BRADENTON BEACH – The operators of a paid parking lot at 101 Bridge St. failed to meet the city’s previously imposed 45-day deadline to meet landscaping and other code requirements.
During the Oct. 15 city commission meeting, Sam Negrin represented the parking lot owner and answered to the city commission about a recently granted temporary use paid parking permit extension that was contingent on conditions that remained unfulfilled.
“It’s been going on, in my opinion, way too long,” Mayor John Chappie said of the ongoing non-compliance.
The commission granted the parking lot operators an additional 10 business days to bring the property into compliance with city code. If compliance is not achieved, the temporary use permit could be revoked and a new temporary use permit would be needed to resume the paid parking operations. The compliance extension began on Monday, Oct. 19.
On Aug. 20, the commission granted permit applicant Shawn Kaltea a one-year extension of an existing temporary use permit that allows a paid parking lot to operate at the west end of Bridge Street, near the Gulf Drive intersection. The extension was granted by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Robert Talham dissenting.
The one-year temporary use permit extension was contingent on certain upgrades and repairs being completed within 45 days. Those upgrades included the installation of a landscape buffer around the perimeter, parking lot resurfacing, the installation of concrete pads at the handicapped parking spots, rubber parking stops to prevent sand and debris from going into the road, striping, weed removal and sidewalk cleanup.
It was stated during the August meeting that failure to comply with the 45-day stipulation could result in the revocation of the temporary use permit. The 45-day deadline expired on Oct. 4.
During the August meeting, Negrin said the goal for the extension request was to have the extension be as “temporary as possible” because the property owners plan to move forward with a proposed development project associated with the redevelopment of the Pines Trailer Park property at the east end of Bridge Street.
During the October meeting, Chappie said the parking lot in its current condition is unacceptable.
“Did you talk to the building official? Because that’s what you were told to do,” Chappie asked Negrin.
Negrin said he spoke to the previous building official, Mike Alexander.
When listing some of the improvements made, Negrin said, “We resurfaced a lot with 57 stone. We’ve been weeding biweekly. We have done a perimeter of pitch apple plants. We have installed safety bollards around the two electrical pieces of equipment. We have added rubber stops and we have cleaned off the sidewalks along Third Street South.”
Negrin said he had a meeting scheduled with new Building Official Ben Carr on Oct. 16 to see what else the city considered to be non-compliant.
“I’m a little bit confused honestly on what the expectation is for this landscape area because I was told to follow the code with those,” Negrin said.
Commissioner Scott Bear said he recalled the original plan for the parking lot included 92 striped parking spaces and a detailed landscape plan. He said the 57 stone surface for the handicapped parking spaces is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I’m just tired of it,” Chappie said. “I’m tired of getting the runaround. This is the entrance to our city and it’s not friendly or welcoming. And then you charge people to park there?”
Talham proposed shutting the lot down.
“You want it fixed? Shut it down, it’ll get fixed,” Talham said.
Bear agreed with Talham.
“I’m with the others. If the only way we get attention is to shut it down, then we need to get your attention because this is going on way too long,” Bear said.
Carr said he spoke to Negrin the previous week by telephone, and a meeting that was scheduled for Oct. 14 was canceled by Negrin.
“I’m just going off what the approved plans were by the building planning department,” Carr said.
City Attorney Erica Augello proposed a solution.
“You are past the 45 days. I would just like for purposes of the record, to see if you’re willing to extend it by a week or 12 days or 20 days. And then if it’s not complied with, by inspection of the building official, then it would be revoked,” Augello said.
Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce said she was in favor of giving the operators a little more time to bring the parking lot into compliance.
During public comment, Bradenton Beach resident Evelyn Stob spoke in favor of terminating the temporary use permit.
“If they want to resubmit the application, then they have to go through the proper channels,” Stob said.
Regarding the 10-day compliance extension, Talham said, “That’s more than fair. We’re not talking about an entire village here. It’s a parking lot.”
