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New structural problems in Holmes Beach

Building evacuated due to structural issues

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

HOLMES BEACH – A four-unit building on Sixth Avenue was voluntarily evacuated on July 15 after a repairman noticed structural issues with the balconies.

Building Official Neal Schwartz said that the issues at the building at 3400 Sixth Ave. could lead to a collapse, but that they were discovered before any other damage occurred. The property owners voluntarily vacated the premises until the problem could be assessed by a structural engineer and repaired, he said.

Caution tape warns visitors to stay away from the pool deck after balconies on the building were discovered to have structural issues. – Kristin Swain | Sun

All of the balconies on the building are compromised and will have to be replaced, then the building will have to be inspected before it can be deemed safe for habitation, he said.

The building, part of the Fountain Head two-building complex, is mostly used as vacation rental units, Schwartz said. He added that while the exterior stucco is separating from the building on the south end of the property, the building at 3402 Sixth Ave. is not experiencing any issues, though he said condominium association officials plan to have it checked just to make sure.

A sign posted on the staircases to access the residential units at 3400 Sixth Ave. warn that the building is unsafe and that anyone who enters does so at their own risk. – Kristin Swain | Sun

The four-plex was constructed in 1984 according to Manatee County Property Appraiser records.

Code Compliance Officer Kim Charron said the issues with the balconies were reported to the department by a rental agent who was told by a repairman that there was something suspicious going on with the balcony at one of the units. The matter was then turned over to the city’s building department.

If Sixth Avenue sounds familiar, it’s because the north end of the street is where a balcony collapsed at a residential home in late June.

That home at 4106 Sixth Ave. is still awaiting repairs, though Schwartz said no issues have come up concerning the structure of other homes in the area with a similar build.

The Sun submitted a public records request to learn the name of the contractor who built the home and other similar structures in the area. As of press time for The Sun, the city had not released the requested records.

With structural issues at residential properties making some homeowners nervous, Schwartz said he recommends that anyone who has concerns or who spots a potential issue in their home, business or rental property contact the city’s building department for an inspection. He said it’s better to catch potential issues before they become a safety hazard.

Related coverage

 

Balcony collapses in Holmes Beach

 

Island building owners warned to investigate structural issues

 

Former Island building official last to inspect Surfside condo

Mugshot

Island Grill employee faces child pornography charges

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Community News, Manatee County.

HOLMES BEACH – A Manatee county resident and employee of the Island Grill has been arrested by Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies and charged with 26 counts of possession of child pornography, a felony, based on two cyber-tips from Dropbox Inc.

Owen Hagan, 27, also was in violation of his probation from a 2020 DUI involving property damage after missing a recent court date in May, according to a police report.

Deputies learned that Hagan had recently moved to Florida from Ohio to live with his mother in a Palmetto mobile home park, where they executed a search warrant on March 17. The warrant included an IP address provided by the cyber-tip from Dropbox Inc. advising that a user named Owen Hagan had uploaded at least 11 video files, 10 of which depicted child pornography. When police arrived, Hagan’s mother advised deputies that Hagan was at the residence in his bedroom. 

During the search, Hagan’s iPhone 6 was confiscated by police after he declined to allow officers to look through it, although he had previously provided the password upon request. A further search of Hagan’s bedroom resulted in no more electronic devices being found. A later forensic search of Hagan’s phone found multiple visits to dropbox.com with emails being used that matched email addresses found on the phone. It was also found that the user of the phone visited multiple known child pornography sites. In total, 26 files involving sexually explicit images and videos of children as young as 3 years old were discovered on the iPhone, according to the report.

Hagan is currently in the Manatee County jail on a $650,000 bond and arraignment is set for Friday, July 23 at the Manatee County Judicial Center. 

Holmes Beach building department

Former Island building official last to inspect Surfside condo

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

HOLMES BEACH – Just hours before the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo collapsed on June 24, former Holmes Beach Building Official Jim McGuinness inspected it.

The next day, he told the town commission that he saw nothing that would indicate the building would soon collapse.

McGuinness, who resigned from the city of Holmes Beach in 2019, is now the building official for the town of Surfside, and was the last person to inspect the building before its collapse.

He was on the roof of the doomed tower 14 hours prior to the building’s collapse to inspect the installation of anchors installed to allow window washers to safely lower themselves over the side of the residential condominium building. In addition to the recently installed anchors, McGuinness said other work was being done on the roof, but had been delayed due to ongoing rainfall in the area.

The building owners’ association, McGuinness said, was in the process of conducting the required inspections and tests for its 40-year recertification, due before the end of the calendar year. Though he said he had not received any of the required paperwork for recertification prior to the disaster at the Collins Avenue property, McGuinness told Surfside town commissioners that he believed the required inspections were largely complete.

To qualify for recertification, the building’s owners or association must complete all required inspections with a third-party firm, present them to the city’s building department for review and complete any required repairs before obtaining the certification for the building. Though the recertification program in Surfside is mandated by Miami-Dade County regulations, it’s up to the town’s building department to oversee the recertification process for buildings in their jurisdiction.

In a July 3 story, Fox News reported that the manager of the Champlain Towers condominium association complained by email on June 21 that the Surfside building department was stalling needed repairs at the tower, with McGuinness failing to respond to a May email concerning a parking plan for construction to repair the concrete slab underneath the pool deck. McGuinness responded to the email just hours before the building partially collapsed, according to the report. Engineering experts working with the Miami Herald stated that after review of photos and video of the building collapse the partial collapse could be due to the pool deck failing, falling into the garage below and pulling part of the building down with it.

