- April 25, 2024
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Flagler County has agreed to a “hold harmless” agreement to secure the final two easements needed for the Army Corp of Engineers project.
The county reached a settlement with Cynthia D’Angiolini, the properties’ owner, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at her initial bankruptcy hearing in Orlando. The county will not pay any money to D’Angiolini or her lawyers, but instead sign a similar agreement for rights assurances that the county signed with Leonard Surles in February 2022, according to County Attorney Al Hadeed.
“It is about assurances; That always seems to be the issue,” Hadeed said. “We are not paying any money, either to Mrs. D’Angiolini or to either of her attorneys.”
Hadeed asked the commission to approve the hold-harmless agreement as well as authorize himself and County Administrator Heidi Petito to make any minor changes needed to the agreement on the commission’s behalf. Material changes would still come before the board for approval, Hadeed said.
The board approved the agreement and authorization unanimously at their regular business meeting on Feb. 6.
We are not paying any money, either to Mrs. D’Angiolini or to either of her attorneys. — Al Hadeed, Flagler County Attorney
“This is good progress,” Commissioner David Sullivan said. “This is like a historical day, considering how long it has taken — years — to get done.”
The hold-harmless agreements enumerates the same rights that are allotted to all the other property owners who signed initially, Hadeed said. The only difference between D’Angiolini’s and Surles’ agreements, is that D’Angiolini requested that she not be held liable for any of the construction on the dune properties.
That non-liability is implicit in the other agreements, Hadeed said.
“That’s automatic,” he said.
Once both parties agree to the terms, Hadeed said, a 21-day notice period must be sent to the properties’ creditors, giving them time to comment. Hadeed said they don’t expect a response, as D’Angiolini will still be expected to pay to creditors the value of the two properties she did not disclose during bankruptcy filings.
After that, the process just needs the judge’s approval; should D'Angiolini not go through with the agreement, she will go to trial in bankruptcy court later in the year, Hadeed said.
Hadeed said they are looking at about 45 days before the process is finished.
A much shorter turn around than if the county had followed through with eminent domain, he said. Hadeed told the commission that if they had followed through with eminent domain, they would have been tied up in court for years because D’Angiolini did not declare the properties in bankruptcy, meaning the titles would not have been clean.
And without clean titles for the easements, Hadeed said, the Army Corps would not have been able to proceed until that was cleared up.
Not only would the titles have held things up, but, Hadeed said, a decision from the Fifth District Court of Appeals from another eminent domain case decided that language from the Army Corps changed the remnants to public beaches.
To avoid any chance of an appeal or further litigation, Hadeed said he worked with Army Corps to clarify the language to explicitly state that the privately owned property would remain private property, not allowing public beach access through the property owner’s dune remnant.
With the easement rights now just pending approval, the dune renourishment program will be virtually free and clear to proceed.
However, on Jan. 13, Scott Spradley, the bankruptcy attorney Hadeed hired in December 2022, and Hadeed announced at a Flagler Beach City Commission meeting that the Army Corps project will be delayed around 11 months as the Corps redesigns the project and calculates how much more sand will be needed now.
It all came together at a time I didn’t expect it to. But I’m very glad it did. — Scott Spradley, Flagler Beach bankruptcy attorney
Spradley and Hadeed explained in that meeting that so much additional erosion had occurred since the project’s first green light, that the entire 50-year contract’s volume of sand would be needed now just to get the dunes and berms up to standard.
Spradley and Hadeed both attended the hearing on Jan. 31. Spradley said he was expecting a much more drawn-out process.
“It all came together at a time I didn’t expect it to,” he said. “But I’m very glad it did.”
