BRADENTON BEACH – The Drift-In’s hurricane recovery-related major development plan now has the support of the city’s Planning and Zoning Board members.
On April 2, board members Fred Bartizal, Bill Morrow, Ken McDonough and Dan Morhaus voted 4-0 to recommend city commission approval of the Drift-In’s major development plan. Board member John Burns arrived after the vote occurred.
The Planning and Zoning Board made its recommendation two days before the Drift-In reopened on April 4, as allowed by a temporary use permit the city commission approved on March 20. If approved by the city commission on Tuesday, April 8, the major development plan approval will bring the Drift-In’s permitting challenges to an end.
The issues
Drift-In owner Derek Williams and his attorney, Scott Rudacille, submitted the major development plan application in response to City Attorney Ricinda Perry’s January determination that some of the Drift-In’s post-hurricane improvements, including the construction of a larger tiki bar, required city commission approval rather than the administrative approval given by then-building official Darin Cushing.
Cushing was later terminated and Perry later recused herself from representing the city in these permitting matters because Rudacille works for the Blalock Walters law firm in which Perry’s husband, Stephen, is a principal partner.
The permitting delays were also the result of a stop work order that West Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski issued due to concerns about the flammability of the organic thatched roof materials originally placed atop the new tiki hut structure. The stop work order resulted in Williams replacing the organic tiki hut roof materials with more flame-retardant synthetic thatched roof materials and the stop work order was lifted.
A long-existing sidewalk and landscaping easement that provides space for sidewalks and landscaping placed on a portion of the Drift-In property further complicated the post-hurricane permitting issues.
The solutions
In Perry’s place, attorney and land use expert Robert Lincoln is serving as special counsel to the planning board and the city commission and he has successfully guided the city and the bar owner through the emotionally-charged permitting challenges that appear headed for an amicable and mutually-beneficial solution.
The planning board recommendation includes three stipulated conditions recommended by Lincoln designed to help resolve any remaining concerns with the Drift-In’s major development plan:
- City commission approval of an amended sidewalk and landscape easement or partial release of the same for the portion of the easement area covered by the tiki hut;
- The applicant (Drift-In) shall record a unity of title joining the lands as 120 and 122 Bridge St. prior to a certificate of occupancy being issued for the tiki bar; and
- Development of the property shall be consistent with the major development plan.
The Drift-In property is currently divided into two parcels: the parking lot is one parcel and the primary bar building is located on another. The unity of title will combine both parcels into a single property for permitting purposes.
Rudacille said the amended easement to be granted to the city will wrap around the front of the bar building and around to the back side of the building that faces the Pines Trailer Park and eliminate the existing easement that currently extends into the tiki bar area – as it did with the smaller tiki bar that previously stood next to the Bridge Street sidewalk.
The Drift-In easement was one of many easements sought from Bridge Street property owners several years ago. Although discussed by the board members, Williams and Rudacille, Lincoln said the easement issues are not something to be reviewed by the planning board.
Board member Dan Morhaus asked Lincoln if the board could ask the city commission to consider standardizing the easements along the entirety of Bridge Street to avoid future conflicts. Lincoln said that’s something the city commission would have to initiate on its own.
Rudacille noted the previously exposed trash dumpster is now enclosed in a fenced area that obscures it from the Pines Trailer Park property and Williams noted beverages will not be served through the new roll-up window that faces Bridge Street.
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