HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - Broward County officials are locked into a legal battle with a private owner who bought a strip of land inside a Hollywood public park during an auction.
West Lake Park, which can be reached through the Anne Kolb Nature Center off Sheridan Street, is one of the last undeveloped pieces of land in coastal South Florida.
Clive Taylor, a member of Hollywood’s Historical Society, said the park’s 1,500 acres are important to the city and its residents.
“It’s one of the few intact, large-scale coastal mangrove communities left on the southeast coast of Florida,” Taylor said. “We’re lucky to have it in Broward County.”
However, a small part of a five-acre loop that goes around the entire lake is privately owned and was sold to Dorado Bells, LLC, a company owned by Mark Gold, for less than $25,000 at an auction that was somehow missed by park officials.
All of the land inside the property is public except for a 15-foot-wide, 3-mile-long strip that was bought at the auction and surrounds the lake.
“It’s almost like our Central Park,” Taylor said. “You go to Central Park in New York City because you want to get in touch with nature. We need these spaces.”
This past summer, the owner who purchased the property put up “No Trespassing” signs along the park’s walkways to try to keep people off the land.
Taylor said, “Now you want to deny access for people to see this because you don’t want people walking over a strip of land you own that you could never build on? It makes no sense to me.”
People who want to walk to the end of a bridge inside of the park and see the water have to cross through Gold’s property.
However, the park is protected, which means there is no building and no developing on the land.
Drone footage captured the abundance of mangroves that can be found inside the park.
The land’s owner said the county can buy the land back from them or rent it from them. However, the owners told the county they want $500,000 to purchase the land or $6,000 per month to rent the property.
County commissioners said that is more money than they want to spend, and they voted in August to fight for the property in court if necessary.
“It’s our goal and, obviously our preference, to speak directly with the individual and try to resolve it,” Broward County attorney Drew Meyers said. “We asked that it be removed and that the public have the opportunity to use this during dependency of any voluntary resolution or litigation.”
While they hope to sort out the legal battle, they have worked out a deal with the owner to keep the pathways open to the public.
County officials said since they have maintained the park for years, there is a chance the strip of land is already theirs, but it may take a judge to rule on the matter.
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