BRADENTON BEACH – A city-threatened shutdown of the paid parking lot at 101 Bridge St. prompted its management to begin to fix one long-standing issue, but due to non-compliance with other city requirements, a temporary closure of the lot may still be imminent, according to the city’s building official.
The property, owned by developer Shawn Kaleta, has been operational since earning commission approval in February for temporary use as a paid parking lot. That approval by the commission was conditional on stipulations, including the submission of a site plan, that have not been fulfilled, according to city officials.
“I gave them until last Friday, July 12 to get things tightened up, or we would barricade off the lot and not allow it to be used for parking until there was progress being made to rectify these issues,” Bradenton Beach Building Official Darin Cushing wrote in a July 15 email to The Sun. “The representative immediately responded and began working toward resolution and has been in daily contact with myself and the code enforcement officer, therefore we did not shut them down.”
On July 8, Cushing sent Kaleta’s representative, Sam Negrin, the following email:
“The Temporary Use Parking Lot is getting out of hand, yet again. If several issues are not addressed ASAP, we will be forced to barricade and close off the parking lot until they are addressed.
“First and foremost, the artesian well onsite is once again leaking and spreading water all over the lot, and down the street toward the Bay. It needs to be PERMANENTLY capped off immediately, not just temporarily.
“Electronic pay station kiosks have recently been added without any permitting. We were supposed to have been provided with a final site plan for the entire lot months ago as a condition of the temporary use that was approved in February.
“Again, we need a true site plan, prepared by a civil engineer, showing all of the dimensions, number and location of parking spaces, location of the added slabs, location of the pay kiosks and other signage, ingress and egress (traffic circulation), the post and rope that was installed, and anything else that has been added or modified since the lot(s) were vacant. A hand or computer-generated ‘sketch’ won’t cut it, we need a site plan.
“This parking lot has been in operation for five months now, during which time we have had to continually address the well issue. We’ve also asked multiple times for a site plan to be prepared and turned in for the temporary use permit file.
“Please make these things happen. If they have not, by close of business on Friday (7/12/24) of this week, the lot will be shut down, and the area barricaded permanently, and the temporary use permit revoked. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.”
“After I sent them the email, they did contract with someone to cap the artesian well. It’s been leaking for a long time,” Cushing said on July 16. “I still don’t have a site plan and there are other issues that haven’t been taken care of. I still may be shutting it down temporarily in the next few days until these things are done.”
Cushing said the artesian well is next to Florida Power and Light equipment and the repairs to the well need to be coordinated with the power company.
“That well needs to be dug deep,” he said.
UNMET STIPULATIONS
On Feb. 15, the city commission voted unanimously to approve the one-year temporary use permit for paid parking at the lot which encompasses 101 Bridge St., 105 Bridge St., 219 Gulf Drive S., and 106 Third St. S. with the following conditions:
• No ingress or egress from Bridge Street;
• Parking layout in accordance with the city’s land development code for parking drive aisle, parking bumpers and directional arrows;
• Turtle-friendly lighting at the lot management’s discretion;
• Landscaping buffering around the perimeter;
• Installation of a sidewalk on the north side of Third Street to Gulf Drive and Bridge Street at the corner of Gulf Drive to the boundaries of the Daiquiri Deck property;
• Installation of a concrete slab for trolley benches;
• CRA black and white signage; and
• ADA requirements by state and federal law for any parking spaces with a detailed site plan to the satisfaction of the building official.
In addition to the site plan not having been produced to the city, there currently exists ingress and egress from the lot to and from Bridge Street, landscape buffering has not been installed, no directional arrows are in place and the required sidewalks and concrete slab have not been installed.
Despite a statement made by Negrin at the February meeting that there would be no overnight parking at the lot, a food truck has been parked there for at least the past week.
Neither Negrin nor Kaleta responded to The Sun’s request for comment.
CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT
The parking lot was, up until the past week, managed by Easy Parking Group of Sarasota before the contract was terminated by Kaleta and new kiosks were put in place.
The new kiosks, which now say “Island Parking” show a parking rate of $15 per hour.
Josh LaRose, owner of Easy Parking Group, declined to comment on details of the termination.
“We did not do anything to default the contract with Shawn,” LaRose wrote in a July 16 email to The Sun.
LaRose wrote he was not responsible for the maintenance of the parking lot.
“My contract states that I’m only responsible for parking management, collecting payment and enforcement, which is what my company does,” he wrote.
During the February commission meeting, Negrin had stated that LaRose would hold the insurance on the property. With LaRose no longer affiliated with the management of the parking lot, it’s unclear who, if anyone, is carrying insurance.
CANCELED TAX SALE
A tax deed sale for past due property taxes on 101 Bridge St. was scheduled for Sept. 19 and according to the www.manatee.realforeclose.com website, the sale was canceled and the property was redeemed.
The assessed value of the property was listed at $1,086,406 and the opening bid for the tax sale was listed as $67,512.85 with 205 Sycamore LLC as the listed property owner. The manager of that LLC is Shawn Kaleta and the registered agent is Najmy Thompson, a Bradenton-based law firm.
