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- Update on Key Largo Ocean Resorts Cooperative- Redevelopment delayed as board's legitimacy challenged By Robert Silk Free Press Staff November 28, 2007 |
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PLANTATION KEY — The board of the Key Largo Ocean Resorts Cooperative must prove its legitimacy before proceeding with a massive redevelopment of its 22-acre property, the court has decided. The order, issued by Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia on Nov. 15, adds one more complication to Monroe County's 11-year effort to force the co-op board to correct a litany of code violations at the gated community near mile marker 95. But it is a small victory for a group of co-op members who have fought the proposed demolition of all 285 illegal units at the resort as well as a site plan under which the property is to be redivided. After the Monroe County Planning Commission unanimously approved the site plan in July, opposing Key Largo Ocean Resort factions got into a physical fracas outside the meeting hall. The Monroe County Commission gave final approval to the plan on Aug. 15. In a motion he filed on Oct. 26 on behalf of several co-op members, attorney John Jabro said the RV park's board is illegitimate and lacks the authority to enter into an agreement with the county. The present board, he wrote, was elected by proxy rather than by written ballot, as required by Florida Statute. Further, Jabro wrote, most Key Largo Ocean Resorts shareholders will not be able to afford the cost of demolishing and rebuilding their units and will instead have to sell their lots. "The likely recipients of these fire sales are the officers and directors of ... KLOR, who will disguise their collusion by purchasing the shares of [the plaintiffs] and others similarly situated through straw persons," he wrote. Garcia chose not to address that charge in his ruling, but he did grant Jabro's clients' request to become an official party in the case. "Before this court approves any settlement that would result in the complete demolition of existing structures and enormous expense and potential losses to the shareholders of KLOR, the legitimacy of the KLOR board must be established," the judge wrote. In an interview last week, the board's attorney Frank Greenman said he doesn't anticipate any problem proving his clients were elected fair and square. "I am going to bring the lock boxes that have never been opened and say, 'Here, your honor,'" Greenman said. Maria Hernandez, secretary of board president Pedro Salvo, said she believes the co-op made the switch from proxy votes to ballots in 1999 or 2000. She also dismissed outright the plaintiffs' allegation that Key Largo Ocean Resorts directors plan to purchase lots through straw buyers. "I am telling you they are all lies," Hernandez said. Asked the basis for the allegation, Jabro declined to give specifics. "We do have information and we have actually hired a private investigator to run it down," he said. No date has been set for the next hearing before Garcia. |