An investigation into the tower’s June 24 partial collapse is ongoing along with an around-the-clock search for those still missing in the disaster. Ahead of Hurricane Elsa, the remaining portion of the Champlain Towers South building was imploded to keep the site as safe as possible for rescue workers and help them access previously unstable areas to search for the missing. As of July 9, 78 people were confirmed dead in the collapse and 68 were still reported as missing in the Surfside disaster.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said an outside engineering firm is investigating the wreckage of the south tower along with its sister buildings to make sure those are still safe for residents and workers to occupy.

Investigations into the collapse also are being conducted by the U. S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology to determine what caused the partial collapse of the structure and what can be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

The Sun reached out to the city of Surfside’s building department and McGuinness for more information on recent inspections at Champlain Towers South, however, no response to emails, phone calls and text messages was received.

Prior to taking the building official position in Surfside, McGuinness worked for the city of Holmes Beach from March 23, 2015 until March 18, 2019 when he officially handed in his letter of resignation to Mayor Judy Titsworth. At the time of his resignation, McGuinness was being disciplined by the mayor.

In a discussion with The Sun, Titsworth said that while she could not speak to the circumstances surrounding McGuinness’s departure from the city, she would not consider hiring him back if given the opportunity. While she said McGuinness has a good understanding of the Florida Building Code, Titsworth added she was not happy with his performance and that personality conflicts caused a problem.

“It just wasn’t a good fit,” she said.

More recently on Anna Maria Island, McGuinness made headlines for his erroneous approval of a lighted sign and LED board at the Anna Maria Beach Resort on Gulf Drive prior to his departure from the city. His issuance of a permit for the backlit sign and message board against the city’s codes prohibiting backlit signs in residential neighborhoods has resulted in a lawsuit against the city from the resort’s owners and months of city commission discussion related to changes to the Holmes Beach sign ordinance to somehow accommodate existing backlit signs in residential areas. An update to the ordinance has not yet been approved by commissioners. The case in Manatee County Circuit Court is still pending.

Related coverage

 

Island building owners warned to investigate structural issues

 

Balcony collapses in Holmes Beach

Balcony collapses in Holmes Beach

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

UPDATED JULY 4, 2021 AT 12:24 p.m. – HOLMES BEACH – A balcony fell off a resident’s home last week, causing no injuries but plenty of concern among city leaders about the quality of construction of similar buildings.

While completing a vacation rental inspection at a property on June 28, Code Compliance Officer James Thomas said he stepped out of the back of the house and noticed something strange – the second-floor balcony of a neighboring home had collapsed.

Thomas said he went to the home at 4106 Sixth Ave. to investigate but was denied admittance by the homeowner, Virginia Stewart. Fearing for the safety of the structure’s occupants, Thomas called the Holmes Beach Police Department and West Manatee Fire Rescue for reinforcements.

Balcony collapses in Holmes Beach
Holmes Beach Code Compliance Officer James Thomas posts a notice in front of a home with structural issues on Sixth Avenue. – Kristin Swain | Sun

Police officers and Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski gained him entrance to the home where they were joined by Building Official Neal Schwartz to inspect the damage to the home.

A section of a second-floor balcony overlooking the backyard pool area had collapsed, raining debris down on the pool area including large sections of a concrete railing, which damaged the pool pavers below, along with wood and stucco pieces. Thomas said the balcony itself seemed to be a wooden structure on the back of the house that had been coated in stucco, collapsing due to structural issues.

The property owner was advised of the international property maintenance code violations at the home and that the structure was deemed unsafe for human occupancy, meaning that anyone staying at the property is doing so at their own peril. Stewart was given a copy of the notice of violation on July 1 by Thomas. He said she’s willing to work with the city’s building department to correct the issues on the property. However, if Stewart doesn’t have the structural issues addressed promptly, Thomas said she could face a hearing with the city’s special magistrate to force the issue. Thomas said his goal is compliance and to help make the property safe for the owner to live there, not to take her to a hearing.

The owner of this home in Holmes Beach will have to get the structural issues at the property fixed or face a special magistrate hearing. – Kristin Swain | Sun

Of continuing concern to the city is not only the property at 4106 Sixth Ave., but also the ones surrounding it.

Stewart’s home was built in 2002 and is now known to have structural issues. Thomas said there are several more matching homes in the same area, all built by the same builder around the same time as Stewart’s, which could all have the same problems and pose a potential safety hazard to the public. Many of those homes, he added, are currently used as vacation rental properties, making the potential for an accident worse.

The name of the builder was not confirmed by city staff, and Manatee County Property Appraiser records for the property did not state the identity of the builder or their company. The Sun has made a public records request for the property records from the city of Holmes Beach and will update this story as more information becomes available.

After the June 24 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, leaving a known 22 people dead and 128 unaccounted for as of July 3, Holmes Beach city leaders are looking into ways to inspect aging buildings in the Island city to prevent the same kind of tragedy from happening in their neighborhoods. Though Holmes Beach doesn’t have any buildings as large as the 12-story structure in Surfside, there are several aging multi-story buildings in the city, including two seven-story condominiums at Martinique (see related story).

With the partial collapse of a balcony at a home built less than 20 years ago, Thomas said city leaders aren’t taking chances with the safety of residents and visitors.

Working with the city’s building department, he said all of the homes built in the same manner as Stewart’s house will be at least visually inspected by city staff if staff members are not allowed on the property by the homeowners. If allowed on the property, a more thorough safety inspection can be conducted.

During a July 1 special meeting, Commissioner Terry Schaefer said that following the building collapse in Surfside, he had spoken with Schwartz about the structural status of buildings and homes in Holmes Beach. Schaefer said Schwartz is looking into what can be done to inspect and evaluate buildings in the city to address any potential structural issues before they endanger the public.

