Manager agrees to leave golf course

After vowing to fight an eviction order, Nancy Lester says she will vacate the Zephyrhills City Golf Course by mid-May.

By CARY DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

ZEPHYRHILLS -- Nancy Lester wants to spend her money fighting the city in court, not running the Zephyrhills City Golf Course, her attorney wrote in a letter to the city last week.

Lester, who has operated the golf course since 1988 under a lease agreement with the city, can't afford to do both because the hottest months of the year are approaching, and play at the course will decline significantly, her attorney wrote.

So, after two months of refusing to leave despite an eviction notice from the city, Lester has agreed to vacate the golf course by mid-May.

Her attorney, Tom Rutherford of Tampa, wrote that Lester will use her money instead to defend herself against a lawsuit filed by the city last month that says she has not lived up to her end of a 1999 contract.

"It will now be impossible for (Lester) to engage in this litigation and still have the resources to operate the golf course," Rutherford wrote.

If Lester leaves voluntarily, it will render moot the portion of the lawsuit that seeks to evict her. But the city also is trying to win a judgment that would force Lester to pay at least $25,000 in back rent.

Zephyrhills city attorney Tom McAlvanah sent Lester a letter in December declaring that she had breached the terms of her lease by not making required improvements to the golf course and the clubhouse.

Under the terms of the lease, Lester was supposed to plant Bermuda grass on the tees, greens and approaches by last September. She also promised to spend $42,000 to renovate the clubhouse.

Lester stopped paying rent in August, informing the city that she was taking advantage of a clause that allowed her to skip four monthly payments if she applied the savings to clubhouse renovations. But she never started the renovations and hasn't planted any grass on the golf course.

Lester tried to resume rent payments in January, but the city refused to accept her checks because she was deemed to be in default of her lease.

The City Council in February gave Lester one last chance to show that she was serious about making improvements. Council members agreed that Lester could continue to operate the course if she deposited $50,000 into an escrow account, guaranteeing that the work would get done.

But Lester told council members that she had no intention of putting any money into escrow.

Lester has filed a response to the city's lawsuit, saying that the city didn't live up to its end of the agreement. Specifically, she says, the city didn't install an automatic sprinkler system as promised. She said she couldn't plant grass without an improved sprinkler system.

Lester has said that she hasn't begun work on the clubhouse because she is still waiting to obtain permits for the improvements. In her counterclaim, filed March 29, Lester maintained that she has set aside money to renovate the clubhouse.

Lester has asked a judge to require the city to pay her legal bills.

McAlvanah filed court papers last week saying the city offered to install a new sprinkler system, but Lester said no.

Lester could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Rutherford and McAlvanah did not respond to requests for interviews.

The city is still trying to figure out what will become of the golf course if Lester leaves next month. Almost certainly, city manager Steve Spina said, the course would have to close temporarily until a new tenant could be found.

Spina said Tuesday that at least three people are interested in leasing the 18-hole, par-68 course.

Lester has been paying about $40,000 annually to operate the course.

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