PARKER — Some Parker residents who recently became the owners of waterfront property are asking the city take back the land.
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Deborah Greiner, resident of the Donalson Point subdivision, questioned the city’s interpretation of a 1973 clarifying deed that recently came to light and divvied up a public park in the neighborhood among 51 property owners.
While pursuing a public parks grant of $60,569 from the state to repair the existing boat ramp and build a dock, city officials discovered the property, which it had maintained for decades, was not actually public. Instead, the area was private and mutually owned by 51 members of the subdivision laid out in a 1955 deed and clarified in 1973.
Greiner said she had been going through her own deed and saw nowhere in its pages that she was partly responsible for maintenance or security on the property.
“Nothing jumped out from the city’s reading that was part of my deed,” she said.
Greiner requested Parker seek the opinion of a real estate law professional or act as mediator in reaching a consensus among community members for the city to retain ownership rights and provide maintenance, insurance and repairs on the property.
However, City Attorney Tim Sloan said, from consultation with a group of real estate attorneys, the clarifying document could not be deleted from the title.
“It created a cloud over the title,” Sloan said.
Mayor Richard Musgrave said due diligence was done before the city brought the situation to the public’s attention.
“I wasn’t anxious to do that until we had certainty,” Musgrave said. “And that’s what our counsel was able to obtain.”
Shortly after a series of public workshops, Parker officials realized they likely would not reach a consensus with the community to retain ownership, withdrew their bid for the grant and sent out letters to encourage dialogues among the joint owners of Donalson Point park.
Resolving the issue would either require a court’s decision, Sloan said, or an agreement among neighbors to give rights to the city.
“If I willingly give it over to the city, I’d put a restriction on it,” Greiner said. “I would say no boat dock.”
But that also may reach an impasse as Lott Lawson, former council member and Donalson Point resident, initiated pursuit of the grant specifically for the boat ramp, officials said.
Also Tuesday, council members:
-Accepted an agreement with Northwest Florida Water Management District funding a more than $1 million stormwater project at
-Did not reach an agreement to remove a moratorium on the construction of accessory front yard structures.