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Paul “Andy” Stewart
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Tab 11
Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL)
June 17, 2004
CITIES STILL STRUGGLE WITH DOMAIN ISSUES; POLK CITY AND
AUBURNDALE MAY FACE ANOTHER LAWSUIT.
Author: LAUREN GLENN
POLK CITY -- For most of those running this town, the land struggle with Auburndale is a battle
of little versus big. "That's exactly what it feels like," said Councilwoman Chris Denico of Polk
City's continuing legal dispute with Auburndale. The disagreement comes in the form of a
lawsuit filed last year, with a new one possibly on the way.
In February, when a property owner approached the city of Auburndale requesting water and
sewer connections, the customer was told the property was located inside Polk City's utility
service area and was directed to officials there.
Though Polk City was in a position to provide services to the customer, the town needed to add
lines to do so. "That's what we were in the process of doing," Town Manager Cory Carrier said.
But in May, just as the town was about to begin installing the lines, Carrier received word that
the customer had already been hooked up to Auburndale's lines.
Auburndale had snatched away a customer, Carrier said, and by doing so, invaded land that is
legally within Polk City's utility service area as defined by Florida law. "We were ready to lay
that pipe," Carrier said. "Then we received word that the property had been connected to
Auburndale's water."
Auburndale Assistant City Manager Andy Stewart acknowledged that the customer is within
Polk City's utility service area, but, he said, Auburndale's water lines had been placed there long
before their area was established. An attempt by Polk City to cross those lines would violate state
law, Stewart said. Auburndale has an interlocal agreement with Polk County that allows them to
provide utilities to that property, Stewart continued. "We're supplying water to a customer who
has been adjacent to our utility lines," Stewart said. "We're supplying water in accordance with
county's interlocal agreement."
The two towns used to divide properties between themselves evenly, Carrier said, and for years a
gentleman's agreement was maintained, outlining which lines were not to be crossed. All that
changed, she said, when Auburndale annexed property within Polk City's utility service area and
built a wastewater spray field that is now fully operational.
Carrier and the rest of the town contends in its lawsuits against Auburndale that the annexation
of the spray field property was illegally done and that the spray field will eventually contaminate
their water.
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