Oldsmar city government and a longtime civic group seem destined for a court battle that will have no winners.
Oldsmar residents, who have taken little notice of the fight between the city and the Oldsmar Civic Club, ought to get involved now. Why? Because they will be among the losers no matter which side wins if this case goes to court.
Last week Oldsmar City Council members threw up their hands and directed the city attorney to proceed with filing an eminent domain case against the Civic Club. The fight is over the Civic Club's old clubhouse on the corner of St. Petersburg Drive and Dartmouth Avenue.
The Civic Club once owned both the clubhouse and 5 acres surrounding it. However, as the club's membership declined and aged, the group couldn't keep up the property. So in 1994 the club donated the land to the city, which had been looking for property where it could build a cultural center someday, and also leased the clubhouse to the city for use as a temporary cultural center.
The city renovated the clubhouse and took over all maintenance of the property. The Civic Club, which has about 30 members, retained the right to use the clubhouse for its monthly meetings and twice-a-week bingo games.
Then, in 1999, an exterior wall of the Oldsmar Public Library bowed, and structural experts who examined the 1920s-era building found numerous signs of deterioration. Clearly, a new library would have to be built, not only because the building was falling apart, but because the city's population was growing and the space would soon be outgrown.
After several years of looking around for property that would be big enough and suitably located for a large public library, city officials realized that the best spot was the corner occupied by the Civic Club.
The city immediately could have attempted eminent domain, which permits governments to obtain privately owned property - with court approval and for a fair price - when it is needed for public use. But the city didn't do that. Instead, it started negotiations with the club's leaders. Would the club be willing to donate the building to the city? No. Would it accept a sales price determined by an appraiser, $78,000, for the building? No. Would the club be willing to hold its meetings and bingo games in a new city rec center instead? No.
The city agreed to build a meeting room in the new library that the Civic Club could use. But each time there seemed to be an agreement about that, the Civic Club would change its mind or make new requests. Finally, the club offered 19 demands that the city would have to meet.
The City Council, with a gulp, met the demands, agreeing even to provisions such as a $250,000 penalty if the city ever violated any part of the agreement. Then the club added several more demands, including a provision for a mop sink for club use in the new library.
The City Council, desperate to meet an April deadline for a state grant to help build the library, said yes to everything.
But the Civic Club said no.
So the City Council, convinced that the Civic Club had not been negotiating in good faith, decided last week to resort to an eminent domain lawsuit.
It is difficult to fathom the Civic Club's strategy. If it wins the lawsuit, it will retain a building that it can't keep up and lose the friendly relations it has had with the city.
In addition, the taxpayers of Oldsmar, including club members, will have to pay the bills for the lawsuit and the delay might cost the city a state library grant. And the city still won't have a new library.
If the city wins, it will get the old clubhouse, but it will have paid a high price for it in dollars, staff time and image. And because eminent domain proceedings can drag on, the city might lose the state grant anyway.
While all this has been going on, other cities in Pinellas have been building beautiful new libraries for their residents - institutions that will serve as centers for community life and learning for decades to come. If Oldsmar residents would one day like to see a new library like that on St. Petersburg Drive, they need to speak up and attempt to influence their neighbors, the members of the Oldsmar Civic Club, to contribute their clubhouse to that great cause.