Related coverage

 

Island building owners warned to investigate structural issues

Surf campers shred the Gulf

Surf campers shred the Gulf

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Sports, Surfing.

The West Coast Surf Shop Surf Camp in Holmes Beach is underway this month and everyone from toddlers to teens is learning to surf, with the cooperation of the Gulf of Mexico’s gentle waves, courtesy of Tropical Storm Elsa. The campers are known by their surf nicknames.

Shimmer rides it in to the beach.

Shimmer rides it in to the beach.

Panda pumps the wave to gain speed.

Panda pumps the wave to gain speed.

Boogie caught the outside break all morning.

Boogie caught the outside break all morning.

Sweet Pea catches a big wave.

Sweet Pea catches a big wave.

Noserider Nick works on his form.

Noserider Nick works on his form.

Shreddley McGnarley works up to the nose, with former surf camper, now instructor, Ethan Isaac (aka Bear) keeping the balance.

Shreddley McGnarley works up to the nose, with former surf camper, now instructor, Ethan Isaac (aka Bear) keeping the balance.

Baby Killer Whale is up and shredding.

Baby Killer Whale is up and shredding.

Lil’ Cheetah perfects her tube stance.

Lil’ Cheetah perfects her tube stance.

Noserider Nick

Noserider Nick

Land swap decision moves to November ballot

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

HOLMES BEACH – After hours of discussion spread across several meetings, city commissioners have made a decision – the proposed land swap with two Holmes Beach residents is going to the voters to be approved or denied.

The property at 104 34th St. is owned by Jonathan and Jessica Cooper. Their beachfront parcel is bisected by a 50-by-100-foot city right of way that was originally platted to be an extension of Fourth Avenue. Now, however, that extension would just be a road to nowhere as a section of that right of way has already been given to the McGuinness family, which owns a property neighboring the Cooper parcel. In exchange for a 25- by-100-foot section of the right of way to expand their buildable area on their lot, the Coopers, represented by attorney Maggie Mooney, offered the city a 2,911-square-foot trapezoid section of beachfront property to align the city’s interests on the beachfront with the property swapped in the McGuinness deal. Mooney said the couple would also be willing to pay up to $10,000 for dune restoration at a nearby beach access point or donate $10,000 to the city to be used for an environmental project of city leaders’ choosing.

Mooney added that the Coopers do not plan to rent the property but to use it exclusively for their personal use, along with friends and family. To sweeten the deal, Mooney said if the land swap goes through, the couple would be willing to agree that the property will not be rented for a period of 10 years, an agreement that would go with the property if it is sold within the 10-year period.

A 2019 amendment to the city’s charter requires that for a land swap or other transfer of city property to take place, it has to first be approved by a supermajority of commissioners to be placed on the ballot for the next regular election. It then must be approved by a majority of Holmes Beach voters and then it goes back to city commissioners for final ordinance approval. The Cooper land swap will be the first time the charter amendment is tested with voters.

Commissioner Jayne Christenson voted against putting the item on the Nov. 2 ballot for voters. In a presentation to her fellow commissioners, she said her concerns stem from the value the Coopers are getting with an increased lot size of buildable property versus what the city would be getting in exchange. She added that if the Coopers are committed to not renting the property, she would like to see the beachfront lot rezoned to R-1, which only allows rentals of 30 days or more.

Commissioner Kim Rash echoed some of Christenson’s concerns but said that on something this important, he feels the decision should be placed in the hands of the city’s voters. He added that it would be up to the Coopers and their representatives to convince voters that the land swap is a good decision to make for the city.

Mayor Judy Titsworth said she feels the measure should go through, noting that if they wanted to, the Coopers could build a garage on the beachfront side of their property and pave the right of way for their personal use to access their property, giving the city nothing in exchange. This way, she said at least the city would benefit in some way from the proposed land swap.

Related coverage

 

County commissioners refuse Holmes Beach funding request

 

Memorial Day weekend parking sparks drama in Holmes Beach

 

More fines added to treehouse owners’ tab with Holmes Beach

Fourth of July fireworks

July 4 fireworks rules a bit complicated on AMI

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Featured.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Before you stock up on fireworks to celebrate Independence Day in any of the three cities on the Island, it’s important to know the rules and laws, which vary depending on the city.

In April 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 140 into law. The bill allows people 18 and older to buy fireworks to use on three holidays: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Independence Day. The previous law required signing a waiver saying the fireworks were for specific agricultural reasons.

While the new law is clear, local cities and counties have their own rules that supercede what the state allows. Each of the three cities that make up Anna Maria Island has a slightly different approach to how fireworks violations will be enforced, but setting off fireworks of any kind is forbidden on any of AMI’s beaches. Fireworks can disturb nesting shorebirds, sea turtles and other Island wildlife.

Good news: Least terns nesting on AMI
Least terns, a threatened species, are nesting on AMI’s beaches and can be frightened off their nests permanently by fireworks. – Rusty Chinnis | Sun

Bradenton Beach

The Bradenton Beach police will be enforcing a local ordinance that does not allow fireworks on the three state-designated holidays, and will confiscate fireworks from anyone caught setting them off. It’s also possible to be issued a citation, even on July 4.

Bradenton Beach is home to the popular Coquina Beach.

“Anything that shoots up in the air is illegal: Bottle rockets, roman candles, mortars, they’re all illegal, said Det. Sgt. Lenard Diaz of the Bradenton Beach Police Department. “You’re looking at shooting those things off near a residence, and the residences are so tightly packed together here that the possibility of something catching on fire is very real.”

The Sandbar restaurant will not be hosting a Fourth of July fireworks show this year.

Holmes Beach

Holmes Beach will be taking a different approach to the issue of fireworks for the holiday, only taking action if the fireworks are being used in an unsafe manner that could endanger the public or those setting them off. 

