The Cedar Key Commission voted unanimously October 3 to pay $497,206.25 for two lots in an effort to reach a mediated settlement of a law suit. It also voted unanimously to reject a mediated settlement that proposed purchase for $150,000 of a property adjacent to the two lots. In response to a law suit brought by James and Edwina Meade, Carl and Irma Sensenig and Ross and Dawn Buck, the Commission first accepted a proposed settlement with the Meades and Sensenigs. To purchase the Meade and Senseig lots the City will pay $100,000 down and have a $397,206 mortgage at 5.5 percent rate of interest. The Meade lot at the end of Sandra Street is about one acre in size, whereas the Sensenig lot immediately to the north is more than five acres in size, but nearly all marsh land. The dispute arose when the Commission interpreted a Comprehensive Plan map that prohibits building residences in the Conservation Zone. That action differed from interpretation by officials, including City Attorney David Coffey who could have been a witness for the Meades and Sensenigs. Commissioner Heath Davis moved for purchase of the lots, with a second from Commissioner Vanessa Edmunds. Twenty minutes of discussion and public comments followed with Doris Hellermann objecting to purchase of more land by the City. Nancy Taylor objected to the purchase price, saying that the value of the land should be based on its assessable value as conservation land rather than the Property Assessor's error in calling it residential land. Judy Duvall noted that the Property Assessor's error makes Levy County partially responsible for the law suit and should share in the cost of settlement. Margy VanLandingham, who has been involved in the dispute from its inception, recommended the settlement as a good outcome. The Davis motion passed unanimously. The proposed settlement with Ross and Dawn Buck was for $150,000 for a 23 by 100 foot strip of land at the end of Anna Street, with $100,000 up front and a $50,000 mortgage at 5.5 percent. A Davis motion to not accept the settlement, seconded by Commissioner Pat O'Neal, was approved after rapid-fire statements of agreement by all five Commissioners who said that the Buck claim was unlike that of the Meades and Sensenigs. The motion passed unanimously. Immediately after adjournment Ross Buck told Cedar Key News that he would, "Let a judge decide (his part of the suit.) | 