Fruitland Park commissioners voted Thursday night to settle the city’s lawsuit against the owner of a defunct barbecue restaurant.
Commissioners agreed to accept a proposal submitted T.D. Burke, owner of the shuttered Burke’s BBQ on County Road 466A, that would bring an end to the lawsuit the city filed against him in September 2019.
That suit stemmed from a 2012 promise from Burke that he would hook up to the city’s water and sewer systems, install a fire hydrant and pay significant impact fees. At the time, the initial source for fire protection at the eatery was a hose running from a swimming pool at a house located next door.
The agreement with the city stated that Burke would have six months to take care of the commitment once sewer and water hookups became available. In 2018, the city sent Burke two letters giving him until Oct. 6 to take care of the issue. City Manager Gary La Venia said Burke then paid him a visit and “raised holy hell.”
The settlement calls for Burke to:
- Decommission the septic tank at the restaurant in accordance with Florida code;
- Disconnect the former restaurant building from private well(s) at the location closest to the well(s)/property line; and
- Pay $8,000 to the city to be used for any purpose.
In addition, re-occupation or use of the property would trigger the need to connect to city utilities and the obligation to install a fire hydrant. After the conditions are met, the city will file a dismissal of the lawsuit.
Burke’s attorney, Lindsay Holt, of Crawford, Modica & Holt, had in October 2019 requested that the lawsuit be tossed out because of what appeared to be a technicality. She claimed the suit wasn’t valid largely because the city’s beef was with Burke’s Bar-B-Que Co., not Burke himself. She claimed that Burke signed the document in his capacity as a shareholder/owner of the business, not as an individual.
Holt also asked the judge to dismiss the complaint with prejudice, which would have amounted to a final judgment and prevented the city from amending the suit. Holt said any attempt by the city to “overcome this deficiency” or amend the complaint “would be futile.”
But the city scored a victory this past August when a Lake County judge threw out the request for summary judgment. At the time, Fruitland Park Attorney Anita Ceraci-Carver labeled the judge’s ruling a win and said the suit would proceed through the court system. That apparently led to the settlement offer from Burke, which was the subject of a recent closed-session meeting of the commission.