“State law said it’s ok to set them off on the 4th, so we’ll honor that and encourage safety and common sense,” said Police Chief William Tokajer, adding that anyone being reckless or unsafe is still subject to a citation and the risk of having their fireworks confiscated.

Manatee Beach is located in Holmes Beach.

Anna Maria

The city of Anna Maria is patrolled by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. The department refers to Manatee County Ordinance 04-27, which covers fireworks rules and laws at length and also echoes other area laws that prohibit individuals from lighting any shell that flies in the air or explodes above the ground without a permit. A spokesman did not directly address whether or not they recognize the state bill that legalizes fireworks on July 4.

Turtle hatchlings expected to hatch in early July could be disoriented by fireworks, and never make it to the Gulf of Mexico. Submitted | AMITW

“Our response to fireworks enforcement has not changed. When deputies respond to complaints involving fireworks, their goal is to obtain voluntary compliance through education,” said Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Randy Warren.

All departments agree that if you choose to light fireworks, you should be aware of your surroundings, not use them in densely populated areas, and not use them on the beach, where wildlife may be at risk.

Related coverage

 

Bird Tips

 

Turtle Tips

Bali Hai owners receive code fines

Bali Hai owners receive code fines

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

HOLMES BEACH – The fight for compliance with city codes is still ongoing between the owners of the Bali Hai Beach Resort and city leaders. Now, the owners of the resort are going to have to pay fines until the issues are resolved.

Two cases against the hotel ownership were heard during a June 11 code compliance special magistrate hearing. One concerned work being done without a permit and the second was the operation of a bar/lounge without an approved site plan.

Though no one appeared on behalf of the owner to argue the case, the attorney for the city, Erica Augello, said she received an email from attorney Louis Najmy during the hearing objecting to Special Magistrate Michael Connolly not granting a continuance to the two cases and objecting to not being able to attend the hearing held at Holmes Beach City Hall by Zoom or teleconference. In his email, Najmy also said he had previously requested discovery by the city, which he had not received.

Connolly said he was not inclined to grant a continuance for the case, while code Officer James Thomas said he’d spoken to Najmy several times in previous weeks about the hearing and issues at the property.

In his case submittal, Thomas said he’s viewed construction work being done on the second level of a small accessory building on the property multiple times without permits since 2020. Previously, Connolly ruled against the property for completing demolition work in the same space without permits. Now, Thomas said that space has been rebuilt and is being occupied as an office without permits and without inspections to make sure the area is safe.

In addition, a bar/lounge is being used on the bottom floor of the same building without an approved site plan in violation of city codes. While the resort’s owners have submitted site plans to the city over the past year, Building Official Neal Schwartz said issues still persist with the site plan submittals. Though one was scheduled to go before city commissioners for approval earlier in 2021, the item was pulled from the commission’s agenda by the applicant to make changes. It has not yet been resubmitted to be scheduled for a public hearing.

In addition to the bar/lounge operating without an approved site plan, Thomas said he’s received numerous complaints from neighbors about noise and other issues related to the bar/lounge use on the property.

During public comment, a neighbor to the Bali Hai, Jeanetta Moss, said that since the new owners took over the property she’s had problems with loud parties, drunk people and people trespassing on neighboring residential properties.

“The Bali Hai has not been a good neighbor since the renovations occurred,” Moss said. “I hope they will be compliant and be the good neighbor it once was.”

In both cases, Connolly ruled against the resort’s ownership, requiring them to pay $127.24 in administrative fees and $500-a-day fines until the resort is in compliance with city codes in each case, resulting in a $1,000-a-day fine for the owners. He also ordered the owners to obtain after-the-fact permits for all work done without a permit, cease all operations of the bar/lounge until the property is brought into compliance and for them to schedule a public hearing for the site plan approval by the end of June with city leaders.

Related coverage

Bali Hai site plan negotiations continue

Bali Hai site plan review hits a snag

Crime

Increased tourism having some effect on crime

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Beach Beat, Community News, Featured.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – While tourism continues to increase due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, crime is up and down in AMI’s three cities, police officers say.

“We haven’t seen much of an increase in crime as a result of relaxed COVID restrictions, with the exception of some thefts – people stealing lawn chairs off porches, stuff like that,” said Randy Warren, public information officer for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. While Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach have their own police departments, the city of Anna Maria is policed by Manatee County.

“Even though the city of Anna Maria is currently at full occupancy, fortunately, our violent crime numbers have been down,” he said. “Deputies go where the people are. If it’s a good weather day and the beaches are busy, we’ll be out there patrolling. On other days, visitors flock to Pine Avenue and our deputies will concentrate on those shopping areas, providing a good presence while answering a lot of questions.

“We’re also responding to the normal calls for service and doing directed patrols at night,” Warren said. “Deputies are constantly reminding people to lock their cars, secure their valuables, and pay attention to the rules of the beach and the posted parking restrictions.”

In Holmes Beach, it appears the trend is an increase in crime. Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer said the department has seen a rise in crime over the past two months. The department reports four stolen vehicles over that time compared to one stolen vehicle in all of 2020. The chief also said there were three larcenies, two aggravated assaults and one rape in the month of May alone. For reference, there were no reported rapes in 2020. 

“During Memorial Day weekend, we saw 31,000 cars a day cross into Holmes Beach. You have 4,000 of the nicest people in the world here, then on one weekend you add 31,000 cars with two to six people in each car, which means 40,000 or more people in the city, and they are not all welcome guests,” said Tokajer, speaking about visitors that don’t have the best interests of the Island in mind when coming for vacation. 

