He says Friendswood built a park on his private property. The city says it had every right to.
Joseph Tostado had big plans for his 5.4 acre property bordering picturesque Lake Friendswood. The land, which has been in his family since the early 1990s, would be the perfect place to build a home and retire in a few short years.
Then came the locked gate.
He spotted it — a large iron double-swing gate in the road fastened with several big locks — in the fall of 2017, shortly after Hurricane Harvey. That’s when he learned the city of Friendswood had plans to turn some of his land into a park, he said.
“I never received information from the city about where they planned to build it,” he said. “That property has been in my family for quite a while. The first time I found out about it was after Harvey.”
Two-and-a-half years later, that park is now reality. The city spent almost $1 million building Lake Friendswood Park — a beautiful lakeside respite featuring walking trails, a boardwalk, a playground and a fishing pier.
Photographers frequent the area for its Instagram-quality vistas, and locals love to take their families for weekend visits and fishing trips.
“It’s a really beautiful park,” said Ashley
McLaughlin, who visits the park regularly with her children. “For us, we live about five minutes away. So, it’s an easy place to take our kids to ride bikes and go on long walks. And we have a couple of kayaks, so it’s a perfect little lake to do that.”
But despite its quick ascension to community treasure, the park’s future is unclear. Tostado and the city are locked in a tense legal battle after Tostado’s attorney, Robert Clements Jr., filed a real property lawsuit in 2018.
“Please have the city of Friendswood remove all obstructions erected on Mr. Tostado’s land on or before March 16, 2019,” Clements wrote in a letter to the city’s attorney, Bill Helfand, back in February 2019, when discussions over the lawsuit reached a fever pitch. “This would include, but not be limited to, the park benches, the city signs, the concrete sidewalks, the boardwalk, the fences, the footbridge.”
In the same letter, Clements threatened that if the city didn’t remove all of the park structures from Tostado’s land, Tostado would fence them off and remove them himself.
Clements this month took a more conciliatory note. He and Tostado don’t actually want to tear up the park, he said. They just don’t want it on Tostado’s land.
There are signs, however, that Tostado might be winning the legal battle.
Judge John Ellisor of the 122nd District Court in Galveston County on May 11 denied the city’s plea to end the lawsuit, ruling that the case could proceed to trial.
But Helfand has appealed that ruling on behalf of the city.
That decision could mean it will take two or three years before the lawsuit works its way to a final conclusion, Clements said.
“Judge Ellisor gave both parties a great deal of latitude to lay out all the arguments and let the hearing go on — that’s to his credit,” Helfand said. “But he determined these were circumstances in which the city was not immune. While we respect his opinion, the city believes that was in error under Texas law.”
The case ultimately hinges on records dating back to 1992, when the city annexed the land, and 1995, when Tostado’s parents acquired it, Helfand said.
In fact, the city and the Tostado family litigated over the land that same year, and a judge ruled then that the Tostados owned the property, but that’s subject to a roadway easement, Helfand said. Friendswood built the portion of the park in question on this easement.
Clements argues that the 1995 ruling underscores the error of the city’s ways in building this park, while Helfand argues the easement clears the way for the park.
But if the city loses the lawsuit, it still has several options, Helfand said.
“It would still just be an inverse condemnation,” he said. “What’s the value of the park on Tostado’s land? The city can decide, based on whatever that value is, to operate the park and pay Tostado, or give the land back.”
While Helfand is adamant the city will ultimately win in court, Clements said Friendswood is just buying time with this appeal, and that it’s time to return the land.
“What we want is for them to be good neighbors,” Clements said.
“We won’t interfere with their use, they shouldn’t interfere with ours,” he continued. “This could all end, but they just won’t admit they made a mistake.”