THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110064
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
Edwin B. Lindsley Jr. seems to be setting up a claim on the land under Princess Anne Country Club and Linkhorn Park. Lindsley also has:
- Claimed to own most of the Oceanfront resort beach.
- Settled a federal lawsuit in which he claimed a Florida psychic bilked him of $500,000 and six valuable properties.
- Revived an old company that developed the Oceanfront from Rudee Inlet to 5th Street, and got the company's leftover assets.
- Been sued by the nephew of a 90-year-old blind widow, who claims Lindsley got the woman to sign a deed while she was mentally incompetent.
Land salvager Edwin B. Lindsley Jr. has lighted the fuse on a legal time bomb at the venerable Princess Anne Country Club and neighboring Linkhorn Park, but when it will explode, and where, remains a mystery.
It appears from court documents that Lindsley is setting up a claim to the land under the country club and golf course or under the pricey homes around them - or both.
Lindsley, 70, is a master of real estate takeovers. He has claimed chunks of public beaches, a marina, a school, a shopping mall and ordinary folks' back yards - sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
Lindsley's precise target in this case is unclear, but his method is familiar: He has revived a long-defunct company that mapped and developed Linkhorn Park and the country club in 1916, and he has gotten a deed to all the company's leftover assets, if there are any.
In this case, Lindsley has gone a step further: On Jan. 25, in Circuit Court, he filed a legal document revoking the old company's dedication of public streets, easements and public grounds in Linkhorn Park, except for those explicitly accepted by the city.
Where those easements lie and what Lindsley wants to do with them is not known. A study of the 1916 map does not show any obvious streets or easements that were never used.
On the map, a waterfront parcel at the end of Linkhorn Drive is marked ``Reserved for Boat House Princess Anne Country Club,'' but it was never built. Car dealer Tench Phillips Jr. lives there now.
``I do have title insurance, thank God!'' Phillips joked Friday. He said he knows about the lot's history, but isn't worried because a title search was done when he bought the house in 1984. ``There are no clouds or anything on it,'' Phillips said.
He noted, however, that the streets of Linkhorn Park are ``very, very narrow,'' with deep ditches on either side. It is possible Lindsley has found a way to claim the unpaved parts of the old streets.
Lindsley refuses to discuss his plans. Asked last week why he revoked the public dedications, he called the matter ``routine.''
Asked what he intends to do with the land, Lindsley replied, ``Do you know any businessman who reveals his plans in advance?''
The country club, with its golf course, tennis courts and swimming pool, epitomizes old money in Virginia Beach. It opened in 1920 in what was then Princess Anne County. Within a year, it boasted that President Warren Harding was an honorary member who made a secret visit to play golf.
Linkhorn Park, the neighborhood built around the golf course, is filled with large houses, most of which are on acre lots and which sell for $200,000 to $500,000, according to the city assessor. Some waterfront homes are worth more than $1 million.
The country club's president, David Pender, declined to comment on Lindsley's actions.
``Until I hear from Mr. Lindsley, I'm not going to stir the pot,'' Pender said. ``The judicious thing for us to do is to do nothing.''
The court-appointed receiver for the defunct company, Norfolk lawyer Jack D. Maness, said Thursday he had no idea what Lindsley planned. ``It never came up, was never discussed,'' Maness said.
Over 30 years, Lindsley has waged some spectacular battles over land that other people assumed was theirs.
Sometimes he has lost. In the 1960s, for example, Lindsley claimed - unsuccessfully - that he owned a strip of land under the then-new Pembroke Mall.
In 1992, Lindsley sued the city of Virginia Beach for $2 million, claiming he owned the streets in Shadowlawn, and the city had illegally let a cable company bury wires in those streets. He lost again.
But Lindsley has won some big battles, too.
In the 1970s, Lindsley claimed to own part of the city marina at Rudee Inlet. Eventually the city gave Lindsley clear title to a half-mile of valuable bayfront land in exchange for clear title to the marina.
Also in the 1960s and 1970s, Lindsley claimed to own the never-built extension of Holly Road from 76th to 88th streets. He won again, converting the land into valuable building lots.
Now, Lindsley has set his sights on Linkhorn Park.
The tale began Sept. 9, when Lindsley's lawyer, state Del. George H. Heilig Jr., filed a petition in Norfolk Circuit Court. It asked the court to appoint a receiver for the long-defunct Virginia Beach Golf Course Annex Corp.
The company went out of business in 1930 after developing and selling lots at the country club and Linkhorn Park.
In his petition, Lindsley claimed that his own Cala Corp. owns ``all remaining lands, if any,'' formerly owned by the golf course company. Lindsley then asked the court to order the receiver to give him ``any and all interest in lands'' formerly owned by the golf course company, to remove any cloud on the land title held by Cala Corp.
On Sept. 9, Judge Charles E. Poston signed the order.
On Sept. 22, the court-appointed receiver deeded the defunct company's property to Cala Corp. No money changed hands.
It is not clear from the court order or deed what land is at issue. Neither one describes the property. The deed, however, contains the property identification numbers of three small triangular tracts in Linkhorn Park.
Finally, on Jan. 25, in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Lindsley filed a ``declaration of revocation.''
The declaration states that Cala Corp. is the legal successor to the golf course company. Therefore, the document continues, Cala ``doth hereby declare null, void and revoked'' all dedications of ``streets, avenues and public grounds'' on the original 1916 map, except for ones accepted by city ordinance or public improvements.
In his declaration, Lindsley states that the city has accepted ``only a portion'' of the 1916 dedications, but the document does not say which ones.
Deputy City Attorney Gary Fentress said he is not worried.
``It's ridiculous. It's absolutely absurd,'' Fentress said. ``You just can't file this unilateral, self-serving declaration.''
Even if the city accepted only some of the original dedications, Fentress said, that is legally tantamount to accepting all of them. The city did accept many of the dedications of rights-of-way by paving the streets throughout Linkhorn Park.
``We don't need a deed'' to own a street, Fentress said. ``Municipalities can take title to property by plats, by dedication, by any number of ways.''
It is not known how Lindsley will proceed. Heilig, his lawyer in the matter, could not be reached for comment. ILLUSTRATION: Color map by John Earle, Staff
Photo
Lindsley
KEYWORDS: REAL ESTATE CLAIM DEEDS by CNB