Article Courtesy of The Daytona Beach News-Journal

By Jennifer Edwards-Park  

Published March 12, 2016

PALM COAST — Palm Coast officials are moving forward with foreclosure proceedings on a now-defunct golf course in the northern part of the city.

During a meeting of the city's Code Enforcement Board on Wednesday, officials and the city's lawyers said Group Golf of Palm Coast LLC, which purchased the Matanzas Woods Golf Course in October 2014, has racked up nearly $100,000 in fines for not keeping the overgrown property cut. The fines have been accruing at $500 a day since August.

The 277-acre property off Lakeview Drive was closed for renovations in 2007 and has never reopened. City officials and the property's owners have agreed the property doesn't need to be maintained as a golf course but that it does need to be maintained.

"We would argue that foreclosing on property assessed fines (for a different use) is illegal," said Christopher Wickersham Jr., Jacksonville-based attorney for the Group Golf, adding that an attempt by the city to foreclose "would lead to increased legal expenses for us, and the city."

"We may lose, but there is potential blow-back ... for the city," Wickersham said.

Board members did not appear sympathetic to Wickersham's arguments, voting unanimously to authorize City Attorney Bill Reischmann to pursue the foreclosure in court.

"The first hearing was in August and now we're in March and we're still trying to figure out what the standard is?" board member Kimble Medley said shortly before the vote.

Reischmann said that the "bottom line, what we are here for, is to make sure the property is in compliance."

The overgrowth and grass on the property needed to be kept trimmed to four inches and it has not been, Reischmann and code enforcement officials said. That was not withstanding a weed Wickersham brought along to show officials how quickly sprouts grow.

"There's a mower out there and a crew today," he said. "We could sue for damage but all we did was sue for ... relief. We are asking to de-escalate this."

Wickersham told the board he sued the city because officials expect the owners to maintain the property to the wrong standards for its zoning. Wickersham believes that zoning to be agricultural use, since it hasn't been used as a golf course for at least eight years.

Group Golf owners, including co-owner Stephen "Matt" Richardson, in December paid about $205,000 to pay off the property after a judge foreclosed on it for non-payment, said Michael D. Chiumento III of Chiumento Selis Dwyer, the firm representing Matanzas Land, the former owner.

Matanzas Land, owned by James Cullis, bought the Golf Group's note on the property in 2014, Chiumento said.

Cullis tried to buy the Matanzas Woods course in 2013 with an eye toward turning the property into a park or using some of the land for new home construction. But nearby residents resisted the idea and Cullis walked away from the deal.

Richardson said in January that the company is looking at uses for the property and that owners had intended to get back to the city soon.

Building houses on at least some of the property was not off the table Wednesday, judging by Wickersham's remarks previous to the vote.

"There's still 125 build-able lots attached to this," Wickersham said. "We would never skip a hearing."