08/24/1967 - Special
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1'111: PL^NNIlJG ArlD ZONING 110AI\p
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Hi-nutes of the ,Sped.ill Heetinr., l'hurGdtlY, August 211, 1967.
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A special meeting of the Planninr and Zoninp Roard was ca]lcd to
order at 4:00 P. M. by the Vice Chairman, Mr. Mylander. Prescnt were
Members 110rris, Butler, Reade, Ga llot>luy and' Sltlan. Chai'rman Kruse and
Hr. Wolle, City Planner, were abnent on vacation.
The minutes of the meeting of July 25, 1967, were approved as
submitted in written summation to each mcmbet'.
The matter on the ap.,enda of the special mcetine \-las announced as
considerati6n, ,upon request of the Assistan~ City Attorney, Guy
Kennedy, Jr., of a proposal contained in a letter dated August 21/67
from Mr. Ralph Richards, ^tto~ney, addressed to Mr. Kennedy, regarding
Japanese Garden Mobile Home Estates.
Mr. Mylander brouBht the Board up-to-date concerninc the back-
ground of such request, relating history of the Board's reluctant
approval of recommendation for Nobile Home Park annexation zoning for
~his tr~ct (as recorded in July-August 1964 Board minutes) with the
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knowledge of the developer's intention to grant life estates to oc-
cupants.. Other pertinent information brought out was that:
Under original 'plan the corporation sold off leaseholds, life
estates, to husband and wife limited to a te1"m of IR years
with a stipulation that within 6 years rrantees would have the
right to convey to a purchaser approved by the corporation
another life estate for 18 years, but upon death of both hus-
band and wife, the lot reverts back to the parent corporation
for re-lease to new purchasers.
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This life estate plan had not proved successful and the cor-
poration started selling off lots with fee simple deeds. This
was not known until this practice was discovered by City En-
gineer Bnttle when applications for utility hook-ups were made
by fee simple owners.' Upon Nr. Battle's inntruct:i.ons, permi ts
were refused as in violation of City subdivision repulations.
Following this, a conference was held in the City Attorney's
office with Mr. Roger Shaw, representinp Attorney ~alph C. Dell
of Tampa, and attended by Mr. Guy Kenne~y, Jr. t Mr. Max Battle,
Mr. Holle and Hr. Hylande1". Hhat \oIas aEreen to ~1ith Nr. Shatol
at this conference was thAt he could have a life estate or a
succession of life estates under lease wjth a definite termina-
tion date and in no event lonr;er than 99 yeClrs. !1r. ShaH Has
to submit this agreerrent to the corporation which has aprecrl
to stop selline fee simple lots'. Therl3 are 21 such ) ots ""hich
are either conveved off in fee 01" under contrnct to be sold in
fee. The subjec~ of real estate tax~s was not discussed at
this conference.
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P&Z Bd Hinutes
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Pur,c 112
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After' this e}~plcmation, the Vicc Ch;d,rmun rcnd to the Board tc:<t
~ of the ubove referred to AUflust 21 letter from Attorney Richnrds, copy
of Which is attached cll1d made a part of these minutes.
Mr. Mylander further reported that he had talked to Mr. Kennedy
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on the phone that morning in regard to this Jetter and that Hr.
Kennedy t.Jas willinn to p,o alonp, Hi th Mr. Richards' proposal made' for
a succession of life estates provided that a definite time termina-
tion be set, and in no event to be longer than 99 years. Inquiry was
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made as to whether this succession of life estates would carry home-
stead exemption. Answer to this question was not available. The
thought of the C.hair was tha,t the Board \-18S not concerned about
homestead exemption.
