DAPHNE, Alabama - The city’s adoption of an ordinance to settle a lawsuit in a zoning dispute this week either secured it egress to vast potential parkland or bought it a “half-million dollar hole-in-the-ground,” depending on who is characterizing it. The settlement would end a nearly five-year struggle between the city and landowner Scott Curtis, who allegedly operated a commercial dirt pit on a residentially-zoned  property in spite of a land use ordinance forbidding mining.

According to Rob Stankoski, who is part of a team of attorneys representing Curtis, the case dates back to 2004, when Curtis purchased 28 acres adjacent to an existing dirt pit he operated on Tallent Lane off Park Drive. Four years later, the city, responding to complaints from neighbors, issued a zoning violation claiming Curtis was using half of that acreage as inert landfill in a residential area. Curtis filed a counter-claim, arguing the city was aware of the property’s use before the ordinance was enacted and attempts to shut the operation down would invoke inverse condemnation.

City Attorney Jay Ross said the majority of the Council believed it was in the best interest of the city to avoid trial.

“Both parties had a case, but if (Curtis) was awarded for economic losses it could have cost the city even more,” Ross said. “This settlement evolved through mediation and has been mutually agreed upon.”

The ordinance passed Monday night provides $500,000 for the settlement from the general fund “which would extend Tallent Lane to the southernmost end of the Curtis property and the purchase of approximately 14 acres of real property adjacent to Tallent Lane (also known as the sand pit) in exchange for final settlement of all claims between the City and defendants.”

Proponents of the settlement believe the property can serve the city in two ways: as a connection between Tallent Lane and a 115-acre city-owned property behind Walmart that has been targeted for development as a park; and as a dump site for city’s own inert materials, which would eventually be filled in and used as additional park land. Public Works Director Richard Johnson confirmed that the city could save $75,000 per year by disposing of its own landfill materials.

Councilman August Palumbo cast the lone nay vote against the ordinance, saying the city should have gone to court in the case, where he believes it would have prevailed.

“I’m not going to support this,” he said. “It regards a business that operated in violation of the city ordinance which we intended to enforce and were countersued. Not only is this a waste of taxpayer money but it also sends a message to anybody who wants to violate the laws of the city that the city will not stand up and fight, that the city will roll over and write checks.”

Ross said the city was on the hook because its primary insurer, the Alabama Municipal Insurance Corporation, excluded coverage of the settlement based on the inverse condemnation claim. He said at least two appraisals had been submitted as a result of the mediation, and the actual value of the property legitimizes the settlement amount.

“This has been a long process, and I think we’re at the bottom line,” Ross said.

Stankoski said he wasn’t sure if other provisions of the settlement, like the dismissal of municipal court fines against Curtis, had been resolved yet.