Neal Communities claims that the City of Venice is incorrectly calculating permit fees to the tune of 1.2 million dollars
Scoop Publisher Francesco Abbruzzino
via city email server
From: Kelly Fernandez <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 2:46:59 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: Edward Lavallee <[email protected]>; Jeff Shrum <[email protected]>; Gregory Schneider <[email protected]>; Lori Stelzer <[email protected]>
Subject: Neal Communities building fee refund request
Mayor Feinsod and Council Members:
I was provided with a copy of a letter Mr. Neal sent to you today regarding his continued assertion that the City’s Building Department is presently, and has in the past, improperly calculated building permit fees for Neal Communities. As Mr. Neal’s letter also claims that the City has chosen to stall its response to his assertions, I am providing you the following update. First, I would remind you that on December 17, 2020 the City responded to Mr. Neal’s claims via the attached letter, a copy of which you were provided. The City heard nothing further from Mr. Neal until his letter to Council dated January 20, 2021, wherein he does not reference my prior correspondence.
Since January 20th, the City has continued to communicate and meet with Mr. Neal and his representatives regarding potential revisions to the methodology for the determination of building permit fees. To be clear, these discussions are not occurring because the City has identified any legal fallacies with its present methodology, but instead it is being done to determine if there would be benefits for the development community and the City by revising the methodology. The City has also continued to review the prior charges to Neal Communities through the assistance of special counsel and the City’s fee study consultant to ensure no additional refunds are required or advisable. Unfortunately, last week Mr. Neal chose to strong arm the law firm assisting the City to withdraw from its representation due to another attorney in the firm having some involvement with community development districts within Neal developments. Due to the continual threat of litigation, until new special counsel has been retained, which we are close to doing, further work on these issues has been paused.
While Mr. Neal would like the approximately $1.2 million in disputed charges to be deemed an obvious and simple “mistake” on the part of the City, I assure you that if that were the case corrective action would have already been taken. While I seek to avoid litigation where possible, I also take my role in investigating and defending the City’s practices and revenues seriously. To date I personally have had very cordial and productive conversations with Mr. Neal’s representatives and I expect those conversations to resume shortly. Please call me if you would like to discuss this further.
Kelly M. Fernandez, Esq.
Persson, Cohen & Mooney, P.A.
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