Busch estate owner gets settlement for his lawsuit
In the deal, John Da Silva will get $100,000 and the right to hold corporate retreats at the properties.
By JADE JACKSON LLOYD
Published October 24, 2004
ST. PETE BEACH - City commissioners voted to settle a lawsuit regarding the use of the former August Busch estate Thursday night, ending four years of contention between current property owner John Da Silva and the city.
According to the agreement, Da Silva will get $100,000 and the right to host corporate retreats at the 2701, 2703 and 2707 Pass-a-Grille Way properties he has owned for seven years.
The city gets to move forward, without the lingering fear of losing millions of dollars.
Da Silva did not attend the meeting. Jackson Bowman, his attorney, said his client is happy with the agreement and was extremely reasonable in accepting the $100,000.
"Our claim going into trial would've been more than $3-million," Bowman said after the special meeting. "He wants to move on with his life. It was a concession on his part to agree to settle. He wants to do what's best for the city."
"It's been a hard road," he added.
The terms of the settlement include:
Continuing the nonconforming use of the estate, or grandfathering it into the city.
Allowing Da Silva to rent the property only as a compound, for periods of at least seven days. It cannot be used for weddings or two-day parties or in a manner that will disturb "the normal and usual peace and tranquility of the neighborhood."
Da Silva dismissing the lawsuit against the city.
Da Silva applying for and receiving an occupational license from the city.
If both sides don't sign the agreement by 5 p.m. Monday, it becomes null and void and the case goes to trial Tuesday, as scheduled.
The 4-1 vote freed Da Silva to operate the compound as a corporate conference center - something that hits at the core of the years-long dispute.
When the estate still rested in the hands of Busch, mogul of the Anheuser-Busch beer empire, it boasted phone banks, copy machines, an industrial-sized kitchen and meeting rooms.
These things all suggest Busch used the property for his de facto business headquarters, said Jim Yacavone, a consulting attorney for the city.
In 1989, it changed hands and served as a business facility for Pepin Distributing Company until 1997.
When Da Silva bought the property that same year, he thought he could use it in the same manner in which his predecessors had for the previous 40-odd years.
The city denied him the right to do so and created the impasse that ended Thursday night.
"Based on the evidence and the law, it is my opinion that Mr. Da Silva's argument cannot be discounted," Yacavone said, in reviewing the facts of the case with the commission.
If the case had gone to trial and the city lost, Da Silva could have been entitled to $2.8- to $4.2-million in lost rental fees, Yacavone said.
Still, the $100,000 settlement fee - $75,000 from the city's general fund, the rest from the city's insurance carrier - drew the ire of residents and commissioners alike.
Ruth Ledner, a St. Pete Beach resident, spoke in favor of allowing Da Silva to rent out his property, but against paying him the money.
"I think it's unnecessary," she said. "He should just be happy his dream will come true."
Will Jacoby, a fellow resident, said the amount "is a little more than a couple of ice cream cones and a trip to McDonald's" so the commission should make their logic in awarding the money clear to taxpayers.
"In my mind, we have more to lose than Mr. Da Silva because we have exposure to more than $1-million in damages," Commissioner Deborah Martohue said. "When I'm looking at odds - 50-50, for argument's sake - it doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling."
Commissioner Ed Ruttencutter, the lone dissenting vote, said he thought the city had a chance to beat Da Silva in court. He said he could more easily set aside his reservations about grandfathering the property if the $100,000 payout was removed.
"I don't see us paying him for something we don't want and have never wanted," he said.
Martohue challenged him, saying as many people supported the estate continuing as a corporate retreat as opposed it.
"It's an all or nothing deal," she said. "I want this lawsuit to go away and I want the city to move on. ...We're spending resources nobody has in a battle where nobody's a clear winner."
