsection (1). The notice must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the address of the registered agent for the business located on the property to be acquired, or if no agent is registered, by certified mail or personal delivery to the address of the business located on the property to be acquired. Notice to one owner of a multiple ownership business constitutes notice to all business owners of that business. The return of the notice as undeliverable by the postal authorities constitutes compliance with these provisions. The condemning authority is not required to give notice to a person who acquires an interest in the business after the notice required by this section has been given. Once notice has been made to business owners under this subsection, the condemning authority may file a condemnation proceeding pursuant to chapter 73 or chapter 74 for the property identified in the notice. (c) If the business qualifies for business damages pursuant to s. 73.071(3)(b) and the business intends to claim business damages, the business owner must, within 180 days after either receipt of the notice or the date the notice is returned as undeliverable by the postal authorities, or at a later time mutually agreed to by the condemning authority and the business owner, submit to the condemning authority a good faith written offer to settle any claims of business damage. The written offer must be sent to the condemning authority by certified mail, return receipt requested. Absent a showing of a good faith justification for the failure to submit a business damage offer within 180 days, the court must strike the business owner’s claim for business damages in any condemnation proceeding. If the court finds that the business owner has made a showing of a good faith justification for the failure to timely submit a business damage offer, the court shall grant the business owner up to 180 days within which to submit a business damage offer, which the condemning authority must respond to within 120 days. 1. The business damage offer must include an explanation of the nature, extent, and monetary amount of such damage and must be prepared by the owner, a certified public accountant, or a business damage expert familiar with the nature of the operations of the owner’s business. The business owner shall also provide to the condemning authority copies of the owner’s business records that substantiate the good faith offer to settle the business damage claim. If additional information is needed beyond data that may be obtained from business records existing at the time of the offer, the business owner and condemning authority may agree on a schedule for the submission of such information. 2. As used in this paragraph, the term “business records” includes, but is not limited to, copies of federal income tax returns, federal income tax withholding statements, federal miscellaneous income tax statements, state sales tax returns, balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and state corporate income tax returns for the 5 years preceding notification which are attributable to the business operation on the property to be acquired, and other records relied upon by the business owner that substantiate the business damage claim. (d) Within 120 days after receipt of the good faith business damage offer and accompanying business records, the condemning authority must, by certified mail, accept or reject the business owner’s offer or make a counteroffer. Failure of the condemning authority to respond to the business damage offer, or rejection thereof pursuant to this section, must be deemed to be a counteroffer of zero dollars for purposes of subsequent application of s. 73.092(1). (3) At any time in the presuit negotiation process, the parties may agree to submit the compensation or business damage claims to nonbinding mediation. The parties shall agree upon a mediator certified under s. 44.102. In the event that there is a settlement reached as a result of mediation or other mutually acceptable dispute resolution procedure, the agreement reached shall be in writing. The written agreement provided for in this section shall incorporate by reference the right-of-way maps, construction plans, or other documents related to the taking upon which the settlement is based. In the event of a settlement, both parties shall have the same legal rights that would have been available under law if the matter had been resolved through eminent domain proceedings in circuit court with the maps, plans, or other documents having been made a part of the record. (4) If a settlement is reached between the condemning authority and a property or business owner prior to a lawsuit being filed, the property or business owner who settles compensation claims in lieu of condemnation shall be entitled to recover costs in the same manner as provided in s. 73.091and attorney’s fees in the same manner as provided in s. 73.092, more specifically as follows: (a) Attorney’s fees for presuit negotiations under this section regarding the amount of compensation to be paid for the land, severance damages, and improvements must be calculated in the same manner as provided in s. 73.092(1) unless the parties otherwise agree. (b) If business damages are recovered by the business owner based on the condemning authority accepting the business owner’s initial offer or the business owner accepting the condemning authority’s initial counteroffer, attorney’s fees must be calculated in accordance with s. 73.092(2), (3), (4), and (5) for the attorney’s time incurred in presentation of the business owner’s good faith offer under paragraph (2)(c). Otherwise, attorney’s fees for the award of business damages must be calculated as provided in s. 73.092(1), based on the difference between the final judgment or settlement of business damages and the counteroffer to the business owner’s offer by the condemning authority. (c) Presuit costs must be presented, calculated, and awarded in the same manner as provided in s. 73.091, after submission by the business or property owner to the condemning authority of all appraisal reports, business damage reports, or other work products for which recovery is sought, and upon transfer of title of the real property by closing, upon payment of any amounts due for business damages, or upon final judgment. (d) If the parties cannot agree on the amount of costs and attorney’s fees to be paid by the condemning authority, the business or property owner may file a complaint in the circuit court in the county in which the property is located to recover attorney’s fees and costs. This shall only apply when the action is by the Department of Transportation, county, municipality, board, district, or other public body for the condemnation of a road right-of-way. (5) Evidence of negotiations or of any written or oral statements used in mediation or negotiations between the parties under this section is inadmissible in any condemnation proceeding, except in a proceeding to determine reasonable costs and attorney’s fees. History.—s. 57, ch. 99-385; s. 8, ch. 2001-256; s. 28, ch. 2016-233. ------- 73.021 Petition; contents.—Those having the right to exercise the power of eminent domain may file a petition therefor in the circuit court of the county wherein the property lies, which petition shall set forth: (1) The authority under which and the public use or purpose for which the property is to be acquired, and that the property is necessary for that public use or purpose; (2) A description identifying the property sought to be acquired. The petitioners may join in the same action all properties involved in a planned project whether in the same or different ownership, or whether or not the property is sought for the same use; (3) The estate or interest in the property which the petitioner intends to acquire; (4) The names, places of residence, legal disabilities, if any, and interests in the property of all owners, lessees, mortgagees, judgment creditors, and lienholders, so far as ascertainable by diligent search, and all unknown persons having an interest in the property when the petitioner has been unable to ascertain the identity of such persons by diligent search and inquiry. If any interest in the property, or lien thereon, belongs to the unsettled estate of a decedent, the executor or administrator shall be made a defendant without joining the devisee or heir; if a trust estate, the trustee shall be made a defendant without joining the cestui que trust. The court may appoint an administrator ad litem to represent the estate of a deceased person whose estate is not being administered, and a guardian ad litem for all defendants who are infants or are under other legal disabilities; and for defendants whose names or addresses are unknown. A copy of the order of appointment shall be served on the guardian ad litem at least 10 days before trial unless he or she has entered an appearance; (5) Whether any mobile home is located on the property sought to be acquired and, if so, whether the removal of that mobile home will be required. If such removal shall be required, the petition shall name the owners of each such mobile home as defendants. This subsection shall not apply to any governmental authority exercising its power of eminent domain when reasonable relocation or removal expenses must be paid to mobile home owners under other provisions of law or agency rule applicable to such exercise of power; (6) A statement that the petitioner has surveyed and located its line or area of construction, and intends in good faith to construct the project on or over the described property; and (7) A demand for relief that the property be condemned and taken for the uses and purposes set forth in the petition, and that the interest sought be vested in the petitioner. History.—s. 1, ch. 65-369; s. 2, ch. 77-51; s. 358, ch. 95-147; s. 3, ch. 2006-11.

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