According to Bradenton Beach Detective Sergeant Lenard Diaz, his department has fallen somewhere in the middle. Bradenton Beach has seen a huge influx of visitors since the relaxing of COVID restrictions but officers are generally pleased with the way visitors are behaving when staying in Bradenton Beach.

“We’ve had two or three stolen cars this year, and we normally don’t have any, so yes, there’s been an increase in that,” Diaz said.

“Burglaries, domestics; I haven’t seen an increase, all of that’s pretty much the same. You can definitely tell when dealing with people that there’s stress in their lives due to all of this, and they’re more likely to go off when we’re dealing with them than before COVID,” said Diaz, adding that his department understands the tension after not being able to travel for a long time. 

All three police departments work hard to remind visitors that most crimes on the Island are crimes of opportunity. Simple precautions such as not bringing valuables to the beach, locking your car and room, walking in groups late at night, carrying flashlights during those walks and using common sense will make for a safe and enjoyable day at the beach.

Treehouse owners consider removal

Treehouse owners consider removal

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

HOLMES BEACH – Owners of the Angelinos Sea Lodge Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen had a busy week with a court hearing and a special magistrate hearing to attend.

The most dramatic of the two hearings was the June 11 special magistrate hearing in the city of Holmes Beach when Tran broke down in tears defending herself and Hazen, who were accused of renting their four vacation rental units at Angelinos Sea Lodge without valid vacation rental certificates.

Though Tran admitted on the record that they are continuing to rent the units, she said that it’s unfair of the city to lump the resolution of the fight over the couple’s beachfront treehouse in with the business that they’ve been operating for 21 years.

The couple is caught in a Catch-22 because city leaders won’t renew their vacation rental certificates until code issues on the property are resolved. Those issues include paying the fines assessed due to the treehouse, which Tran says they can’t do without their source of income – the money they get from renting the four vacation rental units.

For the first time in the 10 years since its construction, Tran publicly said she and Hazen are considering removing the treehouse just to end the issues between them and city leaders, though she said that isn’t something that can be done overnight. She also added they’re awaiting final verdicts in all three of the pending court cases concerning the treehouse before making a final decision about its removal.

Tran said they’re willing to work with the city to come to a reasonable solution to the problems.

The couple was denied renewal of their vacation rental certificates in late 2020 due to the outstanding code violation on the property, namely the continued existence of the treehouse in its beachfront Australian pine-and-telephone-pole perch and the more than $200,000 in fines accumulated against it. City leaders say the matter of the treehouse needs to be resolved and the fines settled before the VRCs can be renewed to allow the couple to rent the units legally in the city.

Since an after-the-fact permit for the treehouse cannot be given because it doesn’t meet current building codes, city leaders are demanding that the treehouse be removed. One of the three cases concerning the treehouse pending in 12th Judicial Circuit Court is an injunction for the city to forcibly have the treehouse removed. The case does not yet have a court date set for a hearing.

Special Magistrate Michael Connolly recommended Tran, Hazen and city leaders engage in arbitration. Connolly, who said he doesn’t have the jurisdiction to grant renewal of the couple’s VRCs and ruled there is a continuing violation on the property, did not assess a fine in addition to the current $125 per day fine he ordered during an April code compliance hearing.

12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Charles Sniffen heard the city’s motion to dismiss the third amended complaint lodged by Tran and Hazen on June 9, with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection joining the city’s motion.

In the complaint, Tran and Hazen allege the actions taken against them by the city and FDEP violate their rights as property owners and as people. In her arguments, Tran said the case was filed to stop the forcible removal of the treehouse by the city and the accumulation of daily fines, which have been collecting at $50 per day since a code enforcement hearing in 2015. Tran served as her and Hazen’s counsel during the hearing.

The $50-per-day fine is in addition to the $125-per-day fine assessed by Connolly in response to the couple’s continued renting of the property in violation of the Holmes Beach vacation rental certificate ordinance.

Speaking on behalf of the city, attorney Randy Mora said the city is sympathetic to her serving as their counsel but feels the matter needs to move forward, urging Sniffen to dismiss the case with prejudice so that it cannot be refiled.

Tran said she’s working to write the complaint for herself and her husband and if Sniffen rules that it be amended again, she said she’d like more specific instructions about what needs to be included rather than have him dismiss the complaint altogether. When pleading for relief, she said she’s not sure what relief is possible at this point but hopes that the case will go to trial and she will be permitted to provide discovery materials to the court.

“I can only hope that justice will be rendered,” Tran said.

Though Sniffen said he would provide a ruling on the case by June 11, no ruling had been filed as of press time for The Sun.

Related coverage

 

U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear treehouse owners’ case

 

More fines added to treehouse owners’ tab with Holmes Beach

 

Treehouse owners get harassing calls

Tensions mount in city-county parking debate

Tensions mount in city-county parking debate

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

MANATEE COUNTY – The battle between some Manatee County commissioners and city leadership in Holmes Beach continues to rage on after hopes of a cease-fire were diminished earlier in the week.

At the forefront of the disagreement are Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, with backup from Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer. Van Ostenbridge has County Administrator Scott Hopes in his corner for reinforcement.

At the crux of the issues between the county and city are struggles over providing public parking on residential streets near beach access points. Van Ostenbridge is continuing his crusade to force the city’s leaders to open residential roads for beachgoer parking. Titsworth isn’t backing down from her commitment to balancing the needs of residents with the needs of visitors to the Island community.

Monday meeting

The two sides met on June 7 at Holmes Beach City Hall for a sit-down discussion about parking. During the meeting, both sides aired some of their grievances and agreed to work to find solutions.

Titsworth said she’s concerned about the lack of communication between the county and city and some of the inaccurate information being shared as fact at county commission meetings and with the media concerning parking in Holmes Beach.

