Walden Pond Owners Ask to Delay Lien Hearing

The owners of Walden Pond, LLC, are asking to delay a meeting at which the New Port Richey city council will consider putting a lien on the Walden Pond Mobile Home Park, which the city cleaned up last year on the taxpayer dime.  

The hearing is set for next week, July 9.  

Bryan Sykes, Walden Pond, LLC’s attorney, sent the city’s attorney a letter recently requesting that City Council members postpone the hearing for 45-60 days.

Asked if he was in favor of granting the request, Deputy Mayor Bill Phillips said Monday “I’m not really in favor of doing that.”

The city council is slated to discuss that request Tuesday, July 2, at 7 p.m. at New Port Richey City Hall.

 The June 19 letter from  states reasons for the request as giving the owners chance to “Continue negotiations with its lender (as the property is currently in foreclosure) and also continue to work on settlement negotiations with city staff.”

Walden Pond, LLC, now owes the city $155,122.26, according to updated figures from city officials. That figure includes the costs of demolition, cleanup, administrative services and attorney fees. It also includes fines for months of unpaid utility bills. Those fines make up about half of the total money owed at this point.

The privately owned Walden Pond Mobile Home Park has been a problem property for the city for a while. Last summer, the mobile home park's owners told residents the park was closing and that residents needed to leave the property. The owners, however, failed to follow legal guidelines for eviction. 

Since then, some residents left. Some stayed behind. Trailer stripping became a problem.

The city council decided in October to pass an emergency resolution condemning crumbling trailers. Council members then agreed to have the city pay a contractor to get rid of more than 50 condemned trailers and clean up afterward. Prior to that, the city also had to remove a mound of trash left at the park that the owners failed to clean up.

Confronted with the problems last year, the city council gave Walden Pond owners an opportunity to fix the issues. The property owners said they would take some measures to address problems, but they failed to do enough to measure up to council expectations.

Records from Florida’s Division of Corporations show that Paragon Capital Partners is the registered agent for Walden Pond, LLC.  Records show that Santosh Govindaraju is CEO of Paragon. 

Pasco County Court records show Santosh is a defendant in foreclosure proceedings against Walden Pond, LLC that were filed May 23.

Phillips recalled the city’s dealings with Walden Pond, LLC, when the problems there first became clear last year. He said he thinks the city needs to move forward with the lien process against the property owners.

“We gave them more than ample opportunity to clean up their own property, he said.