BRADENTON BEACH – City officials are pursuing two potential public-private partnerships with the Bradenton Beach Marina’s new principal, developer Shawn Kaleta.
One partnership pertains to proposed improvements to the city-owned parking lot next to the cell tower and the Public Works building, adjacent to the marina. Another pertains to the multi-use trail that passes through the marina property.
During a March 1 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, City Attorney Ricinda Perry and Mayor John Chappie referred to Kaleta as the marina’s new owner. A mortgage and security agreement dated Jan. 10 lists the Bazzy Marine Corp. as the mortgagor and the Holiday, Florida-based Capital Property Ventures LLC as the mortgagee. The agreement references “a principal amount of $14 million from mortgagor and Aquabiz LLC.” Kaleta signed the agreement as the mortgagor and as president of the Bazzy Marine Corp.
According to the Florida Division of Corporations, John Porreca is listed as the registered agent and authorized person for Capital Property Ventures LLC. Aquabiz LLC lists attorney Louis Najmy as its registered agent and Kaleta and Daniel Courtney Zoller Jr. as managers.
When previously contacted by The Sun on numerous occasions and asked whether Kaleta purchased the marina from the Bazzy family, Najmy declined to comment. Former marina president Mike Bazzy also declined to comment.
CRA discussions
During the CRA meeting, Perry initiated the parking lot discussion and noted that the CRA members previously authorized Colliers Engineering to put together a parking plan. The plan Perry presented shows 23 parking spaces at the cell tower. Perry said the goal is to create a nicer parking lot and one that’s compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“You have that plan in place. A property owner in the area is desirous of actually building out that parking plan and doing all the landscaping and markers, but they didn’t want to pay for installing pavers,” Perry said.
She identified the property owner as Kaleta and said Building Official Steve Gilbert wants to see an engineered parking plan before moving forward with the proposed improvements.
“We want to make clear that this is a public parking lot. We want to make sure that whatever’s put in there is low maintenance. It’s our parking lot. We’ll be maintaining it,” Chappie said.
“Do you have any objection with my office moving forward with that private individual to develop that parking area with either shell or some type of rock in that area?” Perry asked CRA members.
The CRA members unanimously approved a motion authorizing Perry, Gilbert, Woodard and Chappie to finalize the parking lot improvement plans and coordinate with Kaleta on the parking lot improvements.
Multi-use trail
During the same meeting, Chappie and Perry initiated two separate discussions about the multi-use trail that passes under the Cortez Bridge and passes through the marina parking lot along the south side of the bridge.
In reference to the pending Cortez Bridge replacement project, Chappie said the existing multi-use trail under the bridge will be replaced by a new trail that’s hopefully wide enough to accommodate golf carts and other low speed vehicles too.
Chappie said city staff is researching the exact location of the city easement on the marina property that provides access to the trail area under the bridge.
“Working with Ricinda, we can talk with Kaleta to assure that’s part of our scenic right of way. I don’t think there’s going to be an issue,” Chappie said.
Sun
Later in the meeting, Perry initiated discussion about connecting the multi-use trail under the bridge to the multi-use trail along Gulf Drive South that passes by Cortez Beach. She mentioned the CRA members’ long-held desire to create a dedicated tram path along Gulf Drive South with a potential crossing point at Fifth Street South, which provides access to Bay Drive South, Bridge Street and the trail that passes under the bridge.
“I have talked to Shawn Kaleta about his purchase at the marina – actually, it was Mike Bazzy and Shawn Kaleta together – and walked their property, walked all the way down through Bridge Street and up and down Third Street talking about what the city is doing and what Mr. Kaleta is doing in that area. There was interest by him to work together with the city. He’s also talked to Elliott Falcione with the TDC (Tourist Development Council) about doing a major improvement to the multi-use trail that the city has,” Perry said.
She noted Kaleta owns a lot of properties in those areas and said he’s expressed interest in working with the city, and potentially the TDC, in providing some construction assistance to further enhance that corridor that’s heavily used by pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists.
Perry asked the CRA members if they were interested in formulating a workplan and a budget to pursue the trail improvements.
CRA Chair Ralph Cole said, “It’s part of the goal to make this a more walkable community, which gets cars off the road. It’s a nice walk down to Bridge Street from the north end hotels and vacation rentals. I think it’s a good idea any time you can get help with funding. It’s a win-win situation.”
CRA member David Bell expressed concerns about the large number of pedestrians that walk along Bay Drive South between Bridge Street and Third Street South, where there are currently no sidewalks.
“Until we resolve that bottleneck, there’s really no point adding more traffic to that area that’s already dangerously overpopulated with cars, pedestrians, bicycles and trams. Until we resolve that, I don’t want to see us add more traffic to that area,” Bell said.
In response, Cole said, “One of our main objectives in the CRA district is to bring people to the CRA district. What we’re doing is going to make it safer and create a pathway so you don’t have everybody walking down Gulf Drive.”
Perry sought and received authorization to formulate a plan to connect the multi-use trail from Gulf Drive South to the Cortez Bridge using Fifth Street South and Bay Drive South as connecting streets, with Bell casting the lone opposition vote.
