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AARON SHAROCKMANThe Civic Club has been at odds with Oldsmar for some time over its home, which the city wants to make into a library. A settlement may be possible.
OLDSMAR - Civic Club members bunkered in opposition to City Hall could vacate their bingo parlor after all, a spokesman for the group said this week, days before city officials will discuss the building's condemnation.
Former Oldsmar Mayor Jerry Provenzano told current Mayor Jerry Beverland that a settlement can be reached between the club and the city officials, who want to construct a new library on the club's property in downtown Oldsmar.
Provenzano, a two-term mayor from 1991 to 1995, approached club directors to reach a compromise earlier this month. A political rival to Beverland, Provenzano now acts as the club's spokesman, he said.
"We have a direction that we may be able to make into something," said Provenzano, who is not otherwise affiliated with the club.
Provenzano would not discuss the specifics of the compromise. The club hasn't endorsed any plan and already has been battling with the city since September over several potential remedies. But during a phone conversation with Beverland last week, Provenzano said the agreement would involve a time-share clause that would allow the club to continue its bingo in a city-owned building, Beverland said.
Club members realized they needed to bargain, Beverland said. Council member Jim Ronecker will discuss taking over the club property using eminent domain at the July 6 City Council meeting.
"They're on a self-destruct countdown and they know it," Beverland said.
Council members and the Civic Club, a nonprofit group that conducts a weekly bingo game, have wrestled over the club's St. Petersburg Drive home for the past nine months. The city envisions the club site as a perfect location for a new $2.9-million library. The land next door, a gift to the city from the Civic Club, would one day become home to the cultural arts center.
But club members have not agreed to move from what has been their home for the past 50 years. At times, they have refused to cooperate, sometimes bitterly.
Club directors rejected city proposals to move their bingo into the former Kumar residence, a waterfront property the city purchased in 2003. Later they nixed ideas to move their home in the city's senior center or a new recreation center being built at the north end of Pine Avenue.
When the city called a work session with members in April, club directors failed to show up. At a second work session with club members present, president Cecil Short said the club members would not move unless the city built a new venue to house their bingo.
"(The building) will be here as long as we live," Short said during the second meeting.
The club owns the building, but under a complicated lease agreement, the city maintains the structure and uses it as a cultural arts center. When that lease expires in 2044, the city will take ownership. The idea of building a library there has sped up that original timetable.
Provenzano, who was mayor when the lease agreement was made, said club members have always been charitable when it comes to the city.
"They have been painted as the bad guy here," Provenzano said. "They already gave the city land. They already gave the city a building. For free. For nothing. To characterize them as a bad guy is an improper move.
"They're not civic minded - that's bull," he said. "They already stepped up. They're good people."
Short, the club's president, was out of town last week and unaware that other members had expressed an interest to deal. Longtime club member Jim Campoli said the city should build a portion of the new arts center next door.
The club would then move out of their building and into the arts center. The city could then build the new library in the former club's place.
"All we want is some kind of alternative," Campoli said. "We're willing to move if we have somewhere we can move to, where we know we can stay."
Meanwhile Ronecker, who has led the push to get the library built on the Civic Club property, said he will pursue "all legal options" to get the land.
Up until now, he asked for the work sessions, questioned the validity of the club's officers and asked for third-party mediation.
"We gave them every opportunity to be cooperative with us and they just refused," Ronecker said.
Ronecker said the city could acquire the land in eminent domain proceedings, where the city would purchase the property for its fair market value.
But discussions about buying out the Civic Club could unleash a second round of bitterness by members, Provenzano said. The city should continue to negotiate, he said. Ronecker said he would continue talks if club members are interested.
"(Club members) are already upset," Provenzano said. "If the city starts talking eminent domain, they're going to fire right up, and you're going to have a lost cause. Again."
- Aaron Sharockman can be reached at 727 771-4303 or asharockman@sptimes.com