DeBary Downs lawsuit settled

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Trio of attorneys — DeBary Assistant City Attorney Dan Langley, left, DeBary City Attorney Kurt Ardaman, right, and DeBary Downs attorney Ty Harris share a sanguine moment at a 2007 court hearing on an unrelated matter. This month, the trio settled a lawsuit over the city’s denial of a horse-track-and-poker facility. The deal was struck out of court. Harris said his client plans to build it elsewhere.

landowner looks to new development ideas

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON SPORTS EDITOR

posted May 24, 2009 - 8:36:37am

The saga of a developer’s attempt to build a horse track and poker parlor in DeBary has come to an end, with the developer’s agreement to pay the city $15,000 in fees.

The property, at the intersection of Dirksen Drive and South U.S. Highway 17-92, awaits other plans by owner Steve Costa.

In December, the City Council denied an Iowa-based developer’s application to develop the 67 acres into DeBary Downs, later called DeBary Town Center and Equestrian Park.

In January, the developer’s attorney filed two separate papers in Circuit Court. One asked the judge to overturn the city’s denial, and the other asked a judge to determine if the city’s denial of the rezoning is consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan.

Court records show both cases were closed May 11.

On May 14, DeBary City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said, “Two suits DeBary Real Estate LLC filed against the city are now dismissed, or will be dismissed with prejudice. ... ‘With prejudice’ means they cannot refile or come back after the city. They’re done.” Ardaman added, “In addition, they’re paying the city $15,000.”

The city had demanded $27,000 in fees to cover legal fees, the cost of holding hearings, and other expenses associated with considering the development request.

That amount was later reduced to $24,000; the city finally agreed to take $15,000.

Attorney Ty Harris, representing DeBary Real Estate Holdings/Greenbridge Co. and its owners, the Bernard Goldstein family, said his clients have found another, undisclosed Central Florida location for the quarter-horse track and poker room.

It’s not in Volusia County, Harris said.

“That’s the main reason we’re dismissing the case,” Harris said. “There’s no sense in pushing forward with litigation on DeBary, when there’s another place.”

Property-owner Costa said he was glad to hear the matter is settled.

DeBary City Council members had held Costa liable for the developer’s unpaid fees. That’s now resolved, Ardaman confirmed.

Costa was rebuffed in March, when he approached the City Council for an extension of an earlier development plan he had gotten approved for DeBary Town Center.

The combination of office, commercial and residential development was proposed by Costa before the horse-track idea came along.

The City Council’s denial of extending that plan was based, in part, on the lingering disagreement over the unpaid $27,000 in fees.

Earlier, Costa had hoped to get Publix or another grocery chain to put an anchor store on the property, but that didn’t come to fruition, and the project never got off the ground.

The residential density was, and is, too low on the south end of DeBary to attract a grocery chain, he said.

“We’re not going to get a neighborhood shopping center,” Costa said. He’s now thinking along the lines of office space and restaurants.

A couple of good restaurants on the south end of town would be nice, he added.

“It’s a great property with great exposure, close to I-4,” Costa said. “We’re going to be all right in the long run.”

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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