Mr. Mylander then presented for consideration a.draft prepared
by him as a motion to be passed by the Board as follows:
"1. Resplved that the Planninp, and Zoning Board hereby ap';"
proves the recommendation of Asst. City Attorney Guy Kennedy
that lots sold by Japanese Garden Mobile Horne Estates, Inc.
to ~arious purchasers must conforw to a pattern with a defi-
,nite time limitation for ter~ination of a life estate or
successive life estates granted to such purchasers, such
termination in no event to be longer than 99 years. This ar-
rangement would prevent the conveyance of any lot in a Mobile
Home Park t1. H. zone by either a warranty d~ed in fee si~ple
or by a succession of life estates without a definite tiwe
limitation thereof as sugcested in Mr. Ralph Richards' letter
to Mr. Kennedy dated August 21, 1967.
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"2. Further the Planning and Zoning Board suggests that all
lots already conveyed in fee simple or contracted to be con-
veyed in fee simple be renegotiated by Japanese Garden with
the purchasers to conform with the above recommendation.
"3. The legal aspects of all the above rnust meet the approval
of the City Attorney's office.1I
Mr. Mylander pointed out that th~ main object was to keep the proper-
'ty in original ownership in fee. Reference was made to a sales bro-
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chure outlining details of Japanese Gnrdents original plan for pur-
chase of life estate deeds for lots in the park, basis of monthly
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maintenance fec, and financial ~rranrcmcntG offered.
In il lengthy discllssion thilt followed the overall conscm~lIs of
comment indicated thnt th~ Board was very conccpncd that in en-
dorsinr. any net.., leaning arT'C1neer.-:cnts goine beyond and in excess of
the scope of existing approvals a damaging precedent- could be set
which might.be used to expand the M. ".(Mobile Home) zone usage and
would have the ultimate effect of destroying the protection and ad-
vantages of the same. The consensus of opinion was 'that the present
d:i'lemma of the Japanese, Garden Corporation t-lilS "a child of' its own
creation". It was ,again noted that in record of Board minutes of
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Aug~ 11/64 wherein the Board approved M. H. (Mobile Home) Park zon-
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in~ for this tract that the Chairman was directed in informing Mr.
Bie of this zoning recommendation to call to his attention the ordi-
nance requirement that a Mobile Home Park be all under one ownership.
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There was some brief discussion of the advisability of a future
Board study relatine to the possible inclusion of a new zoning classi-
fication in the City zon1ng code~ establishing a mobile home subdi-
vision with individual lot ownerships similar to,present County zon-
ing regulations"covering the same. Generally, the County provides
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that each lot contain a minimu~ of 6,000, square feet and a minimum
of 60 feet wide at the front setback line with a minimum of 80 feet
in depth and an area consisting of a minimu~ of 10 acres for such
mobile home subdivision with individual lot ownership.
~ motion mad~ by Mr. Butler, seconded bv Mr. ~orris) was as
follct-IS :
"That this Board, having considered the matter of a sureested
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solution offered by the Assistant City Attorney to resolve
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the Japanese Garden t10bi Ie Home Es ta tes prob] em, cons i deI's
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'that there haG been no 'l~cqucst for' a zoninn chClneC and s thet,~e-
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fore, because this Board is not in position to ~akc local reco~-
rncndations, it is not. in pasi tion to make c1ny rCCOJNIlCndiltion to
the Cit~ Commission regardine the matter set forth in the letter
ftom Mr. Ralph Richarcls to Mr. Guy L. Kennedy, Jr.s Assistant
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City Attorney, dated AUfltlst 21, 19G7, and referred to the Board
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on (\ueust 22s 1967.11'
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Mr~ Butler's ~otion was passed unarimousIv.
Mr. Gallo1:1av moved as an nmendJ'T1ent to 111"'. Butler t s ahove T'1otion
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that it m~cht be stated that the County does have zoning to cove~
su~divisions fo~ mobile homes with individual lot ownerships whereby
the minimum lot size is established as 6,000 sq. ft. Mr. Gallowav's
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amendment \olas seconded by Hr. ,Horris and' passed unanimouslv.,
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The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 P. M..
