CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — After hearing arguments over the phone, Judge Ralph Jaynes has denied Gary Prewitt and Glacier Park Investments’ request for a default judgment of $2.7 million, and has reiterated that Lazy Gators, which the county contends is operating illegally on residentially-zoned property, must stay closed indefinitely.

“We are of course disappointed by the judge's ruling, but not terribly surprised,” Prewitt said in a statement about the decision.

He continued, “Camden County has spent more than $330,000 to date defending bad zoning policy and the absurd miszoning of my Gator property. This is just one more step in the process.

“Seven-mile cove has been a commercial area for 40 years. It is currently home to one of the lake's biggest resorts and before that there were a series of bars in the cove including what is now Shady Gator's. Any reasonable person can see that the property should have been zoned commercial in the first place but the county continues to cater to a small group of people who bought houses next to a bar and then complained that there is a bar there. Meanwhile the rest of the county’s residents are deprived of proper use of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.”

The judge issued a Summary Judgment on Nov. 4, 2014, which ordered Lazy Gators to cease operations until the matter is resolved. The venue had closed for the season anyways, but the judge’s order could affect its re-opening in the spring, as tourist traffic resumes. Prewitt, who co-owns Lazy Gators, contends the operations on the property have been legal, since he has a state-issued caterer’s permit. He argues the property, which is landlocked by commercially-zoned Shady Gators, should have been zoned commercial when county zoning was originally established.

Prewitt, in response to the November Summary Judgment, filed a Motion for Default Judgment. In it, Prewitt’s team argued the county had never responded to its Counter Claim, filed in 2010, and so requested the judge award the group $2.7 million.

Prewitt’s team also had filed a Motion to Set Aside Summary Judgment — in which they asked the judge to set aside the order to close Lazy Gators indefinitely. On Dec. 22, Jaynes denied that motion as well.

Prewitt concluded, “I intend to take the legal battle through the appeal process as far as necessary to prove how foolish the county’s zoning of this property is.  The county will be spending thousands of tax dollars on legal fees every step of the way. The people of Camden County are being ill served by this ridiculous expenditure of tax dollars to defend the indefensible.”


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