The city has 1,261 non-permit public parking spaces, including some on residential streets and at beach ends in residential neighborhoods. There also are 642 permit-only spots open to residents of the Island city until 5 p.m. daily. All of these parking spaces are located a quarter-mile or less from the beach. When Holmes Beach leaders created the permit-only spaces on residential streets following COVID-19 closures in 2020, it was the implementation of a city plan that had been in the works for several years. It also eliminated 497 parking spaces citywide. The city needs 476 public parking spaces to qualify for beach renourishment funds.

Titsworth said the parking changes were implemented to help residents who were having a difficult time with beachgoers parking on residential streets. Some of the issues include noise, trespassing, trash and people using residential properties as restrooms and using outdoor hoses for showers, noting that no facilities are available outside of Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach. She said it also creates a safety problem as there are no lifeguards present outside of the public beach boundaries.

Sticking to her guns, Titsworth said the city would provide no additional public parking and that it’s up to the county to do so. She added that she’s provided Hopes with the name of a commercial property owner seeking to sell the former Bank of America location on Manatee Avenue, with the suggestion that the county could purchase the property and use it for beach parking. Currently, the city’s codes have no provision for a parking garage to be built.

Van Ostenbridge responded that if additional lifeguards are needed outside of the public beach, it would be up to the city to provide them.

To combat parking issues, he said he would contact Holmes Beach churches to see if they would be willing to provide public parking on their properties. It would require a change in city codes and two public hearings to allow for public parking at local churches for non-church functions.

During a June 8 city commission meeting, Father Matthew Grunfeld, of the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation, said his congregation has no interest in being put in the middle of the county and city fight over parking.

At Anna Maria Elementary School, Van Ostenbridge agreed the county would look into supplying a restroom trailer on the property and would contact the Florida Department of Transportation about providing flashing crosswalk signage for the crosswalk at Gulf Drive. Titsworth pointed out that vehicles stopping for pedestrians could cause vehicular traffic delays.

The county representatives also agreed to reach out to FDOT concerning the traffic patterns on stoplights leading down Manatee Avenue to the public beach. Holmes Beach Commissioner Jayne Christenson maintains that part of the problem on the Island isn’t lack of parking but an issue with the timing of the traffic light at Manatee Avenue and East Bay Drive, something the city’s been trying to work with the county and FDOT to have remedied for months.

Tuesday tangle

The stalemate between the two sides was short-lived.

During a June 8 Manatee County Commission meeting, the city of Holmes Beach was under consideration for potential tourist development funding. While one smaller project was approved by commissioners, a second larger one was not. Van Ostenbridge took a moment before voting to say that city leaders need to consider the consequences of their actions before voting against providing funding to the city.

Mayor Judy Titsworth was not at the county meeting due to a prior obligation.

During a Holmes Beach commission meeting held the same day, commissioners and the mayor all expressed their displeasure with the decision.

Commissioners Terry Schaefer and Christenson both said they’d agreed to meet with Van Ostenbridge to listen to what he has to say but that they wouldn’t be attempting to broker a deal on the city’s behalf. Christenson also said she would be meeting with Hopes and County Commissioner Carol Whitmore.

“We finally poked the bear hard enough that they’re finally listening to us,” Christenson said. Prior to being a commissioner, Christenson worked with two committees to address parking and traffic in Holmes Beach. She noted that the first presentation of the parking committee concerning residential street parking took place in 2014.

Commissioner Jim Kihm said he feels the county should be more proactive in planning for future growth rather than putting pressure on the city to make up for a lack of planning. Even if city leaders added back the lost 497 spaces, with more than 10,000 people moving to Manatee County every year and an average of 30,000 vehicles coming on to the Island every weekend day looking for parking, adding a few hundred spaces won’t solve the problem, he said.

Kihm said city and county leaders need to have more dialogue and come up with real solutions and the financing to pay for them to address parking and traffic concerns.

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

MANATEE COUNTY – Holmes Beach city leaders weren’t very surprised but they were disappointed when Manatee County commissioners shot down a funding request recently.

During a June 8 county commission meeting, Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, submitted a request on behalf of all three Anna Maria Island cities for funding from the tourist development tax, also known as the bed tax, collected by hoteliers and vacation rental owners from renters.

The projects proposed by the cities of Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach were approved. One project from the city of Holmes Beach, $41,200 for improvements including boardwalks to be added to an extension of Grassy Point Preserve on land gifted to the city by the Hames family, was approved by county commissioners. However, $282,910 for reimbursement on construction done at a seawall on Marina Drive was not.

County commissioners did vote unanimously to consider a future funding request from Holmes Beach city leaders for bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways leading to a city park if one was presented to them.

Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore said she didn’t support the seawall funding request despite it being approved unanimously for funding by the Manatee County Tourist Development Council because she doesn’t believe it’s tourism-related, which is what the tourist development tax dollars are required by state law to be spent on.

Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said it was disrespectful for Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth to not show up to the county meeting where funding was being requested and to not send a representative in her place.

Titsworth said prior to the meeting that she would be unable to attend due to a conflicting meeting. Holmes Beach Commissioner Jim Kihm was asked to step in for her but was unable to do so due to a conflicting medical appointment and no other suitable replacement could be found in time for the meeting.

Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge said city leaders should consider the consequences of their actions before asking for help from the county. Van Ostenbridge and Titsworth are currently embroiled in a disagreement over public parking for beachgoers in the Island city.

Falcione said the seawall project had been discussed at length with Holmes Beach city leaders and that the TDC had given the funding its full support, a statement echoed by Commissioner Misty Servia who serves on the TDC.

