Developer Tommy Spinosa has until Sept. 21 to reach an agreement over damages with two property owners whose homes sit in the middle of Rouzan but are not technically part of the Traditional Neighborhood Development.
Perhaps more significantly, Spinosa must produce a plan by that date for restoring the property owners’ rights to a 30-foot roadway that connected their properties to Glasgow Avenue until several homes in Rouzan were built on top of it.
The September deadline was set by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling issued earlier today, and is a significant victory for the property owners—the Welch and Hoover families—who have been fighting Spinosa over the access road for nearly 10 years.
“It’s a good decision,” says attorney Alex St. Amant, who represents the families. “I think we’re getting closer to finally restoring our clients to their rightful position.”
The ruling marks the second time this year the appellate court has visited the case. In late April, the First Circuit reversed a 2015 decision by 19th Judicial District Court Judge Janice Clark that determined Spinosa did have the right to build on the servitude. In its ruling, the First Circuit sent the matter back to Clark to set damages and determine a timeline for restoring the servitude, which, in theory, could mean actually removing the houses that sit atop it.
But at a June hearing on the matter, Clark granted several motions in favor of Spinosa that effectively stayed the proceedings, and no timeline was set for the removal of the properties, so St. Amant went back to the Court of Appeals.
In its ruling today, the three judge panel found the trial court “abused its discretion … in delaying the proceedings,” and reversed Clark’s June ruling.
In a statement, Spinosa says the ruling orders him “to provide a 30-foot servitude, which we are preparing to do. Nowhere does it say that houses shall be torn down. To mislead the community and public in this way is irresponsible.”
St. Amant says his clients would be open to using a new access road. But he says the ruling maintains it must be provide a direct connection to Glasgow Avenue and that there is no available property in Rouzan on which to build a 30-foot roadway connecting directly to Glasgow.
St. Amant also says his clients are open to a monetary settlement.
“But this has been going on 10 years and I’ve never had an offer of money,” St. Amant says. “I don’t have any idea if anybody cares what happens to these people.”
—Stephanie Riegel
