BRADENTON BEACH – Attorneys for Luper Enterprises and the city of Bradenton Beach presented their opposing cases at a July 29 appeal hearing of a city commission’s decision banning resort fee-based parking at the Bungalow Beach Resort.
Special Master Marisa Powers presided over the quasi-judicial hearing and has 15 days from that date to make a decision and issue a written order on the appeal.
The appeal was based on the April 17 city commission decision to require Gayle Luper, the owner of Bungalow Beach Resort, to obtain a temporary use permit for parking with several restrictions. Luper maintains that despite the bungalows being destroyed in Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year, the resort’s other two parcels were continually operational and that she is entitled to sell resort passes that include parking, as she said she did prior to the hurricanes.
Timeline
- Hurricane Helene reduced the original older cottages at Bungalow Beach Resort to rubble. The buildings were condemned.
- By Feb. 1, the razed parcels were cleared of debris.
- Luper was advised by the city that she must file a parking permit to continue to charge a resort fee for parking. Luper said that City Planner Luis Serna advised her that a permit was not necessary.
- On March 14, a portion of the parking lot was reopened for parking at the rate of $50 per car per day. City Code Enforcement Officer Evan Harbus told the Lupers that all parking at the razed parcels must cease as they were in violation of the city code.
- On March 16, Luper applied for temporary parking.
- At an April 17 hearing, the city commission placed the following stipulations on the property:
- Parking at the razed parcels (the lot where the bungalows were) is permitted for a period of one year or 30 days from the issuance of a building permit;
- Parking at the razed parcels is limited to 17 parking spaces per TPLE (Transient Public Lodging Establishment) license;
- No trailers, recreational vehicles, campers, or buses are allowed to park at the razed parcels, and no tailgating, overnight parking, or paid parking shall be conducted;
- Only employees, agents, or registered guests of the resort are allowed to park at the razed parcels; and
- Parking at the razed parcels is limited to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. enforced by a towing service secured by Luper.
Luper Enterprises filed a lawsuit against the city of Bradenton Beach on April 25 and the city filed a request for dismissal of that lawsuit on May 21.
Opening statements
“We had a city commission meeting that occurred on April 17 on the question of a parking permit that was going to be a temporary permit,” said attorney John Anthony of Tampa-based Anthony and Partners, representing Luper. “Our client requested of (Bradenton Beach City Planner) Luis Serna to opine or whether or not it was required because as a practical matter under the Land Development Code where involuntary destruction occurs like the hurricanes you can build back so long as you haven’t stopped continuous activity We originally heard verbally that was not going to be a problem and why the city went back on that, we don’t know, but it should not have.”
Anthony said the resort website never went down and the duplex continued to have guests.
“She spent all the money to clear that rapidly with the idea that she was going to park there,” Anthony said. “It wasn’t just parking for parking sake, but parking to keep the business going. To say you need a permit to do what you’ve already been doing, that to me is capricious and inconsistent.”
He said the city commission has an “irrational fear” that the parking lot will remain permanently.
“The Luper parties have obtained the financing, have gotten the plans, have even run the plans as far back as 2017 in the event of a hurricane,” Anthony said. “They did everything they could to secure build back better before there was even a hurricane.”
Attorney Robert Lincoln, representing the city, characterized Bungalow Beach Resort as “marketing fiction that encompasses the way that they are marketed and operation that spans multiple properties and parcels with different uses and different licensing.”
“The two parcels at 2000 Gulf Drive are licensed by the state as a hotel, the two units that are in the structure at 2104 Gulf Drive are licensed by the state as a transient apartment and the duplex across the street is licensed by the state as a vacation rental. The single-family parcel that is north at 2108 is licensed by the state as a transient apartment,” Lincoln said. “You have a situation where it’s not only physically separated but in the case of the duplex parcel, it’s physically separated and has a different zoning classification.”
Lincoln said the distinction is important because nothing has continued to operate on the razed parcels.
“All the structures were seriously damaged by the hurricanes and then demolished,” he said. “There isn’t a resort for zoning purposes. The code is clear; you don’t get to use your land when it’s vacant. There are no accessory uses to a vacant parcel of land. There are no primary uses to a vacant parcel of land so there’s no right to park there as an accessory use to the prior hotel activities.”
“They were told clearly by staff you need a temporary use permit to use the property. They don’t like the conditions. The conditions are reasonable and need to be upheld,” Lincoln said. “What their argument comes down to is we want to make money off the property while there’s no resort running on it and we want to assert we have a right to do that.”
Public comment
Angela Rodocker, owner of hotels at 100 Bridge St. and 1301 Gulf Drive N., read from a statement that stated in part: “As a hotelier on Bradenton Beach, I see this decision regarding Bungalow Beach Resort as potential for future concern for any hotelier located in a R3 Zone, which are many.”
Rodocker noted that the Bungalow Beach Resort has never stopped operating and intends to continue operating as a hotel over all parcels of land and said other hotels on and around Anna Maria Island sell day passes to guests without rooms.
“I believe that the commissioners, with the city’s best interest at heart, made a terrible mistake.”
She said the resort fee parking is critical for the Bungalow Beach Resort at a time when the beachside buildings are obviously not bringing in income.
Approximately 40 emails were sent to the city clerk in support of Luper. Runaway Bay resident Marilee Erickson spoke in favor of maintaining the city’s April decision.
Luper testifies
Luper said that prior to the hurricanes, every resort guest has been charged a resort fee.
She described the devastation from Hurricane Helene to the waterfront bungalows.
“We found parts of our hotel five or six blocks away, it just devastated the buildings,” Luper said. “All the sand went into the bungalows to the point if you pulled the sand out the buildings would have fallen down.”
She said she let her staff know that she had submitted plans to the city in 2017 to rebuild in the event of a hurricane and that she would now complete those plans.
Luper said she planned to continue the resort fees she had been charging to generate income to help with salaries and rebuilding.
She said she was first told by the city permit clerk that a parking permit was needed and then was told by the city planner that she didn’t need one.
“We opened parking March 14 for just a couple hours and Evan Harbus shut us down,” Luper said.
The commission’s April 17 decision by default precludes Luper’s family and friends from using the parking area, Luper said.
Luper estimated she lost about $200,000 in resort fee parking that would have been used toward rebuilding.
City staff testimony
Harbus said that upon seeing the paid parking sign on the property, he told Luper’s son, Jason, that he needed to clear the property of cars and he would need to come down to city hall and apply for a temporary use permit.
Harbus said he has enforced similar parking violations in unpermitted paid parking lots.
Anthony: “Do you write the code?”
Harbus: “No.”
Anthony: “Do you construe the code like a lawyer?”
Harbus: “I follow the city ordinance and land development code and property maintenance code.”
Anthony: “You were asked whether or not you did the same thing for this property as you do for other properties that are in a code violation. Give an example of a code violation where you towed or shut down a property.”
Harbus: “We’ve had numerous pop up paid parking lots appear in the city in the past and we’ve had to shut them down. I’ve dealt with that with the old building official before Bill Palmer.”
City Planner Luis Serna testified that he didn’t recall granting approvals or giving specific direction.
“They’re seeking to redevelop the site,” Serna said. “They made the major development application; it hasn’t been reviewed.”
Related coverage:
Bradenton Beach requests dismissal of Luper lawsuit
Parking lot owner files lawsuit against city