Holmes Beach leaders argue that the seawall is important to tourism because it’s an erosion control seawall that holds up a section of Marina Drive in the city’s commercial center and provides a pedestrian path and access to numerous tour boats and rentals in the adjacent marina. If the funds had been released, city leaders would have used the money to build additional sidewalks and bicycle paths, which also would be used by tourists. Whitmore suggested city leaders come back to the commission for funding of that idea, which was approved by county commissioners unanimously. However, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said that project was previously shot down for funding by Falcione.

Another concern was that the seawall request to county commissioners didn’t explicitly say there was a city match to the funding. So far, Tokajer said the city is spending $1,581,433 on the city center project including the seawall, pedestrian paths, bicycle lanes, lights and landscaping.

During a June 8 Holmes Beach commission meeting, city commissioners discussed the refusal of their funding request, noting that rentals in Holmes Beach have contributed $30,187,388.29 of the total $42,170,953.57 collected in tourist development tax in Manatee County over the past 10 years. That equals about 70% of the total collected bed tax coming from Holmes Beach while the city has received $100,000 of those dollars in funding for Grassy Point Preserve in the past decade.

“They’ve made us into the largest tourist attraction in Manatee County,” Tokajer said. “They should have to pay for enforcement and infrastructure.”

The county gave $50,000 in the current fiscal year to the city for police patrol and response at the county-owned Manatee Beach. More than 30,000 cars a day come to Holmes Beach on weekends during the summer, Tokajer said.

While Titsworth said she felt “the writing was on the wall” with Van Ostenbridge and his lack of support for city funding due to the ongoing parking issues, Commissioner Carol Soustek said that with all the people coming to Holmes Beach the county should have been better prepared to help deal with the resulting issues after advertising the city as a vacation destination.

“There’s nothing being done by the state or county to address the growth they’re encouraging,” she said, adding that she’s tired of issues getting pushed down the line to the next elected official. Rather than worrying about parking, she suggested county and state leaders be concerned about whether the area’s infrastructure, including pipes, clean water supply and seawalls, can handle the extra strain put on it by inviting so many additional people to one place.

One thing Holmes Beach commissioners agreed on though is that they all support Titsworth as the city’s leader in discussions with the county.

“Thanks, you guys,” Titsworth said. “It’s been a hard week and I really appreciate your support.”

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Bank rezone passes first reading despite resident protests

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

HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners are halfway through rezoning approvals for the former Regions Bank property, despite the protests of several residents who’d rather not see a new Publix pharmacy and package store at the property.

The rezone came up for its first public hearing and vote during a May 25 commission meeting, during which commissioners said that they cannot deny the rezone request from C-1 to C-2 without a good reason, such as that it does not meet city standards. They all agreed with staff reports on the project that the application does meet with all city standards. The property also is surrounded by C-2 zoned properties.

Currently, the former Regions Bank location at 503 Manatee Ave. W. has been empty for eight years. Now Publix plans to renovate the existing building to be a liquor store and pharmacy location with a walking path between that building and the existing grocery store to encourage people to not move their car to go from one to the other. Right now, the property is zoned C-1, which allows for office space, banks and medical offices. Changing the property to C-2 allows for retail sales on the property.

Residents who spoke up about the potential rezone during public comment listed a few reasons for the request to be denied with a few of them agreeing that it would be better as an urgent care facility instead of a liquor store and pharmacy.

Resident Nancy Scott said she’s concerned about Holmes Beach becoming too commercialized and would like to see some sort of educational attraction placed in some of the vacant commercial buildings in the city.

Resident Tim Cullinan said that he feels rezoning the property would set a precedent for rezoning two other vacant bank properties in the city.

Another concern was that the retail use would increase traffic in the area, potentially causing more traffic accidents, something Police Chief Bill Tokajer said wasn’t a concern. He said he’d spoken with the city’s traffic engineer and that the proposed usage wasn’t expected to cause any more traffic than what had been there when the bank was in business. To help reduce accidents in the area, he’s suggested to the Florida Department of Transportation that Sixth Avenue become a right-turn-only option to Manatee Avenue instead of people being able to turn left and block traffic across the state road.

Commissioner Jim Kihm said he feels that the revitalization and use of the property proposed by representatives for Publix would be a productive asset for the community.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said that the request met all of the city’s requirements and that she’s looking forward to seeing the property in use again rather than sitting vacant.

During a June 2 planning commission meeting, planning commissioners voted unanimously to approve the rezone as consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan.

The matter is scheduled to go back before commissioners for a final vote and public hearing Tuesday, June 8 at 6 p.m. While the public is invited to view the commission meeting and following work session online via Zoom, you must appear in person in commission chambers during the meeting to make comments.

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

HOLMES BEACH – Memorial Day weekend brought thousands of people to Anna Maria Island to celebrate the holiday weekend, exacerbating the disagreement between Manatee County commissioners and Holmes Beach city leaders over beach parking.

Prior to the start of the weekend, some Manatee County leaders wanted Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth to open more residential city streets for public beach parking. Titsworth refused, and new County Administrator Scott Hopes made a late-night deal on May 28 with the Manatee County School Board, of which he was a member at the time, to use the parking lot at Anna Maria Elementary School for public parking through Memorial Day, though overnight parking was not allowed there. He also allowed for the public to use the parking lot at the Island Branch Library for beach parking after the library closed for the weekend.

While Hopes informed county commissioners of the decision, Titsworth said that he did not provide any notice of the parking allowances to Holmes Beach leaders or police.

If the county’s leaders wish to continue providing public parking at the school and library sites, Titsworth said they’re going to have to work with the city on it.

First, she said the use of the school property for anything other than its intended use requires either a special use permit from the city or an updated site plan approval by city staff and potentially city commissioners.

