041-Ridgewood Arms ApartmentsC. Vernon Mize
City Attorney
Cleveland & Mize
Pico Building
Sanford, Florida
Dear Vern:
April 18, 1974~,
Tonight Max Mogul, Joe Adkins, and I appeared before the
City Planning and Zoning Board for submission of the
drainage plans for approval. Everything was approved sub-
ject to your review of the legal question involving the
easement between Ridgewood'Arms and The Masters Cove. The
City Manager stated that it was my obligation to have
cleared this with you prior to this meeting. I do not re-
call any such necessity being indicated at our meeting
earlier this week, but if someone should accept the blame
I will be happy to.
I have spent the better part of a day running down the
activities of Carl Faber-Smith. Faber-Smith apparently had
taken over the entire legal area of this apartment project
and insisted that he would handle the easement on his own.
Except for the crazy quit-claim de~d his activities were
pretty good.
In 1888, all of this land in question was owned by the
Florida Land and Colonization Company of London, England.
As they deeded out portions they iessed out the 30' ease-
ment and some deeds even refer to the fact that they were
going to dedicate this easement for public purposes.
There are several old maps that show the location of a road
running north and south along the location of the easement
and turning west into what is now known as Reservoir Lake.
It appeared from the documents that the purpose of this was
so that the City of Sanford could utilize Reservoir Lake for
its water supply. I am unable to find any formal dedication
to the county but the intent of dedication is quite obvious.
Unknown to me. Faber-Smith approached Bill Bush and Howard
Marsee and both of them agreed that the county should give
its permission to use the easement for drainage purposes;
however, in view of the fact that there was no record of
formal dedication they were reluctant to claim ownership.
That is why the resolution is worded as it is.
C. Vernon Mize -2-
April 18, 1974
It is my opinion and also the opinion of a representative
of one of the title companies that an easement was in fact
intended and the fact that no conveyance has been made of
this 30' easement since 1888 indicates that a public ease-
ment does exist.
i am forced to be in Gainesville Friday but I will be call-
ing you to confirm your opinion of this matter. My
experience with the county has been that in situations like
this where it is impossible to prove an absolute easement
with marketable title then the developer would get the
benefit of the doubt. I, of course, feel that the doubt is
slight in this situation.
My client has a 60 unit apartment complex constructed with
many tenants staying in motels awaiting the city's final
approval of the plans and the only thing standing in the
way is the question involving the easement for drainage.
Please give this your serious consideration and ! am sure
that you will agree with me that the information that I
have provided and the research that I have done offers a
sound basis for the city's reliance on this easement.
Sincerely yours,
W. L. Kirk
This letter has been dictated to and typed by the wife
of Joe Adkins who is the superintendent of my client's
project. Any errors that you may find are absolutely the
result of my dictation and not the result of any short-
comings on her part.
RESOLUTION
ON MOTION BY COMMISSIONER DRUMS~ND, SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER VIItLEN, TIlE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS
UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED AT THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF SEMINOLE COUNTY,
FLORIDA, ON THE 29TH DAY OF JANUARY, A.D. 1974.
WHEREAS, Ridgewood Arms Apartments, located within the
City Limits of Sanford, Florida, has requested approval from
the Board of County Commissioners of Seminole County to con-
struct and maintain on certain property outside the City Limits
of Sanford, Florida, adjacent to Ridgewood Arms Apartments, a
drainage pipeline to serve said apartment complex; and
WHEREAS, the City of Sanford has approved construction and
engineering plans submitted by Ridgewood Arms Apartments for
said drainage pipeline conditioned upon the approval of the
Board of County Commissioners of Seminole County, asserting
that Seminole County may have an interest in the property on
which construction and maintenance are to occur;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Com-
missioners of Seminole County, Florida,
1. Any ownership, jurisdiction,
perry hereinbelow described upon which
that:
or authority in the pro-
Ridgewood Arms Apartments
plans to construct and maintain a drainage pipeline to serve
said apartment complex is neither claimed nor disclaimed by the
Board of County Commissioners on behalf of Seminole County.
2. The Board of County Commissioners on behalf of Seminole
County has no objection to Ridgewood Arms Apartments constructing
and maintaining a drainage pipeline to serve said apartment com-
plex on the property described as:
A strip of land lying in Section 2, T20S, RJ0E, 17.16'
in width lying between the Woodruff property on the
west and the Ridgewocd Arms property on the east; and
ALSO A strip of land 31.68' in width in Section 2,
T20S, RJ0E, lying between~the Woodruff property and
the Masters Cove property on the west and the Fred
Ferris property on the east; otherwise described as
that easement depicted on sheets l, 2, and 3, entit-
led Ridgewood Arms Easement Verification and Paving
and Drainage Plan and initialed K.I~'-S. ,
UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED this 29ih day of January, A.D. 1974.
~EST: _ . A
AI~£HUR l~ BECKWITH, JR., Cler~k~ ~