Tag: Bridge Street

Expert outlines optimum coconut palm maintenance

Editorial: Signed palm tree agreement better late than never

City releases signed coconut palms agreement

Written by Leslie Lake on June 3, 2024. Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News, Featured.

BRADENTON BEACH – The fully signed agreement between the city and developer Shawn Kaleta for the maintenance of the coconut palm trees on and around Bridge Street was signed by Mayor John Chappie on May 28 and placed into the public record that day.

That comes more than a month after the trees were planted the week of April 24 in a public-private partnership between the city and Kaleta.

On May 29, City Clerk Terri Sanclemente provided The Sun with a copy of the agreement signed by Chappie, Kaleta – as Beach to Bay Construction LLC manager – and Sanclemente as witness. The Sun made multiple requests for the document beginning on May 6.

The maintenance, indemnification and hold harmless agreement in a public-private partnership between the City of Bradenton Beach and Kaleta, through his LLC, designates responsibility for the tree maintenance to Kaleta and indemnifies the city in the event of injury or damage from the trees.

Public-private partnerships between cities and developers are unique to Bradenton Beach among the three Anna Maria Island cities.

Both Mayor Dan Murphy of Anna Maria and Mayor Judy Titsworth of Holmes Beach responded to The Sun’s email asking if either city had partnered with a private entity for city projects.

“If you define a public-private partnership as a “capital improvement project with the city getting dollar funding from a developer” the answer is no, we have had none that I can recall during my tenure of 10 years as mayor. I don’t think we’ve ever had a developer give us any money for a project,” Murphy wrote.

Titsworth wrote, “We have not, to my recollection.”

The partnership with Kaleta for the palm trees’ maintenance and indemnification was approved unanimously on April 3 by the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).

At that meeting, City Attorney Ricinda Perry assured CRA members that the agreement would be signed by Kaleta prior to the trees being planted.

CRA member Jan Vosburgh expressed concern about the trees’ safety and maintenance.

“I believe everything the city does should be as maintenance-free as possible,” Vosburgh said. “It sounds to me like we’re making a nightmare for the city and the businesses.”

Ultimately, following assurances by Perry that a signed agreement would be in place, Vosburgh voted to approve the agreement, making it a unanimous vote.

In addition to Chappie and Vosburgh, Deborah Scaccianoce, Marilyn Maro, Ed Chiles and Chair Ralph Cole make up the CRA.

OUT OF ORDER

It is unclear when Kaleta signed the agreement.

The city clerk provided The Sun a copy of the receipt for the April 10 $10,000 payment from Kaleta, but based on correspondence between City Attorney Ricinda Perry and Kaleta’s attorneys, it does not appear that he signed the agreement prior to the planting of the palm trees the week of April 24.

On April 25, Kaleta attorney Sean Kelly sent an email to Perry that said, “Shawn asked me to finalize this agreement for the coconut palms on Bridge Street. Will you please send me the Exhibit A site plan and the dollar amount for the CRA’s contribution? Then I can update the document and have Shawn sign. Thanks!”

On May 9, Perry sent an email to Kelly copied to Kaleta that said, “Good morning. It took me a bit to find a way to document in a ‘site plan’ the palms and to make sure we knew exactly where Miguel was planting everything. I ended up flying my drone and then inserting stars where palms are located with a description for areas that have multiple palms at or near an address.” “Miguel” refers to Miguel Mancera, the owner of M&F Lawn Care, Inc., the company that planted the palm trees, who has not yet been paid for his work (see story, page 9).

On May 14, Kaleta attorney, Rainier Altiere, sent Perry an email that said, “Here is the completed maintenance agreement. The only thing missing is the start date. Please provide me with that and let me know if this is OK for us to have Shawn sign.”

On May 15, Perry sent Kaleta, Kelly and Altiere an email that referenced an unnamed limited liability corporation (LLC) Kaleta intended to use as the CRA’s project partner and the party responsible for maintaining the coconut palms for the next 30 years.

“This corp (corporation) named in the document was set up at the end of last month. Is it just a ‘shell company’ with no assets or insurance to cover the harm/damage caused by a falling coconut? At a minimum, the company will need an insurance policy naming the city that actually covers damage caused by the coconuts. I can’t just have a piece of open (missing word) with no actual protection for the public. Ideas?” Perry wrote.

On May 15, The Sun emailed Perry requesting a copy of the fully signed and fully executed agreement. In her May 15 response, Perry wrote, “There is a signed agreement. The clerk is out of the office and can provide further documents upon her return.”

On May 29, Perry sent an email to Sanclemente and Chappie that addressed the date Sanclemente and Chappie signed the agreement.

“Contracts have counterpart signatures that most always have differing dates – hence the reason contracts ALWAYS state an effective date. The effective date controls contracts. In this instance, I always stated that the effective date would be when the date trees were being delivered. The city did not pick nor write the date but found the effective date to be acceptable and within the approval of the CRA. Standard contract law. Feel free to forward to anyone needing legal contract law information,” Perry wrote.

The effective date of the agreement is April 1, which is two days before its approval by the CRA at its April 3 meeting. The city did not respond to The Sun’s request for an explanation of the earlier effective date.

“The city of Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has approved a CRA beautification project on Bridge Street to be installed at a cost not to exceed forty thousand and no/dollars ($40,000) to be paid for by the CRA and ten thousand and no/dollars ($10,000) to be paid for by the Sponsor (Kaleta). All trees installed in this beautification project shall be maintained at the sole cost of Sponsor,” the agreement states.

The agreement will be in place for 30 years with options to renew every 10 years.

