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Five Points neighbors hire a lawyer to fight road's closing

In print: Wednesday, October 8, 2008

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ST. PETERSBURG — Dennis Shea, who is in his 60s, grew up in the Five Points area of St. Petersburg.

And, for as long as he can remember, area residents used a block-long road off Seventh Street N. The paved strip was tucked between 34th and 32nd avenues N, exactly where 33rd Avenue N should be.

Trouble is, the paved strip is apparently not 33rd Avenue N. Nor is it an alley, a right of way or any other kind of public passage, but is instead a private road, according to a nearby property owner. The property owner has closed the road. Predictably, the closure has the neighborhood in an uproar. The homeowners association has hired a lawyer.

"It's not a very neighborly thing to do," said Shea, who now heads the Five Points Neighborhood Homeowners Association. "It kind of leaves a bad taste in our mouths."

The paved road once provided another way for people to get from Seventh Avenue N to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street N. But years ago, a Kash n' Karry (now a Sweetbay) built a store on King, which blocked the western end of the road, making it a dead-end.

Neighbors along 32nd Avenue N might not have been thrilled, but they shrugged and continued to use the road as a way to get to their back yards. They also used it as a place to park when 32nd became too crowded. Life seemed good.

Until July 29, that is.

That's when homeowners abutting the road received a letter from Harvey Ford, the attorney representing the property owner, Five Points Land Co.:

"I do not know if you are using that land for access to the rear of your property or for storage, but I must advise you that, as of September 15, 2008, no access to this land will be allowed," the letter said. "Any temporary authorization or license agreement that may have been previously granted is hereby terminated as of said date. ... any vehicles or other items located within the land will be either towed or removed at the owner's expense."

Shea said he called Ford to try to work something out.

Ford said on Tuesday that his client's decision to block access to the road should come as no surprise. He first wrote homeowners a letter in 2006 telling them the road was private and to stop trespassing. Ford said he warned them then that the road would be closed.

"I don't want anybody to think it's been a sudden announcement," Ford said.

Five Points Land decided to close the road now because of the fear of liability that comes with having people on private property. The company also is considering developing the land by building a couple of single-family homes there.

The homeowners association has contacted an attorney, but there may not be a lot it can do.

Darryl C. Wilson, a law professor at Stetson University College of Law who teaches property law, said there are a couple of ways to get an easement to another's property. One is by permission, which can be withdrawn at any time. Another is adversely, or against the owner's wishes. But that can be hard to prove, Wilson said, and it "would be pretty extraordinary for a neighborhood to make that claim."

The homeowners might want to check their deeds and look at property lines or look more at the history of the property to see if any right of way was granted at some point in the past, Wilson said. If a right of way was given to the city, for example, that would still exist.

Ford said that's not the case with this property. The Bond family, which formed Five Points, has owned the land since 1920 and has never given anyone an easement across it.