Are City and UF headed to court?

Leases are running out June 30th for business owners operating in the thirty-four historic state-owned properties currently managed by the City of St. Augustine, and, at their regular Monday Night meeting, the commission will decide if they are going to sue the University of Florida to establish their claim to continue to be part of that process.

“They have rented from us on one-year leases in the past,” City Attorney Ronald W. Brown told Historic City News reporters this morning; referring to the shopkeepers, residents and other businesses who currently occupy the properties. “They’ll be going month-to-month until we get this settled.”

At issue for the City is whether or not the University of Florida may move forward under HB 851; which was unanimously passed into law in April, 2007. The legislation authorized the transfer of the management of the properties from the City of St. Augustine to the University of Florida; however, the State ownership of the properties remains unchanged.

A special task force, led by Florida Historical Commission chair Dr. Judity Bense, made recommendations that led to the passage of the law designating the University of Florida to contract with the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund for the management of those properties.

After talks recently broke down between the Mayor, staff and university leaders, what looked like a possible solution to the controversy turns out to have been overly optimistic and, in fact, unrealistic.

In what some see as a “last ditch effort”, commissioners will consider legal questions related to the City’s lack of inclusion in the university’s plans for the properties. Some leaders are questioning the university’s obligation to obtain approval from city officials before certain actions are taken.

In 2007, Boles wrote to the Governor and described the legislature’s passage of the law, now at the center of the controversy, as “a move that will help safeguard Florida’s most important historical resource; the City of St. Augustine.”

In April of this year, Boles pursued Representative Bill Proctor for help in un-doing what, Proctor says, only a few short years ago the City was begging him to get accomplished.

And, it appears Proctor delivered exactly what he was asked — HB-851 and SB-2404 did not receive a single vote in opposition in any committee hearing or during either floor vote.

Brown says that lawsuit or not, eventually the university and the City will have to come to terms. According to incoming City Manager John Regan, in the past, Proctor has indicated that he might sponsor modifications to the state legislation that authorized the UF takeover “if the university and City can work out our differences.”

Photo credits: © 2010 Historic City News staff photographer