BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners unanimously approved an amended easement agreement regarding the Drift-In property at a July 17 meeting.
The Drift-In had been operating under its temporary use permit, issued on March 20, pending final resolution of conditions that included completing a final easement agreement and legal description to be brought back to the commission for final approval.
Attorney Robert Lincoln, representing the city, spoke by telephone to the commission.
“When you approved the major development plan, you approved a concept for a change in the easements that have been previously granted by the prior owners to the city for basically sidewalks and landscaping,” he said.
The agreement that had been proposed was an easement swap between the Drift-In and the city.
Lincoln said the Drift-In is providing an additional easement area along the east end of Bridge Street and wrapping the building to go down Church Street. The city is releasing some of the depth of its easement area.
“What we’re now doing is bringing the actual amended easement back, release the original easements, replace them with the new easements and have the legal description that reflects the agreement that was offered at the prior hearing to change that configuration at the west end,” Lincoln said. “Given that we didn’t have the full legal description and therefore the full easement agreement in front of you last time, we felt that to make sure that everyone was happy today and 20 years from now we would bring it back to the commission for an official vote of approval and authorization for the mayor to execute on behalf of the city.”
Vice Mayor Deborah Scaccianoce said she had hoped there would have been a survey showing the location of the easements in addition to the legal description.
“The easement graphic is complicated, and we were concerned about recording it in the actual agreement because the quality degrades,” Lincoln said.
City Attorney Ricinda Perry, who called in to the meeting, said she would have hoped there would be an overlay showing the new easement versus the old easement.
“I want to make sure the landscaping is actually going to fit,” Perry said. “The language as I’m reading it, it says it was south of an existing concrete sidewalk, and I know that the landscaping area is beyond the sidewalk. I’m not understanding the legal description versus what you would normally have a sketch. I think everybody should be extremely clear before deciding on this and give away rights, where your easement actually lies and where the landscaping is.”
Attorney Scott Rudacille, representing Drift-In owner Derek Williams, showed sketches depicting both the existing and proposed easement areas to commissioners.
“The easement does run along the back of the sidewalk,” Rudacille said. “The landscaping that’s included is the landscaping within the pork chop there on the west side and all the landscaping that runs along the front of the Drift-In.”
“When we had our meeting that was the way I understood it, it was the edge of the sidewalk,” Mayor John Chappie said. “What was being offered was to the back of the sidewalk only. Where the sidewalk is now, and the pork chop area is part of the new easement.”
