Judge Rules for Green Cove in Pegasus Lawsuit

No Comment on Question of Whether CIA-Controlled Firm Will Appeal

You can fight city hall, but Judge Lester says you need a good case to win.

The Central Intelligence Agency lost a battle on its home turf this week, as Florida Circuit Court Judge Don Lester ruled against a CIA-controlled aviation outfit in its lawsuit against a small town in Florida.

Reaction by the winners has thus far been muted.

Green Cove Springs calls itself a city, but with a population hovering around 10,000 people, it is really a village of the South beginning to experience growing pains.

Pegasus Technologies is the name of the company in question, and it flies exotic aircraft from a 5,000-foot runway at Reynolds Industrial Park, which joined in the suit as a co-plaintiff. Fighting against Pegasus alongside Green Cove was Virginia Hall, whose property was at issue.

Hall is the granddaughter of the late Sheriff J.P. Hall, the undisputed boss of mid-century Clay County. He amassed a fortune largely through a racket that effectively stole other people’s land, ill-gotten gains that were washed clean only by the passage of time.

The Halls had a deal with a developer to take 14 wooded acres off of Highway 17, just north of the interchange being built for the First Coast Expressway, and build an apartment complex there with 260 units. Pegasus objected arguing that some of the proposed four-story buildings lay in the direct path of their runway, constituting a safety hazard and a noise nuisance.

But the court battle centered not as much on safety and noise, but to what degree the city’s decisions to annex the parcel and rezone it to permit apartments was, in fact, cheating on the city’s own Comprehensive Plan for future development. There were technical arguments over whether the rezoning had created a so-called “spot zone” and whether the city’s designation of the parcel for Mixed Use was bogus because there was only one actual use—residential.

On all points, Lester sided with Green Cove and the Halls. The trial, held on July 6 and 7, had featured dueling expert witnesses. In a 40-page decision Lester wrote that he had found the arguments by defense experts more compelling than those hired by Pegasus and Reynolds.

Grudgingly, Lester had heard evidence from the plaintiffs about whether the planned apartments ran afoul state law regarding developments near airports. So it was no surprised that in his ruling Lester sustained a defense attorney’s running objection, rendering that testimony moot.

Lester noted that based on existing standards applied to the 2,600-foot distance from the runway and the height of the proposed buildings, there was neither a safety hazard, nor a significant noise nuisance.

Read earlier coverage of the case.

The judge relied heavily on testimony by City Development Director Michael Daniels and expert witness Susan Fraser. Fraser is a former Clay County planning director and, after several private sector jobs, is now an independent planning consultant.

With four parties to the suit, there several lawyers in the courtroom, but the lead combatants were attorneys Scott Thomas for Pegasus and Fred Franklin, representing the Hall family.

Scott Thomas is a hotshot commercial litigator for the Burr Forman of Jacksonville.

Franklin is a former prosector and long-time lawyer for the city of Jacksonville. He is former chairman of the board of directors of the Roger Towers law firm, also of Jacksonville, where he works with Virginia Hall’s husband, former Clay County Attorney Mark Scruby.

Several city officials were asked to comment on the outcome of the case. None would. Neither Thomas nor Ted McGowan, executive director of Reynolds Industrial Park would say whether Pegasus and Reynolds planned to appeal Lester’s ruling.

As the very first story in the coverage of this case noted, city officials were bitterly surprised when notified of the Pegasus lawsuit over a year ago. Quoting from that story:

City Councilor Ed Gaw insists that the lawsuits are “specious” and bemoans the possibility that Pegasus has a blank check to prosecute its case through pleadings and appeals. “It’s a calculated action to delay, hoping the developers are not going to wait and will go spend their money elsewhere,” Gaw said.

Gaw is one of the people who has not responded to a request to comment.

It may well be the city is waiting to learn whether there is an appeal. Or maybe there are talks about some way to forestall an appeal. If so, thanks to Lester, Green Cove and the Halls have won some leverage.