Driftwood homeowners put title insurance on notice

Driftwood homeowner Alan Osborne has been before the Walton County Board of County Commissioners more times than he can count. All he wants, he says, is for the county "to do the right thing."

In a dispute that goes back to the 1980s, the Greater Driftwood Estates Homeowners Association fired a new volley at both state and county officials this week.

In a letter addressed to Charles Gauthier, director of the Division of Community Planning, the homeowners association asks Gauthier to provide "immediate assistance" in their "ongoing dispute within the Sandestin DRI" and asks Gauthier to conduct and administrative hearing "to compel and order Walton County's compliance."

Osborne also revealed to commissioners that Driftwood homeowners have notified their title insurance companies of possible claims in connection with the actions taken by the county over a number of years dating back to 1988.

Driftwood homeowners have two distinct disputes. One is that a wall erected by Sandestin Intrawest was unlawfully constructed and poses a serious safety threat to residents in Driftwood in the event of flooding.

The flooding is the second issue.

According to the Greater Driftwood Estates HOA, first the developer and then later the county failed to implement storm water management practices as outlined by the original Sandestin Development of Regional Impact, which they say Driftwood is still a part of. These failures have left Driftwood residents with frequent and reoccurring flooding which has led to other problems.

The letter points out what Osborne pointed out to county commissioners at Tuesday night's meeting. The benchmark for lakes in Driftwood set in 1984 was 208.4 acres but in 2002 there were zero acres noted and the actual acreage in 2003 was 13 acres. This unto itself, claims the HOA, is a substantial deviation that should have triggered a public hearing on any changes to the DRI.

Homeowners also ask Gauthier to explore the multiple instances of conflict of interest among the parties who worked on the various changes and requests that went before the county regarding the Driftwood neighborhood.

Attorney George Ralph Miller "recommended the county enter into an agreement with Sandestin Bay Estates on the Driftwood abandonment. It was executed on behalf of Sandestin Bay estates by Tomas Pattton, (then) vice president."

According to the homeowners, Miller now represents "the developer" and Patton sits on the Walton County Planning Commission. The letter identifies two more instances they believe warrant further scrutiny, one of which is a county commissioner with "close personal ties to an owner of the LLC in possession of over 77 lots affected by the county's decision."

If the Driftwood residents are successful in their request for additional action from state officials, it could call into question the validity of Sandestin's DRI which could jeopardize further development at the longstanding resort.

Osborne said the ongoing litigation and the perceived irregularities in the case have undermined his faith in his government and calls it one of the most egregious assaults on property owners' rights he has ever heard of.

"It's a taking by the developer with the assistance of the county, in my opinion" said Osborne.

Driftwood residents were assessed a $2.6 million MSB tax in order to provide drainage and road improvements in 1996. The bond was only recently paid off, yet homeowners contend they continue to be plagued by flooding and storm water problems.

"What Driftwood Phase Two did was summarily undo what we paid to fix," said Osborne.

Osborne has lived in Driftwood since 2004, and owned property on Mack Bayou since 1997. He was recently named the 1st Special Operations Group Civilian of the Year for 2008 and has been nominated to compete at the Air Force Special Operations Command level.

He has spearheaded the various claims against the county and Sandestin for the Driftwood Estates Homeowners Association for almost five years.

If there are defects in the residents' titles, the title companies could be asked to pay for the loss in value created by those defects, which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars or "possibly millions."

"Something smells about the whole thing and I intend to get to the bottom of it", said Osborne.