The Oldsmar Civic Club comes up with last-minute demands before it will yield its bingo hall so the city can build a library. The city talks eminent domain.
By JANETTE NEUWAHL
Published August 19, 2004
OLDSMAR - Mayor Jerry Beverland clutched his gavel. He needed to grab something to keep his temper in check.
At Tuesday night's council meeting, members were poised to approve an agreement with the Oldsmar Civic Club that would have finally resolved the fate of the club's St. Petersburg Drive property. The city wants to put a library there. But just as the agreement came before the council, the city's former mayor, Jerry Provenzano, stepped up to represent the club and presented a list of changes to the agreement.
First, Provenzano said, the club wanted the library's 2,400-square-foot meeting room all day on Mondays and Saturdays, instead of the city's stipulated 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. usage limit. They also want one random day of access to the room each month so the club can use the room for an event, should they want to host one. Finally, the club wants to be able to rent out the room during their scheduled use time if they do not need it.
"Right now, the club has the ability to sublet the place if they aren't going to use it for a night, and it provides a source of income for the organization," Provenzano said. "They don't want to lose that ability."
The club also wants the library plans to increase the size of the meeting room to 3,200 square feet, the same amount of space as the group has now.
Beverland said the city probably won't budge on that demand, because it would add significant costs to the project, which is already expected to cost Oldsmar $2.9-million.
After Provenzano presented the club's changes, Beverland fumed that the club's lawyer wasn't there and that demands were raised at the meeting rather than during earlier negotiations.
City attorney Tom Trask also appeared frustrated and urged council members to go forward with eminent domain, to pressure the civic club into ceding the property.
After about 45 minutes of discussion, council members decided to table the agreement until negotiations were complete. They also decided to hold off any decision on whether to seize the property by eminent domain.
But the mood in council chambers was tense as Provenzano left the lectern.
"Your attorney needs to call our attorney," Beverland said, referring to Bryan Kutchins, the civic club's attorney who worked for Oldsmar until he resigned in 1996. "I'm tired of this horse's race - we need to end it right here."
Beverland and Trask said the city has had difficulty reaching Kutchins.
Kutchins disagreed.
On Wednesday, he said he tried to make an appointment with Trask this week but the city attorney was booked. They will probably meet next week.
"We'll reach an agreement because I think both sides want to reach an agreement," Kutchins said. "I don't think the city really wanted to file a condemnation action with an organization that donates thousands of dollars to the city each year."
Before talk with the city about the property began, the club donated land adjacent to its bingo hall for the city to build an arts center.
About a year ago, the city began considering the civic club's property for the library. Since then, the process has dragged on because of conflicts between the city and the club. The two sides at first refused to talk, but finally decided to draw up an agreement in July so that the city could use the property for a library. It would have a meeting room for the civic club's bingo games.
Kutchins said the civic club wanted Provenzano, rather than him, to act as its representative before the council because he was familiar with city proceedings and it was thought that he would be able to talk to council members better than club members could.
Still, council members would have appreciated Kutchins' presence, Beverland said. And though some council members said they were optimistic that the agreement could be worked out, the city needs to complete plans for the library in order to apply for state funding.
"We have to present plans for the large state grant, and if we don't get that in time, we might lose it," said Beverland. "There's a lot of work to do before then - we need a site plan, building plans - and we don't even know what it is going to look like yet.
"We're on a deadline here and we're not going to miss that deadline. Absolutely not."