Respectfully submitted,
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. Elmer L. l1y tinder", ,\~ice, Cha:i,rman
. ,Acting Secretary " '
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LAW or!' ICE!l
RICHARDS, NODINE, GIU<.EY & riTE
L'NCO~N to "ARI'I
hAL,.H RIC:HAno II
WIl.I,.IA.,. ~. "ODI"!:
WILI,IIl.'" W,OII,I'II:'(
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CLtARWATER. nORIDA J3SlG
Tr::LC"1I0Nt' <4~;!'!lIO'
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August 21, 1967
Mr. Guy L. Kennedy, Jr.
Assistant Ci~y Attorney
City of Clearwater
P. o. Box l.748
City Hall
Clearwater, Florida 33518
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Dear Guy:
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I am writing you with further reference tathe problems we
have discu~sed regarding Japanese Garden Mobile Home Estates) Inc.
For convenience I will refer to Japanese Garden Mobile Home Estates)
Inc. mer~ly as the Corporation.
As we both know, the original plan was that the Corporation
would retain fee simple title to the entire propertY,and that life
estates would be sold. This proposal was agreed to by the City of
Clearwater and the project proceeded under this plan for some time.
Unfortunately, the project was not very successful under this plan,
as peLsons wishing to live on the project did not like the idea of
paying a substantial sum for a life estate and then having nothing to
pass on to their heirs at their death.
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Some months ago the Corporation decided to sell lots by
warranty deed instead of merely by life estates. I had nothing to
do with this as the Corporation was represented by legal counsel in
Tampa. The Corporation was advised by its legal counsel that it had
a ~ight to convey by warranty deed. Whether or not this legal advice
was correct 'is not in issue at this time. We knmv that the City of
Cleanvater took the position t~at it would not issue building pel-mits
to persons who claimed title by warranty deed and our problem nmv is
to find some new procedure that ~lil1 be agre~able to the City of Clear-
wate~.
I had a conference this morning with Hr. GC01'g~ R. trho~'lIpson
who is the chief executive officer of the Corporation i.n connection
with this project. Mr. Thompson says that he is willing to preened on
'_~ the following basis:
The Corporation ~vill, as it originally did, convGY only li61
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'Hr. Guy L.'Kcnnedy, Jr.
Page 2
August 21, 1967
estates in the various lots instead of conveying by warranty deed.
It \o1il1 be agreed, ho\.;cver, that when some life es ta to bolder dies,
the Corporation will give another life estate to sonleone selected by
the estate of the deceased life tenant. Thus if Johu Snlith buys a
life estate ~n the lot, he will know tbat up9n the termination of
his life tenancy his estate can salvage a certain part of his invest-
ment or perhaps all of it by arranging for the Corporation to isslle
a new life estate deed to a party selected by the Executor of the
estate of John Smith. Thus the lots wiil be owned by a succession of
persons holding life estates, just as was contemplated by the original
plan. Under this proposal the fee simple title to the entire project
will remain in< the Corporation, which as I understand it is the main
thing in which t~e City,of Clearv1utcr is interested.
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,We do have, of course, the problem of what to do about the
persons to whom warranty deeds have already been issued. However, this
is something that will have to be worked out the best we can. What we
are interested in rig11t now is to be sure that the City of Clean~ater
agrees to, the basis on which future sales are to be made as outlined
. above. Such an agreement will permit the C'Ol;poration to proceed \'lith
the orderly development of the project.
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I believe you understand my position in this matter. My firm
represents a client who holds an overall mortgage en a great deal of
property that the corporation intends to develop in the future if its
development of the present sections is successfu~. For this reason
1 am of course very anxious to see the project succeed. I am not in
any wise attempting to interfere in any way with the general legal
representation of the Corporation by ,Mr. Ralph C. Dell) a Tampa attorney.
1 am sure you realize that things will be at a stand still at '
Japanese Gardens until some agreement with the City has been reached,
and I will therefore appreciate action on my proposed settlement at the
earliest possible date.
With best regards.
Sincerely yours,
&,P..J j e
cc: Mr. Ralph C. Dell
, Nr. George R. Thompson
RICrLARDS) NODINE, GILKEY & FITe
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