The Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency will pay a local human resources company $7.5 million if a recently reached agreement is approved Monday.
The settlement comes three years after FrankCrum sued the city of Clearwater to demand it move possibly hundreds of graves from underneath its property and cover the cost of doing so. The FrankCrum campus, located a 100 S. Missouri Ave. downtown, is the site of a former Black burial ground called the St. Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery.
FrankCrum originally sought a jury trial that was scheduled to go to court this week. But the two parties reached a settlement at the end of last month. In a statement, FrankCrum said it agreed to the resolution “because we believe the city would continue to delay and deny responsibility for this problem.”
“Instead of doing the right thing and taking responsibility for this situation, the City and the CRA have spent untold taxpayer dollars on litigation and delaying tactics,” the statement said. “The CRA even argued that the City’s warranty against there being graves on the property had somehow expired.”
The Community Redevelopment Agency wrote in a statement that the agreement is expected to be approved Monday.
“The people buried at the former St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, and the families connected to them, have been at the heart of this matter for years and the city recognizes that this site holds generations of history,” the statement said.
FrankCrum dropped the city of Clearwater as a defendant, though it was initially a part of the lawsuit. Clearwater City Council members act as the trustees of the Community Redevelopment Agency, but they are two separate legal entities. The agency directs tax revenue to boost revitalization efforts, and the FrankCrum campus falls within the Downtown Clearwater Community Redevelopment Area.
“Let’s be clear, this is not a victory for the descendants of the people who were buried in the former St. Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery, and whose graves were nearly erased,” FrankCrum’s statement said. “This settlement might be a small step in the right direction, but it is one that the City and the CRA fought against for many years.”
The company argued that the city’s redevelopment agency falsely told a previous property owner in writing that the land no longer had human remains. But archaeologists have found there could be more than 500 graves at the site.
In its statement, the Clearwater Redevelopment Agency said the settlement isn’t an admission of fault for either side.
Since the property is privately owned, FrankCrum will have to decide what to do with the remains, the statement said.
“We hope for a path forward that honors the families connected to this ground,” the redevelopment agency said.
In its statement, FrankCrum said because Clearwater “leadership refuses to lead,” the community will have to find a solution. In the coming months, the statement said, the company will work with community members to develop a framework for next steps.
“We don’t have the answers yet,” the company said, “but we will keep you informed.”
