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Tag: Holmes Beach Bert Harris

Holmes Beach takes home six Bert Harris wins

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Featured, Holmes Beach.

MANATEE COUNTY – Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth is celebrating after receiving six judgments from Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Charles Sniffen ruling in favor of the city in the Bert Harris Jr. Act cases.

The six cases all involve occupancy arguments with property owners arguing that the city’s limitation on vacation rental occupancy – two per bedroom or six people total – devalue their property. In all six cases, Sniffen ruled against the property owners, stating in the rulings that the first application requirement of the Bert Harris Jr. Act was not met.

The Bert Harris Jr. Private Property Act was enacted in 1995 by the State of Florida to provide a way for private property owners to resolve disputes between themselves and a government entity they believe has inordinately burdened the use of their property. In these cases, Sniffen ruled that the property owners were not inordinately burdened by the city’s occupancy restrictions.

The property owners are Shawn Kaleta at 204 72nd St., Shawn Kaleta d/b/a 302 55th LLC at 302 55th St., Brian Wien at 111 81st St., Shawn Kaleta d/b/a 307 66th LLC at 307 66th St., R. Carlile Roberts at 6422 Gulf Drive, Unit 5 and Robert and Michele Carl at 118 50th St., Unit A.

Without property owners applying to the city for a variance or some other relief from the occupancy limitation and receiving a formal denial of a written request, the first application requirement was not met.

The rulings bring all six cases to a close unless there is an appeal filed by attorneys on behalf of the property owners.

Titsworth said that she is very happy with the rulings and hopes to soon see an end to the Bert Harris cases which have cast a shadow over city hall since 2017.

While the six cases mark a win for the city, Holmes Beach city leaders are not out of the woods yet.

Cases brought against the city by property owners Mojito Splash LLC, Coral Escapes of Holmes Beach LLC and AMI Breeze LLC have been filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida for an appeal of the Manatee County ruling against their cases earlier in 2020 by Judge Edward Nicholas. No hearings have yet been set for these appeals.

More than a dozen Bert Harris cases are still pending in Manatee County Circuit Court with several having motions for more time to provide answers to the city’s discovery queries heard during an Aug. 31 hearing. Several other cases were given a similar extension in July with an Aug. 10 deadline. No further hearings have yet been set in those cases.

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Bert Harris cases go back to court

Bert Harris cases go back to court

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

BRADENTON – Six Bert Harris cases against the city of Holmes Beach are awaiting a ruling on the city’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. Three more were part of a group of cases where the motion for judgment on the pleadings was denied but were given 90 days for additional discovery before a judge will rule on the property owners’ motion for partial summary judgment.

On Sept. 4, Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Charles Sniffen heard arguments from attorney Jay Daigneault, representing Holmes Beach, and attorney Aaron Thomas, representing the property owners. Daigneault argued that Sniffen should rule in favor of the city’s motion for judgment based on the pleadings in six Bert Harris cases against the city.

All of the cases argue that the city’s occupancy requirement of two people per bedroom or a maximum of six people per vacation rental unit places an inordinate burden on the property owners and causes a reduction in property value. They also stem from the city’s enactment of regulations governing vacation rentals in 2015 and the vacation rental certificate program enacted in 2016.

Holmes Beach Bert Harris Aaron Thomas
Attorney Aaron Thomas argues against the city of Holmes Beach’s motion for judgment on the pleadings for six Bert Harris cases. – Kristin Swain | Sun

Daigneault argued that the cases were filed prematurely by property owners. Thomas argued that because the city cannot give his clients a variance for occupancy due to the occupancy limit of two people per bedroom being in the Holmes Beach comprehensive plan since 2009, the city is denying his clients any relief from the vacation rental regulations.

Sniffen opted to reserve ruling on the case to issue a written order at a later date.

“Whichever way it goes, it’s just a part of the process,” Titsworth said after the hearing concluded. “I couldn’t be happier today.”

The previous week, on Aug. 28, Judge Edward Nicholas heard the same argument for five other Bert Harris cases against Holmes Beach and denied the city’s motion for judgment on the pleadings for all five.

On Sept. 9, Nicholas heard Thomas’s argument for partial summary judgment on three Bert Harris cases for properties owned by AMI Breeze LLC, Mojito Splash LLC and Coral Escape LLC, all cases where the city’s motion for judgment on the pleadings were denied.

Thomas argued previous use of property, where the properties were rented for several years to an unregulated number of occupants without the city’s interference and that the occupancy limits now imposed by city leaders have severely devalued his clients’ properties if they were to be resold as vacation rental properties. He said that all three of the properties are currently used solely as vacation rentals.

Daigneault argued on behalf of the city that a significant amount of discovery is still outstanding in the cases, particularly the city’s attorneys’ depositions of the property appraiser used to determine loss of value and the plaintiffs in the case.

The judge said that as a part of the discovery process he would like to see proof that the residences were rented to the higher-than-allowed number of occupants listed in the complaints against the city other than just the word of the rental managers to help prove the loss in value for the property owners.

Nicholas deferred his ruling for 90 days to allow the city to schedule depositions and continue the discovery process. He added he thinks there are several, if not all, of the issues in each case that could be ruled on by summary judgment and that he would be speaking with Sniffen to see if his fellow judge thinks that mediation between the parties would be beneficial.

If the judge denies the motion for partial summary judgment, the cases would go to a bench trial before the judge. A jury would later determine what compensation, if any, would be awarded.

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