lawoftheland

There are two sides to a coin. You flip it in the air and it’s just as likely to land face-up as
face-down. That’s called the law of averages. Real estate law, the “law of the land”,
frequently deals with two sides of a dispute. We’ve watched several of these arguments
played out in the press, at CZM meetings and in the courts. There’s a big difference,
however, between flipping coins and legal argument.

Try this simple experiment: flip a silver dollar one million times. Done, already? OK, it landed
“heads” half a million times, didn’t it? That’s a law based on fact, reality and cold, hard
science. On the other hand, legal disputes are subjective by nature. Lawyers are taught to
create reality where very little fact exists.

Take, for example, this quote from Reliance Housing Foundation attorney, Treston Moore:
“Our intention was just to address the erosion and sediment issues.” This was in reference to
a cease and desist order on construction at Calabash Boom. I’m familiar with the area, so I
took a drive out there to see for myself. There’s a family graveyard downhill from the
proposed 72-unit affordable housing project and I was concerned that runoff might threaten
that sensitive site. What I found demonstrates the art of legal obfuscation.

There is, in fact, a well-maintained silt fence protecting the cemetery. A silt fence, by the way,
is a strip of black plastic fabric supported by sticks pounded into the ground. How it may
actually fare in a torrential rainstorm is unknown. My guess is that the graveyard would be
inundated and the fence would become a hazard to navigation in Johnson’s Bay. But, it’s just
as arguable that it would save the day.

Further uphill, however, there is clear and un disputable evidence of a construction project in
the making. Trees and brush have been removed. Initial road grading has been done. I
suspect this was the cause of the stop-action. Attorney Moore continues, “When we started
mitigation work, it was not with some kind of evil mind, but to fix what was there.” One man’s
strip mine is another man’s landscaping project. This is how island development gets out of
control.

I don’t mean to pick on Reliance or Mr. Moore. There are plenty of other examples of mumbo-
jumbo. One concrete supplier initially bragged about cleaning up spills but seems to have
trouble keeping its trucks upright and on the roadway. The Sirenusa project is an
encyclopedia of broken promises and double talk. Don’t get me started about Grande Bay.
Talk is not necessarily cheap when it comes out of a lawyer’s mouth, but it’s still hot air. A
boulder in a Jacuzzi, however, is something you can put your hands on.

CZM members should be commended for their efforts to hold developers’ feet to the fire. As
members of the community, we also need to keep a watchful eye out and learn to read
between the lines. Lawyers, unlike newspapermen, are well paid for their words. But, many
times those words are no more than the Centerline reminders left by Iva Moses’ stock dem.

-Jeff Smith