A temporary special use permit is needed to provide parking one time or sporadically at the site. A site plan amendment would be needed to provide beach parking at the school on an ongoing basis.

Beach parking at the Island Branch Library poses a more difficult challenge for county officials, primarily because the property is owned by the city of Holmes Beach and leased by the county strictly for the library. Providing beach parking in the library parking lot is in violation of the county’s lease for the property, Titsworth said.

If county officials push to provide additional beach parking at the school, Titsworth said she would remove an equal number of spots from residential streets. She said she would not be adding any additional beach parking in Holmes Beach.

Holmes Beach currently has 1,261 non-permit public parking spaces and 642 residential permit-only parking spaces until 5 p.m. daily within a quarter-mile of the beach, including spaces located at beach access points. When city leaders closed off some residential streets to public parking following a COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 of all beach parking spaces, 497 parking spaces were lost citywide.

Hopes did not return calls for comment.

Holiday weekend numbers

After the holiday weekend, Police Chief Bill Tokajer said that he counted an average of 31,222 vehicles passing into the city each day from Friday, May 28 through Monday, May 31 for a total of just under 125,000 vehicles. Despite a large number of people in the city, Tokajer said Holmes Beach police officers only wrote 169 parking tickets, and none of those were at the two parking lots authorized by Hopes. Some parking tickets were written for cars parked at AME, but those were written by Manatee County officers patrolling that area, he said.

In a May 28 email to county commissioners, Hopes said that parking at the school would be available in the designated parking lot May 29-31 from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and that the county would make sure that all litter, trash and debris was removed from the school parking lot by June 1 at 7 a.m.

While the trash was removed from the school parking lot, Tokajer said that county officials did not make any preparations for the additional trash at beach access points near the school to be collected. He added that he and other city officials heard about the beach parking at the school and library from local media outlets and that he was very disappointed that the city was not included in the conversation with the county officials who made the decision to allow the extra beach parking. In the future, Tokajer said he hopes there will be open communication between city and county leaders.

Titsworth said she felt that other than issues with trash, the impromptu parking at the school and library went well over the weekend. She said that issues with additional parking throughout the city remain, such as the need for additional trash and restroom facilities and lifeguards to be stationed further down the beach than just at Manatee Beach. Without these necessities, Titsworth said a public health and safety issue persists.

As Tokajer and his officers patrolled the parking areas over the weekend, they discovered that the majority of people using the parking areas that county commissioners intended for Manatee County residents weren’t used by residents.

At the parking lot at AME, Tokajer said on Saturday there were 47 cars parked in the lot. When officers ran the plates of those cars, it was noted that only one vehicle was from Manatee County. At the Manatee Beach parking lot, he said there were 335 vehicles parked and less than 10% of those were from Manatee County.

On Memorial Day, Tokajer said he observed a group of six vehicles in a row parked with the occupants unloading for the beach. When asked, he said the occupants of five cars said they were from Orlando and the sixth was from Ocala.

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Memorial Day weekend parking sparks drama in Holmes Beach

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

HOLMES BEACH – The ongoing saga of beach parking in the biggest city on Anna Maria Island is hitting a fever pitch over the busy Memorial Day weekend.

In a bid to gain more parking for Manatee County residents and visitors going to the Island’s beaches, county Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge announced during a May 25 commission meeting that he would be asking Holmes Beach officials to reopen street parking that was turned into permit parking for city residents only in the wake of COVID-19 closures. The consideration for making some streets near beaches permit-only parking until 5 p.m. wasn’t a new idea, it was just made easier to implement after all parking was closed due to pandemic shutdowns.

Last week, county commissioners sent a letter to Holmes Beach officials asking them to reopen the parking spaces to everyone in the public – not just the city’s residents – for the busy Memorial Day weekend. Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth denied the request.

If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because trying to demand more parking on Holmes Beach streets for the public on the Island has been an ongoing theme since Van Ostenbridge took office in November. And each time the subject’s been broached, city leaders have denied the request, citing safety concerns for residents and overcrowding during busy times on the Island. Titsworth’s response has consistently been that Holmes Beach residents shouldn’t bear the brunt of the need for more parking on the Island and that county officials should consider alternative transportation options instead of focusing on parking.

With an average of 30,000 people coming to Holmes Beach daily during season and more than that on busy holiday weekends, according to numbers provided by Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer, finding a way to accommodate that many cars on a 7-mile island won’t be an easy task. Titsworth suggests people coming from the mainland take advantage of other transportation options, such as the beach express free bus that allows people to park their cars at 75th Street and Manatee Avenue in the Beachway Plaza and take a bus ride to the Island’s beaches.

To solve the immediate issue of Memorial Day weekend parking, County Administrator Scott Hopes received permission from the Manatee County School Board to open the lots at Anna Maria Elementary School in Holmes Beach for public parking, though no overnight parking was permitted. Hopes also arranged for public parking at the Island Branch Library in Holmes Beach after the library closed at 5 p.m. on May 29.

In an email to county commissioners, Hopes said he would personally oversee the launch of public parking at the two sites and that they would be monitored by code officers. He added that the county would be in charge of all cleaning and trash pickup from the two parking areas.

All permit parking spaces in Holmes Beach open to the public after 5 p.m. daily.

Adding to the traffic congestion at the start of the Memorial Day weekend was a Florida Department of Transportation intersection improvement project at the intersection of Manatee Avenue and Gulf Drive just in front of the entrance to Manatee Beach.

The project shut down two left-turn lanes at the intersection, one going north on Gulf Drive and another going east on Manatee Avenue from Gulf Drive. Though construction on the project stopped in the afternoon on Friday, May 28, it picks up again for milling and resurfacing overnight from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. June 1-4.

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