Audubon chapter can sell gifted Central Florida forest land after donor loses lawsuit
An Audubon chapter in Central Florida can sell off six acres of century-old forest that were donated for conservation despite a former president’s promise to preserve the pine-canopied parcel in perpetuity.
In a ruling this month, Circuit Judge Denise Beamer decided the Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society — one of 43 independent chapters of the not-for-profit national organization named for ornithologist John James Audubon — is not restricted by pledges that were not formally memorialized in the property deed or by contract.
She pointed out the deed transferring the parcel near the Lake-Orange county line contains “no reference to a trust agreement to maintain the property in perpetuity or to preserve the land in its natural state.”
But donor Kenneth Rubinson, who inherited the triangular, century-old forest from his mother, said he relied on promises from chapter officials that the donation would be protected from encroaching development.
“Be assured we will be prudent and careful caretakers of the property,” then-chapter president Jerry Bohmann wrote in a Dec. 30, 2007, thank-you note to Rubinson, 78, who had played in the woods as a kid.
The chapter also announced Rubinson’s donation in “The Limpkin Call,” a quarterly newsletter named for the shrill squawk of the gangly tropical wetlands bird. “In an area of intense commercial development, even six acres is a welcome area of conservation of natural Florida,” the newsletter tidbit read.
Rubinson said he’s worried a developer might turn the property near U.S. 441 into a gas station.
“Ken obviously was emotionally attached to the property,” said attorney Tim Hoban, who negotiated a conservation easement with the St. Johns River Water Management District to limit the development of the parcel.
Despite alleged assurances, the Eustis-based chapter persuaded the water management district to remove the easement in 2019, then listed the land for $189,000 with a broker specializing in commercial properties.
In a deposition, the acting president of the chapter described its finances at the time as “very stressed.”
Rubinson, a chemistry researcher who resides in Maryland, said he depended on Audubon’s reputation “as earnest and effective preservers of habitat” to keep their word, protect the site and mark it with a sign designating it as the Pollack-Rubinson Wildlife Preserve. Pollack was his mother’s maiden name.
He said he sued, hoping to get the land back or transferred to a group willing to protect it.
“I never believed they’d do this,” Rubinson said of Audubon fighting for the right to sell the property. “I didn’t sue for money. They were being asked to give it back or to a group that would do what they promised.”
Before the judge’s ruling scuttled a trial, chapter lawyers sought to exclude evidence of compromise offers; hearsay testimony of former chapter president Bohmann, who died in 2020; and opinions of Charles Lee, Florida Audubon director of advocacy.
In a phone interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Lee said the state chapter had an “iron-clad” policy about land donations. “If someone gives a piece of property for conservation, it’s going to stay as conservation,” he said.
Rubinson said he also wrote to national and state officials of Audubon, asking them to intercede in the disagreement with the Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society chapter, which he identified by acronym, OVAS.
“The respected name of Audubon does not deserve to be sullied by this local section, and I urge you to use your position to halt this dishonorable and hypocritical action by the OVAS section,” he said in letters.
The legal fight has cost him $170,000 in attorney fees so far. He said he will likely appeal.
