Tab for lawyer's expertise keeps rising

City officials say they are getting a good deal, but the price to employ development consultant Charles Siemon shocks some residents.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 12, 2000

[Times photo: Jim Damaske] Lawyer Charles Siemon soon will begin negotiating with a West Palm Beach development team to revamp Clearwater's downtown, including the Coachman Park area.

CLEARWATER -- Earlier this year, City Manager Mike Roberto introduced Charles Siemon to a pair of developers as Clearwater's "million-dollar consultant."

The introduction drew chuckles from several commissioners and city administrators. But it was no joke.

Siemon, a lawyer who has been the premier planner for the city's redevelopment over the past three years, already has been paid $718,664 for his services. Once outstanding balances are paid, the total could rise to as much as $885,390.

The fees compensated Siemon's firm for rewriting all of the city's development laws to be more flexible, devising new master plans for the downtown and Clearwater Beach and planning a new $65-million condo project on the beach.

Now at $200-an-hour, the City Commission plans to retain Siemon's Boca Raton-based law firm again. The additional cost could be another $500,000 over the next three months.

Once the commission finalizes the fees later this month -- which most commissioners say they intend to do -- Siemon will be responsible for helping the city complete one of its most important deals.

He will negotiate with a team of West Palm Beach businessmen who will build shops, restaurants and residences on 39 acres of mostly public land downtown. The development agreement, possibly a long-term lease of the city's property, is certain to be lengthy and complex.

Commissioners voted a week ago to pay $25,000 to get Siemon started.

"There will be a lender, developers, other third-party tenants, investors, private property owners and the city over it all, wanting to try to maintain some control of the situation," Siemon explains. "This is not going to be a traditional real estate transaction."

But the price to hire Siemon's law firm for the deal shocks conservative Clearwater residents like Francis Rasmussen, a retired accountant. They note that the city manager caught criticism last year for a $2.3-million spending spree on such consultants.

"Did we follow good business practices and seek bids from other qualified attorneys, of which Clearwater has no shortage?" asked Rasmussen, a 79-year-old retiree. "There seems to be little concern about costs."

In response, city officials say Clearwater is not required to go out to bid for legal services.

And most city commissioners and City Attorney Pam Akin think Clearwater is already getting a great deal with Siemon -- even at $200 an hour.

Siemon, who has advised seven state governments on growth management laws, usually charges $225 and more per hour.

Akin says she needs an expert adviser to face the $300-an-hour attorneys the developers will likely hire. And all the officials feel comfortable that Siemon -- the same man who came up with the idea for Clearwater Beach's roundabout project -- can do the job.

"The upper range is $500,000 for his fees, although I don't think it will end up being that much," Akin said.

"But in my view, it's not really a price issue. We can certainly get cheaper services. But this is the person who is the best person to do the deal we're working on now."

So far Siemon has done very well on his other assignments, Akin says, although the final drafts of master plans for downtown and the beach, which were due by September, are still not complete. Siemon says he wants to work out the details of deals with downtown and beach developers before releasing them.

Commissioner Ed Hart, however, has some concerns about the beach's new roundabout, which Siemon first suggested to Roberto. Hart thinks it is designed more to boost economic development than to function well at moving traffic.

In the coming months, Hart says, "We need to make sure we balance development downtown with the needs of our citizens. Charlie is a very competent individual. But we as a commission will need to keep the focus where we want it."

Commissioner Bob Clark thinks Siemon has earned his money -- even though the two men have sometimes disagreed.

"I admire him," Clark said. "For certain elements in our city who don't like redevelopment, he's become a target. He's been very, very visible."

As he has from the beginning, Siemon touts his experience to argue why he's worth the fees.

Notably, the 54-year-old Boca Raton resident, who often perches his glasses on his forehead in a professorial manner, has worked on master plans for downtown revival in numerous South Florida cities, including West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

And in his current hometown of Boca Raton, Siemon helped set up the deal that created Mizner Park. The flamingo pink, Mediterranean-style development looks like an old-fashioned city street, with boutique stores, residential units, office space and streetside cafes mixed together.

Siemon's fees totaled about $200,000 in the early 1990s for his work on the deal.

Still, the city's Community Redevelopment Agency ultimately hired a second lawyer, who earned about $100,000, to do the documents that sealed the Mizner Park deal.

(In the very complex transaction, the city financed the project by acquiring an old mall with $68-million in tax-exempt bonds then leasing it back to a developer for up to 15 percent of the profits in annual rent over 99 years.)

After splitting with the city, Siemon later went to work for Mizner Park's developer, Crocker & Co.

Whether Mizner Park has been successful depends on whom you ask.

A decade later, Boca Raton residents still debate whether Mizner Park is a fake, too-expensive endeavor or a prime example of successful downtown redevelopment.

At the very least, people stand in long lines to get tables in the outdoor cafes.

The price of negotiating a contract doesn't guarantee success, Siemon concedes.

Siemon says he worked on one of West Palm Beach's initial efforts at downtown redevelopment that fell through, although about $350,000 was spent on creating master downtown plans.

On the other side of Florida, the tiny town of Punta Gorda spent $550,000 to hire expert negotiators to work with New Orleans developer David Waltemath for projects along the Peace River over the past 10 years.

But city officials still mishandled basic tasks -- such as making sure the city had title to the land it was bargaining away. And the ambitions for the project -- which included building a large hotel in the center of a town of 18,000 -- were not realistic for the market.

After years of community strife, city officials are still working to develop their riverfront.

"I think $500,000 is too enormous an amount to pay for a contract, and especially for a bad one," said Paul Johnson, a Punta Gorda community activist who drove up to Clearwater this month to talk to local officials.

"But you do need an expert to do some tough negotiating with the developer," Johnson advised. "Don't just give the developer the walk of the world when they sit down at the table with you."

Mayor Brian Aungst says he trusts Siemon to help Clearwater avoid such missteps.

"We absolutely have to do this the correct way the first time," Aungst said. "We need to make sure the city is protected."

Charles L. Siemon

Attorney and planning consultant, partner of Siemon & Larsen.

AGE: 54

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Emory University. Law degree from Florida State University.

PERSONAL: Married with two grown daughters. Residences in Mizner Park in Boca Raton and Marathon. Grew up in West Palm Beach, where his family has run an office-supply firm.

BIG CASES: Practiced mainly in Illinois and Florida. Fought legal battles to protect sensitive areas, such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' famed Cross Creek. Won cases that set precedents for development around wetlands and school-building impact fees.

DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT:Worked on downtown plans for Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Riviera Beach, Miami Beach. Frequently represents big developers on the other side of the table. Also has written several books and articles on development issues.

STATE ADVISORY WORK: Most notably worked on New Jersey's master plan to preserve up to 800,000 acres of the state's sensitive Pinelands.

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