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Residents want court to open easement to bay
By JON WILSON, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- A passage to Boca Ciega Bay, noted in county record books nearly two generations ago, has become the focus of a neighborhood dispute about who should be allowed to use it. Through the years, property owners have come and gone from Bay Park Gardens, a subdivision platted in 1953 just west of Park Street N. It's a small, pleasant neighborhood of comfortable homes along 37th Avenue N. At the avenue's end are homes on four tracts larger than the other lots. Between two of the large tracts, one of which is owned by Patrick and Kathryn Brannon, lies the passage in question. Called an easement, it runs east and west, connecting the waterfront to the subdivision via another easement running north and south at the end of 37th Avenue. The east-west easement is causing most of the debate, and the issue has moved into court. In a lawsuit, about 30 Bay Gardens residents argue that the passage is theirs to use to reach the waterfront. They want the Brannons, who own property known as tracts A and B, to take down a gate and a fence blocking access to the easement, which the residents want opened permanently. Two of the residents, Larry Lynch and Robin Roberson, co-own a house. Lynch said in court Friday that the two have used the easement to walk to the bay and "watch sunsets . . . watch the tide roll in and out, fish." Another resident, Mary Henter, said blocking the easement also prevents her from having access to her back yard, which has a gate that opens onto the easement. Mary and Theodore Henter own property known as tract C, which is immediately south of the easement and the Brannons' tracts. The Brannons, whose property the easement crosses, argue the passage should be considered abandoned, saying that a road on it was removed and a dock destroyed more than 38 years ago. They've put up a fence and a gate to bar access. Patrick Brannon and his attorney, Homer Duvall III, declined comment. Friday's three-hour hearing produced no result because more testimony, including that which will support the Brannons' position, must be heard. Circuit Judge Susan F. Schaeffer said her crowded calendar means the case could take up to several months to finish. In court documents, the Brannons say that the destroyed dock was the original reason for the easement, and because the dock no longer exists, there is no purpose for an easement. The couple has countersued several of the residents for trespassing, asking for unspecified damages. Easements define a right to use property in various ways, such as coming and going on it. They can be granted by owners to individuals, groups or governments, and they may spell out rights and responsibilities. Many easements are used for utilities and right of way. Owners pay taxes on the easements they grant, but an easement might make property worth less. St. Petersburg has thousands of easements, and waterfront easements likely are among them. "In some places they are common," said Mark Winn, the chief assistant city attorney. "I don't know if they're common here." The Bay Park Gardens easement was not dedicated to the public, at least not in the widest sense of the term. Court documents show it was meant to be used by the subdivision only. Its use was affirmed in a 1958 court decision, records show. The case is of much more than passing interest in easement theory. "It's not interesting to the people in the neighborhood who are affected by it," said assistant city attorney Al Galbraith. "They are hopping mad." City government is not a party to the suit. But residents have directed some ire toward the city. A previous owner of tracts A and B put up a fence, but took it down after the city's code enforcement department noted no fence certificate had been obtained. Some of the residents who brought the suit against the Brannons wonder why the city can't do the same thing in that case. "What part of the city code could I cite them for?" Galbraith said. Of the previous case, Galbraith said: "Hopefully (the codes department has) some part of the city code to hang their hat on when they start a case. I don't believe that happened in this (earlier) case." Fence certificates, which are issued at no cost, are not required when property owners put up fences. "They are just a document for us to help the property owner get it right . . . all it certifies is that someone looked at it and it sounds okay," Winn said.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
