HOLMES BEACH – Owners of the Angelinos Sea Lodge Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen had a busy week with a court hearing and a special magistrate hearing to attend.
The most dramatic of the two hearings was the June 11 special magistrate hearing in the city of Holmes Beach when Tran broke down in tears defending herself and Hazen, who were accused of renting their four vacation rental units at Angelinos Sea Lodge without valid vacation rental certificates.
Though Tran admitted on the record that they are continuing to rent the units, she said that it’s unfair of the city to lump the resolution of the fight over the couple’s beachfront treehouse in with the business that they’ve been operating for 21 years.
The couple is caught in a Catch-22 because city leaders won’t renew their vacation rental certificates until code issues on the property are resolved. Those issues include paying the fines assessed due to the treehouse, which Tran says they can’t do without their source of income – the money they get from renting the four vacation rental units.
For the first time in the 10 years since its construction, Tran publicly said she and Hazen are considering removing the treehouse just to end the issues between them and city leaders, though she said that isn’t something that can be done overnight. She also added they’re awaiting final verdicts in all three of the pending court cases concerning the treehouse before making a final decision about its removal.
Tran said they’re willing to work with the city to come to a reasonable solution to the problems.
The couple was denied renewal of their vacation rental certificates in late 2020 due to the outstanding code violation on the property, namely the continued existence of the treehouse in its beachfront Australian pine-and-telephone-pole perch and the more than $200,000 in fines accumulated against it. City leaders say the matter of the treehouse needs to be resolved and the fines settled before the VRCs can be renewed to allow the couple to rent the units legally in the city.
Since an after-the-fact permit for the treehouse cannot be given because it doesn’t meet current building codes, city leaders are demanding that the treehouse be removed. One of the three cases concerning the treehouse pending in 12th Judicial Circuit Court is an injunction for the city to forcibly have the treehouse removed. The case does not yet have a court date set for a hearing.
Special Magistrate Michael Connolly recommended Tran, Hazen and city leaders engage in arbitration. Connolly, who said he doesn’t have the jurisdiction to grant renewal of the couple’s VRCs and ruled there is a continuing violation on the property, did not assess a fine in addition to the current $125 per day fine he ordered during an April code compliance hearing.
12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Charles Sniffen heard the city’s motion to dismiss the third amended complaint lodged by Tran and Hazen on June 9, with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection joining the city’s motion.
In the complaint, Tran and Hazen allege the actions taken against them by the city and FDEP violate their rights as property owners and as people. In her arguments, Tran said the case was filed to stop the forcible removal of the treehouse by the city and the accumulation of daily fines, which have been collecting at $50 per day since a code enforcement hearing in 2015. Tran served as her and Hazen’s counsel during the hearing.
The $50-per-day fine is in addition to the $125-per-day fine assessed by Connolly in response to the couple’s continued renting of the property in violation of the Holmes Beach vacation rental certificate ordinance.
Speaking on behalf of the city, attorney Randy Mora said the city is sympathetic to her serving as their counsel but feels the matter needs to move forward, urging Sniffen to dismiss the case with prejudice so that it cannot be refiled.
Tran said she’s working to write the complaint for herself and her husband and if Sniffen rules that it be amended again, she said she’d like more specific instructions about what needs to be included rather than have him dismiss the complaint altogether. When pleading for relief, she said she’s not sure what relief is possible at this point but hopes that the case will go to trial and she will be permitted to provide discovery materials to the court.
“I can only hope that justice will be rendered,” Tran said.
Though Sniffen said he would provide a ruling on the case by June 11, no ruling had been filed as of press time for The Sun.
Related coverage
U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear treehouse owners’ case
More fines added to treehouse owners’ tab with Holmes Beach
