BRADENTON BEACH – After multiple requests by The Sun to the city for the release of a signed agreement in a city partnership with developer Shawn Kaleta for the installation and maintenance of coconut palm trees on Bridge Street, the nearly three-week-long waiting game for the document has thus far come up empty.
The installation of 80 coconut palm trees on and around Bridge Street was approved at an April 3 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting following assurances by City Attorney Ricinda Perry that a maintenance, hold harmless and indemnification agreement signed by Kaleta would be in place prior to planting in which Kaleta would assume responsibility for maintenance and liability for any damage caused by the palm trees.
The trees were planted the week of April 24.
The first request from The Sun for the signed agreement was made by email on May 6 and received no response. Subsequent email and in-person requests by The Sun were made on May 7, May 15, May 17 and May 23.
The May 15 email request to the agreement received an “out of office” reply. The same day, The Sun emailed Perry requesting a copy of the signed and fully executed agreement.
City Clerk Terry Sanclemente, Mayor John Chappie and Police Chief/Interim Public Works Director John Cosby were among those copied on The Sun’s email request.
In her response, Perry wrote, “I’ll see if the deputy clerks can access the signed agreement. If not, we’ll have to wait until Terri gets back.”
Sanclemente is expected to be back in the office on May 28, after press time for The Sun. She was, however, in the office the week of May 6.
Perry provided a copy of an unsigned, blank draft version of the agreement which did not identify the other party involved with the project and did not include any details regarding the cost of the project or the manner in which the material, installation and maintenance costs would be shared. The agreement is for 30 years.
When asked by The Sun that day for a signed and fully executed copy of the agreement, Perry wrote, “There is a signed agreement. The clerk is out of the office and can provide further documents upon her return.”
The agreement and any other project-associated documents are subject to the Florida Public Records Act and Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law.
The lingering question remains as to who would be liable for any damage or injuries caused by the trees.
Since the planting of the trees during the week of April 24, things haven’t gone smoothly with the palms.
On May 15, a post on Facebook showed that one of the newly-planted palms apparently had fallen over on Bridge Street. It was replanted on May 17 and secured with a string tied to a metal stake.
On May 24, all the palms that had been planted on Gulf Drive South (State Road 789) were removed due to the trees not being allowed by Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) regulations. FDOT spokesperson Darryl Richard said coconut palms are not allowed on state roads due to safety concerns about visibility and falling coconuts and limbs.
Chappie was on-site during the tree removal and The Sun asked him about the whereabouts of the palm tree agreement. He responded by deferring questions about the agreement to Perry.
OTHER RECENT PARTNERSHIPS PROPOSED
Other public/private partnerships with Kaleta have been proposed this year.
At a Feb. 1 City Commission meeting, Perry presented an offer from the Kaleta-owned Bradenton Beach Marina to act as the city’s harbormaster for a proposed city-owned mooring field near the Bradenton Beach Pier.
“So today the marina said, ‘Would you be interested in us helping you with the mooring balls? And what we can do is basically act as your harbormaster, provide the pump-out service and deal with the people that are paying and something else to think about is the amount you charge people, which they would enforce for us.’ Which would make it so a particular clientele would be able to afford that mooring ball,” Perry said at the meeting.
She described the offer as a potential public/private partnership to protect the city’s dinghy docks and to control derelict vessels.
“I was approached today by the marina, who said, ‘Why don’t you throw mooring balls out there?’ ” Perry said at the Feb. 1 meeting.
Metropolitan Property Ventures LLC purchased the Bradenton Beach Marina from the Bazzy family in 2023. The warranty deed associated with that sale lists Kaleta as the mortgagor and as the president of the Bazzy Marine Corporation. In city meetings, Kaleta is referred to as the marina owner.
Perry said the city doesn’t have the resources or staff to monitor the mooring field. If the marina would be willing to work with the city, the mooring field would be a revenue source for the city, as well as for the marina and would potentially clean up the area.
Derelict vessel removal has been a priority for the Bradenton Beach Police Department and over the years, they have removed dozens of them.
In March, the city commission considered a bid from Kaleta-owned Bridge to Bay Investments for a partnership in a city-wide paid parking contract. Bridge to Bay was one of two bidders with SP Municipal Services as the second bidder.
Under the bid, the proposed paid parking would have included all of Bridge Street, an after-hours parking lot to the east and west side of the police department, the city hall parking lot, the area around the pickleball court on Highland Avenue (with free passes to pickleball players), the shared parking lot with Angela Rodocker at First Street North, Gulf-side parking spaces near the Moose Lodge and future options at the Tingley Library if the building is raised to create additional parking.
At a subsequent meeting, when a decision between the two bids was expected to be made, the city did not accept either bid but instead announced it would consider having city-managed paid parking.
In April, Perry proposed that the CRA partner with Kaleta in the installation of a waterfront pedestrian path running from his marina to Bridge Street on the Pines Trailer Park property he recently purchased. The marina has a new bar the city permitted after it was built and in operation.
The next CRA meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, June 5 at 9:30 a.m. The next city commission meeting is scheduled on Thursday, June 6 at 6 p.m.
Meetings are open to the public and will be held at the Katie Pierola Commission Chambers, 107 Gulf Drive N.
Related coverage:
Editorial: Palm trees and other shady endeavors
FDOT: Wrong trees, wrong place
Expert outlines optimum coconut palm maintenance
Signed palm tree agreement remains elusive