According to the signed agreement, “Sponsor shall at its sole cost and expense maintain the permitted installation in good condition. The city makes no warranties or representation of any kind regarding the suitability of this public property/right-of-way location for the proposed installation.”

The signed agreement includes indemnification language that states, “As consideration for use of the city’s public property to install coconut palm trees, the Sponsor (Kaleta) shall at all times, at its expense, hold harmless and indemnify the city, its officers, employees, agents, elected and appointed officials, and volunteers from and against any and all claims, demands, liens, liabilities, penalties, fines, fees, judgments, losses and damages whether or not a lawsuit is filed, including, but not limited to claims for damage to property or bodily or personal injuries, including death.”

The indemnification language also states that Kaleta is responsible for any costs, expenses and attorney fees associated with a claim or lawsuit associated with the coconut palm trees.

According to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, “To indemnify, also known as indemnity or indemnification, means compensating a person for damages or losses they have incurred or will incur related to a specified accident, incident or event. Typically, parties make a written agreement in which one party promises to indemnify the other party for future specified losses.”

On May 31, The Sun received a copy of Kaleta’s proof of insurance with $1 million in liability per occurrence for personal injury, $5,000 for medical expenses per person, $100,000 damage to rented premises and $2 million general aggregate coverage. The policy expires on Sept. 9.

The insured is listed as Beach to Bay Investments, 102 48th St., Holmes Beach and the producer of the policy is Gulf Insurance, LLC, 301 Manatee Ave. in Holmes Beach.

The Sun has requested an updated site plan since the location of some of the trees has changed due to their FDOT-mandated May 24 removal from Gulf Drive South, a state road.

As of May 31, that site plan has not been received.

According to the maintenance, indemnification and hold harmless agreement Exhibit B, Kaleta’s company is responsible for: “Removing fronds, fruit, seedpods and fruit stalks carefully without damaging the trunk or fronds that are to be retained. All coconut fruit must be removed once it produces on the tree.”

The guidelines continue, “Pruning will be required a minimum of two times a year on municipal property and rights-of-way to manage the hazards of falling coconuts and fronds and to minimize the risk to persons and property within the fall zone.”

People on the Anna Maria Island Sun Facebook page had plenty of comments about the palm trees and the agreement.

Wendy Holcomb wrote, “Not a good idea EVER to put coconut trees where pedestrians walk and vehicles drive.”

Richard Becker wrote, “All this over a palm tree. It’s not about the palm tree, it’s about the politics.”

“Indemnify means to ‘make right again’ not ‘protect,’ so if the city lost a case, Team K would have to pay them back, the settlement ck (check) has to come from the defendant,” Susan Paxton wrote.

According to recent city Scenic WAVES committee meeting agendas, the CRA board did not request a preliminary project review from the city commission-appointed committee

The Scenic WAVES committee acts as the commission’s advisory board on proposed landscaping and beautification projects.

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Palm tree landscaper awaiting payment from city

Expert outlines optimum coconut palm maintenance

No signed agreement released on palm trees

Written by Leslie Lake on May 28, 2024. Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News, Featured.

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:

Expert outlines optimum coconut palm maintenance

Expert outlines optimum coconut palm maintenance

Written by Leslie Lake on May 28, 2024. Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – With 80 coconut palms planted on Bridge Street last month, questions have arisen among commissioners, downtown merchants and residents about the safety of the trees and their potential for falling fruit and limbs.

Brian Bahder, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), whose research includes the study of diseases and parasites infecting palm trees and other tropical plants, responded by email to questions from The Sun about the characteristics of coconut palm trees.

Bahder is affiliated with the Fort Lauderdale Education and Research Center. Among the program efforts there are general maintenance and diseases of palms.

According to Bahder, the fruit from the coconut palm tree can range anywhere from 1 pound to the size of a soccer ball weighing from 5-10 pounds.

“Removal of the fruit on a regular basis is needed. It is easiest before fruit set, so as soon as an inflorescence (flowering) emerges, remove it (ideally before it opens up),” Bahder wrote.

The Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) approved on April 3 the planting of the coconut palm trees in a partnership with developer Shawn Kaleta based on the assurance of City Attorney Ricinda Perry that a signed maintenance, hold harmless and indemnification agreement would be in place prior to the trees being planted, and that Kaleta would be responsible for tree maintenance and liability for any damage caused by the trees.

As of May 26, that agreement has not been made available to The Sun, despite multiple requests.

The typical coconut production per tree can vary, according to Bahder.

“Each palm’s annual production is also variable on things like age, cultivar, health, location, but once mature, start producing regularly; the range is 50 to 200 coconuts per year,” he wrote. “In cultivation where palms are properly maintained and cared for, I have seen up to 60 or 70 fruit on a single inflorescence (the flower head of a plant).”

Bahder wrote that mature coconut palm trees will produce flowers and fruit year-round.

“The rate will change, it is obviously slower in the cooler, drier months and more rapid in summer. Generally, the fruit set tends to be better in warmer months also,” he wrote.

Bahder recommended planting mature palm trees prior to rainy season and to be mindful of hurricane season.

“If it is a large plant that is transplanted, April is probably better. This way it is in the ground for when the rains begin in April to May, that way it has access to more regular water and helps it establish faster,” he wrote. “However, you can plant whenever as long as you water regularly to get it established. I would probably avoid planting large palms in August and September (peak hurricane season). If they are not rooted and we get hit they could get blown over easier.”

The coconut palms on Bridge Street were planted the week of April 24 and are on a regular watering schedule. The installation of an irrigation system on Bridge Street was discussed at a recent CRA meeting.

Bahder said coconut palms typically do well in the southern third of Florida.

Related coverage:

No signed agreement released on palm trees