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LUTZ - The 17th hole on Cheval's golf course has a new second hole: a 3-month-old hole in the wall near the green, plus a set of brick pavers leading from Cheval Boulevard toward the hole in the wall.
This week, a battery of lawyers and witnesses spent three hours in Hillsborough Circuit Court arguing, essentially, "What's the meaning of this?"
To the Cheval Property Owners Association, it's another step in a developer's illegal scheme to stitch together a batch of real estate rights and build an unwelcome addition onto Cheval East, the original half of Cheval.
"The residents are up in arms," said Eric Partlow, one of the association's attorneys.
To developer Rand Gentry, it's a property owners' association trying to block him by exercising authority it doesn't really have.
"This is a property owners association that is running amok," said one of Gentry's attorneys, Matt Lucas.
At the moment, Gentry testified, all he's trying to do is improve the sand traps on 17.
The court case stems from the association's request that Judge Perry Little stop Gentry in his tracks. The Tuesday hearing stretched into the dinner hour before lawyers could launch their closing statements. So they decided to file written versions next week. Perry could rule afterward, but the court fights promise to thrive no matter what he does.
Gentry, a developer for 30 years, lives in Cheval West, the younger sister of Cheval East. Last fall, a corporation led by Gentry bought Cheval Golf and Country Club, including the golf course, all in Cheval East. At the same time, another Gentry corporation paid $1-million for a horse farm just outside Cheval's wall from the 17th hole. By controlling the 17th hole, Gentry also controlled the wall beside it.
So in early summer, he busted out a big section of it.
Gentry testified Tuesday that this was necessary for the sand traps. Rebuilding them requires fill dirt, and he's digging it just outside the wall.
The association's attorneys told Little they want to debate the hole in the wall later. For now, they're focused on the new driveway with brick pavers. Gentry's contractors installed it mostly in the right of way of Cheval Boulevard. All of Cheval's streets, including the rights of way, are owned by the association. The association didn't authorize a new driveway there.
But Gentry testified the golf course and country club have 22 other driveways at various points, and the association never authorized or controlled those.
The golf course has an access easement there, so maintenance trucks can reach the 17th hole from Cheval Boulevard.
Of course, all of Cheval has known for a year that this is no ordinary maintenance driveway. It's Gentry's pathway to the addition of 22 mansions onto Cheval.
Gentry tried in June to rezone the horse farm for 39 houses. County planners decided the new road would be legal, but a zoning hearing master disagreed. The association turned out in force, and persuaded the Hillsborough County Commission to reject the rezoning. That left Gentry with a limit of 22 lots, but didn't alter his plans to connect them to Cheval.
Since then, Gentry's preliminary plat - an initial step toward building permits for the new neighborhood - was rejected because of the access question. He plans to refile it.
Another county department cited Gentry on Aug. 5 for a zoning violation, contending he had created a new road not depicted on Cheval's approved site plan. If he is found to remain in violation, he could be subject to daily fines.
Eric Partlow, the association's lawyer, said the golf club's easement lets members and employees use Cheval's roads, but not connect a new road to them. He said a variety of other provisions in Cheval's governing documents also block it.
Gentry cited a 1994 amendment to the documents, apparently exempting the golf club.
Partlow asked: How can you enjoy the easement benefits of such documents without facing the restrictions in them?
"I hire attorneys to answer those questions for me," Gentry said.
"What if they're wrong?" Partlow countered.
"Well," Gentry replied, "I hire a bunch of 'em."
- Bill Coats can be reached at 813 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com