Land at center of family lawsuit transferred to nonprofit for conservation

A drawn out battle for a 12-acre piece of property near the Braden Woods subdivision hit a milestone after it was transferred to a nonprofit agency last week.

Brad Magee, one of Carl Bergstresser’s personal representatives who also drafted his will, said he signed the deed indicating the transfer of the property to the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast. The nonprofit intends on placing a conservation easement on the property, according to attorney Alyssa Nohren of Icard Merrill, who also confirmed the account.

The 12 acres is adjacent to developer Pat Neal’s proposed Myara subdivision, which is currently the subject of a proposed municipal services taxing unit in order for a group called Friends of Keep Woods — of which Bergstresser was an early member — to purchase the property to save it from development.

Bergstresser, who died of pancreatic cancer in July 2016, called the land his “slice of heaven.” But heaven soon came crashing down to earth.

According to his sister Diana, “It started the night Carl died.”

“We think personally it’s a land grab going on because of the way they’ve done it,” she said.

The property has been in the Bergstresser family for nearly 100 years. Their grandparents built the original Linger Lodge, and the 12 acres was part of the original tract of that property.

Diana Bergstresser accused her brother’s personal representatives — Philip St. John, Donald T. Smith and Magee — of “blowing through his life savings” with attorney’s fees, paying off mortgages on Carl’s home and giving the Conservation Foundation a stewardship fee.

According to Wes Dunaway, an attorney for Diana and her twin brother Phil, the siblings have only received $40,000 from Carl’s estate. They haven’t seen the rest of the more than $300,000 in assets, which excludes the homestead and things like personal property, Dunaway said.

In part of a probate lawsuit that will go to trial in February, the siblings claim that the personal representatives paid themselves from the estate about $46,770 for “personal representatives fees” and divied up another $66,436 for attorney’s fees, Dunaway added. They are also said to have used estate money to pay off $88,000 in mortgage debt, which Dunaway said belongs to his clients. The siblings had to get a court order to spread Carl’s ashes on the property, and to get his cell phone, which Dunaway said the data was wiped clean.

“We’ve put a lot of wrongdoing before the court,” Diana Bergstresser said.

Dunaway added that Conservation Foundation president Christine Johnson testified in the deposition phase that the nonprofit would sell the property if residents surrounding the property in Braden Woods and River Club did not approve a taxing unit that would help fund the Myara property.

“I don’t know who they would sell it to or on what terms,” Dunaway said. “As it stands now, it seems to me they could sell it to anyone they wanted to.”

Nohren, the Conservation Foundation’s attorney, disagreed.

“If they do end up selling it, they are not just going to sell it to a developer,” Nohren said. Adding a conservation easement on the property would protect it in perpetuity, like Carl Bergstresser intended.

In part, Carl’s will advised that his land should “be transferred to a nonprofit organization or government entity that will maintain such property for wildlife conservation and general conservation purposes,” according to Magee.

Recently, the proposed Myara subdivision from Neal Communities went before the board of county commissioners, seeking approval of a rezone of the 33 acres on which developer Pat Neal intended on clustering 32 homes just in case a taxing unit was not approved. Neal gave Friends of Keep Woods the option to purchase the property for $3 million by March 31. The Conservation Foundation is helping raise funds to acquire the land, and the county is considering a municipal services taxing unit that would have to be approved by nearly 1,400 residents, who have until Jan. 10 to submit their filled out polling cards back to the county.

The land, which is just north of the Braden River, is home to deer, bobcats and wild boar. If the taxing unit is passed, there’s a possibility of it becoming in part a county park.

Nohren added that she found it odd that people were against the conservation easement.

“We’re not used to being objected to,” she said.

Dunaway said his clients are in “a search for the truth.” Magee called Diana a “fighter” who has “attacked (them) at every step.”

“My brother and myself look forward to our day in court,” Diana Bergstresser said.

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Land at center of family lawsuit transferred to nonprofit for conservation."