Oct. 16--Cheeca Lodge Resort and Spa has expanded its class-action lawsuit against the Village of Islamorada over wastewater assessments.

The suit is the second filed in Monroe County Circuit Court over this year's assessments. On Oct. 5, 11 property owners and two businesses sued the village, claiming the $21.8 million assessment is illegal and overly expensive.

Both lawsuits ask for the assessment to be thrown out and for Tax Collector Danise Henriquez to be prohibited from collecting the assessment payments.

However, the Cheeca lawsuit asks the court to create a class of potential plaintiffs, which could be more than 4,000 property owners in Islamorada who were assessed last year or this year.

Five separate corporations operating at Cheeca Lodge -- and on behalf of dozens of individual Cheeca condo-hotel unit owners -- first sued in Oct. 1, 2008 after the village imposed last year's wastewater planning assessment of $631 per property.

On Oct. 5 2009, Cheeca attorney Jim Lupino of Hershoff, Lupino & Yagel, amended his complaint to include this year's assessment, which charged single-family homes about $4,000 dollars and condo units about $800.

The new complaint mirrors the allegations in the first lawsuit and makes some of the same arguments as in the recent suit filed by the other residents and businesses.

The lawsuit contends the assessment is invalid because it treats some property owners unequally. However, the main contention is that Cheeca owners will not benefit from the assessment.

Village government officials say the recent assessments would pay for design and land acquisition for the entire sewer system, but construction of facilities only on Plantation Key. Cheeca is located on Upper Matecumbe Key.

The lawsuit states Cheeca has begun to bring its existing wastewater treatment plant to new state quality standards by the current deadline of July 2010 for a cost of $500,000.

Cheeca claims it will costs $1 million to $4 million to hook up to the system, in addition to monthly sewer fees and the potential loss of re-use water from the resort's treatment plant.

The lawsuit asks for court costs to be paid by the village. Village Manager Ken Fields said funds from the wastewater assessments will be used to fight both lawsuits.

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