By DOTTY NIST
Walton County has settled claims against the county in connection with a lawsuit filed by homeowners in the Driftwood Estates I subdivision, with terms to include a $1.3 million payment to the plaintiffs, along with other conditions.
The settlement agreement was approved by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on March 22.
The Driftwood property is an arrowhead-shaped peninsula adjacent and to the north of Sandestin Resort, extending into the Choctawhatchee Bay. Although now under separate ownership, most of Driftwood was included in the Sandestin Development of Regional Impact (DRI), which was approved by the county in 1976.
In 2007, owners of property in the perimeter of the Driftwood peninsula, referred to as Driftwood I, filed the lawsuit in question in Walton County Circuit Court. The lawsuit was against parties responsible for developing the interior of the peninsula, known as Driftwood II, and those providing stormwater retention and management design associated with that development. The defendants included Defendants Olson & Associates of NW Florida, Intrawest Sandestin, Northtip Development, Adams Homes of Northwest Florida, and civil engineer David Campbell and his company Campbell Engineering.
Among the plaintiffs’ allegations have been that the interior of the peninsula was unlawfully developed due to its having been designated as open space/green space and wetlands, that the developers were negligent in providing for stormwater drainage, and that they colluded and conspired to obtain the county’s approval for development of the interior of the property. Further allegations have been that modifications to lots developed in the interior caused obstructions to stormwater drainage flow on lots around the perimeter of the peninsula, resulting in flooding and standing water in the existing homeowners’ yards and roadways around the perimeter, including those providing entry and exit to and from the subdivision.
Walton County was added as a defendant in the lawsuit in 2012 but was dropped from the litigation by the plaintiffs the following year.
In 2015, Walton County was brought back into the lawsuit with the filing by the plaintiffs of a Seventh Amended Complaint, which included allegations against the county. Among the counts were alleged civil rights violations, including a complaint that Walton County Commissioner Sara Comander had individually undermined the protected speech rights of one of the plaintiffs, Alan Osborne. The charge involved an email sent by the commissioner to the county attorney advising not to publicize a growth management workshop scheduled by state officials in DeFuniak Springs.
In response to the Seventh Amended Complaint, Walton County had the case moved to United State District Court in Pensacola. In July 2015, the court granted Comander’s motion to dismiss the allegation that she had violated Osborne’s protected speech rights.
The March 22 BCC approval of the settlement agreement resulting from mediation between the parties followed a closed BCC executive session held earlier that day.
In presenting the agreement at the regular BCC meeting that day, Walton County Attorney Mark Davis told the commissioners, “We are recommending approval with one caveat, and that caveat is that the agreement not be fully executed and delivered and finalized until we receive, approve, and have you approve a general release, which is called for in the mediated settlement agreement. This has not been completed yet.”
Davis also noted that the agreement would only settle the litigation with regard to Walton County and Commissioner Comander individually, and that there would still be a case pending against the other defendants in the lawsuit.
With the plaintiffs agreeing to settle claims against Walton County and Comander, terms of the agreement included a $1.3 million payment by the county to the four plaintiff parties for their attorney fees and costs associated with the litigation, along with other conditions.
Davis noted that the amount would be disbursed to the parties as a group without being allocated among the four.
Additional conditions included: the county making county staff and documents available without subpoena in connection with the case against the remaining defendants; the county discontinuing a joint defense agreement with defendants in the lawsuit; preparation by the county of applications for funding through the RESTORE Act local component, until successfully funded, for a stormwater design and permitting project in the exterior of the Driftwood property; the county seeking funding for a separate project to improve the access road to the property, Harborview Road; and the county seeking any additional funding sources for these projects.
Upon design and permitting of the latter projects, the agreement provided for the county to apply for construction funding of the stormwater system improvement projects through the RESTORE Act local component and also seek additional construction funding sources for the projects.
In 2015, the BCC had approved a contract with Dr. Harvey Harper, a professional engineer, for engineering services in connection with Driftwood, including evaluation of stormwater management systems, hydrologic modeling, and recommendations for improving performance of the system. The settlement agreement provided for Walton County to not oppose the plaintiffs’ use of Dr. Harper as an expert witness in the litigation and for the county to have Harper complete his contracted services.
The agreement specifies that the plaintiffs acknowledge that Walton County denies any and all allegations associated with the lawsuit and that the county does not admit any related liability.
In response to a question at the March 22 BCC meeting, Davis commented that the $1.3 million to be paid to the plaintiffs would be funded half by the county and half by the county’s insurers. Of the portion to be paid by the county he said, “I have in my (Office of the County Attorney) budget a significant amount of that money, and we also have other funds available to finish paying it.”
A motion to approve the agreement carried in a 2-1 vote, with District 1 Commissioner Bill Chapman and District 5 Commissioner Cindy Meadows voting in favor and District 2 Commissioner Cecilia Jones voting no.
County Commission Chair Sara Comander abstained from voting for reasons of a conflict of interest due to being named individually in the lawsuit, and District 3 Commissioner Bill Imfeld abstained due to a business conflict.
On March 30, Davis said he anticipated that the general release that he had referenced would be finished and signed off on during the week of April 4.