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The land speculator says he's doing "the right thing" by offering to sell at cost the properties he bought at a tax deed sale.
By JEFF TESTERMAN and ROBERT FARLEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 14, 2002
TAMPA -- Don Connolly, the land speculator whose tax deed business inspired fear and loathing among property owners around the Tampa Bay area, wants to have a fire sale.
Connolly announced Tuesday that virtually every property he bought at a tax deed sale will be offered at bargain basement rates -- his cost -- to county governments and then to adjacent property owners.
"I'd like to get out of the middle of all the controversy," said Connolly, whose high-pressure business strategy made him a real estate pariah. "The only way I can do that is to offer these properties for sale."
For residents of the Tarpon Woods neighborhood in northern Pinellas, Connolly's offer provides an opportunity to rid themselves of an intrusion that appeared in their back yards in May.
That's when Connolly erected a pink fence on the shoreline of a lake he had bought at a Pinellas tax deed sale, then demanded $30,000 each from 15 waterfront homeowners to sell back the view.
The initial price of $450,000 has now plummeted to $4,800. Connolly said his sale price equals the price of his tax deed ($800), plus the cost of the survey ($4,000) that he commissioned before putting up the pink fence.
Connolly said he would "eat the cost of the fence."
"Thank goodness it's about over," said Alice Beehner, one of the Tarpon Woods residents. "It has been miserable. Totally stressful. And it should never have happened. The county should let neighbors know these sales are going to happen."
Beehner predicted she and her neighbors would take Connolly's offer within a week, adding, "It's nice closure."
Pinellas County Attorney Susan Churuti had been quietly negotiating with Connolly on behalf of the Tarpon Woods group for about two months.
In the course of those negotiations, said Pinellas County Commissioner Susan Latvala, Connolly came forward with the offer to sell all of his properties at cost.
"Someone probably advised him this is a good thing to do at this point in his life," Latvala said.
Connolly acknowledged Tuesday that some property owners were blindsided because state law does not require all adjacent property owners to be notified of a pending tax deed sale.
Churuti noted that Sarah Richardson, a county real estate attorney, has drafted a proposed amendment to state law that would require that adjoining property owners be notified in the future. The Pinellas County legislative delegation is lending its support to the proposal.
Connolly's next-door neighbors may jump at the chance to buy, but government officials were less enthusiastic about spending tax dollars at his fire sale.
"I'd be skeptical about this in the first place because of the offensive things he's done in the community," said Hillsborough County Commission Chairwoman Pat Frank.
"This would be getting the county into the real estate business, which is not our function," she said. "If you decide to step into that mess, you'll have others trying to bring you more property to buy."
Latvala said the Pinellas County Commission would consider Connolly's sale list, but added, "Quite honestly, we can't buy all those if they don't meet a public purpose."
Under terms faxed to officials Tuesday, Connolly is offering to sell tax deed parcels to the county government that sold it to him, and if no offer is received, then to adjacent property owners. He says he will end his sale Sept. 15, and is requiring public and private parties alike to make written offers.
Connolly said properties currently in litigation won't be offered for sale. That means Luella Williams will have to continue her court battle to keep her Tampa home.
Connolly discovered a tax deed for half of Williams' home -- created through a deed transfer oversight -- and sued her, asking a judge to order her home sold so he could take half the proceeds.
On other properties, Beehner theorized that Connolly's charitable change of heart is so "he will be able to say, "I'm a good guy' when he goes back to court."
Connolly's legal problems worsened after the media picked up the pink fence saga, the plight of Luella Williams and other cases of what some called "legalized extortion."
Prodded by news stories about Connolly's falling behind on court-ordered restitution of $124,378 stemming from a tax fraud case, the Florida Department of Corrections charged him with violation of probation.
The Manatee Sheriff's Office is looking into an allegation that Connolly forged a deed to a waterfront property before telling a retired couple he planned to park junk cars there if they didn't buy it.
The governor's office revoked the notary public license Connolly used in deed transfers. The Hillsborough state attorney charged him with perjury regarding his arrest record on the notary application.
Probation officials, skeptical of Connolly's income, asked for his income tax returns, then opened a new criminal investigation when he couldn't supply them.
Connolly now faces a sentencing hearing Aug. 27 for violation of probation charges that could put him in prison for five years.
At his last hearing, Connolly's attorney, Norman Cannella, said he hoped "the property owners next to the fence he erected"' would not be allowed to address the court.
So is Connolly's motivation for this latest business strategy a play for judicial sympathy?
Not at all, he said Tuesday.
"I just want to do the right thing."
-- Jeff Testerman can be reached at (813) 226-3422, or by e-mail at testerman@sptimes.com.