A nationally-recognized boarding school is interested in setting up shop in Cutler Bay, but first the school’s would-be landlord must settle a land-use dispute with town officials.

The SEED Foundation was recognized in the 2010 documentary Waiting for Superman for the success of its Washington, D.C., school in helping at-risk kids make their way to college. Now the school is looking at sites in South Miami-Dade for its third school and the Cutler Bay location has emerged as the first choice, said Cheye Calvo, chief expansion officer for SEED.

Tia Diaz-Balart— Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart’s wife — has led the efforts to bring SEED to South Florida and has been named the project director of the school.

But the school may suffer for the sins of the site’s previous tenant — a boarding school for juvenile delinquents, which was shut down by the state in 2009 after repeated incidents of medical neglect, a spate of escapes, inadequate staffing and financial problems.

Unhappiness with Miami-Dade County’s handling of the school was one of the reasons Cutler Bay residents voted to incorporate their own town in 2005.

On the other hand, the prospective SEED school has no connection with the juvenile delinquents’ school — except the landlord.

The 44-acre site, at 22025 SW 87th Ave., has dormitory and classroom facilities and is owned by the Ethel & W. George Kennedy Foundation, a local charity that hopes to lease the facilities to another nonprofit that benefits underserved kids.

Town officials say they have nothing against SEED or the Kennedy Foundation. But given their bad experiences with the site, they want the foundation to reapply for the permit.

“It appears to be a successful program that does not involve a detention facility,” said Mayor Ed MacDougall. “I don’t have any problem with it and it sounds like a good program from what I have been able to glean.”

But in an unusual move, the town, acting on its own initiative, voted on last week to revoke the site’s land use permits, meaning that the site can no longer be used as a school.

That could lead to a legal fight. Under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the government can’t “take” private property without paying for it, and courts sometimes hold that regulations limiting land use can amount to a taking.

“What happened is a complete violation of due process for my client,” said the Kennedy Foundation’s lawyer, Simon Ferro. “The town used a remedy that deprives my client of their property rights.”

Ferro said that the property is no longer occupied and posed no dangers to the surrounding neighborhood.

He argued that the Kennedy Foundation has a vested right to use the property as a boarding school, and if it is stripped of these zoning permits, it will not be able to use the land for its intended purpose. Even if the property owners are found to be in violation of the conditions, he says that revoking the zoning permits is not a proper remedy.

“There is no harm in letting the property owners investigate if there are violations and letting them cure it,” Ferro said.

But town officials said they are revoking the permits for a good reason: The old tenant repeatedly violated conditions, such as a limit on the number of students allowed, and mandatory annual renewal.

Cutler Bay’s attorney, Mitchell Bierman, said once the conditions were broken, the landowners forfeited their rights to the special zoning permits. Without these permits, the property is zoned as “general use” land.

“You can’t have a vested right to do something that is subject to conditions and then not abide by those conditions,” Bierman said.

Ferro suggested a delay so that he could work out an amicable solution with the town, but the council voted 4-1 to revoke his client’s permits, with council member Sue Ellen Loyzelle dissenting.

Ferro said his client is considering all options, including an appeal to Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

MacDougall said the town would consider approving new permits that would allow a school to operate with reasonable conditions to protect neighboring residents.

“I think we are exercising our right as a sovereign town to have our own certificates issued,” he said.