Reading about the idea of having 90 parking spaces (for 12 months at least) instead of building a hotel might sound weird – but if you can charge $15 per hour for each space – it multiplies!
It raises the question: why not start building? The landowner is normally pretty fast in going forward.
But – this is obviously pure theory – but owning the trailer park on a much better location for a hotel and the fact that the rents were doubled almost immediately after the purchase, could it hypothetically be possible that the plan for the location of the hotel has changed? Could it be possible that the renters of the trailer park will be “friendly forced out?” And that a hotel or another hotel will grow there?
BRADENTON BEACH – Almost the entire Coquina Beach parking lot is now available to beachgoers, including those visiting the beach during the extended Fourth of July weekend.
The second phase of Manatee County’s long-running drainage and parking lot improvement project is now in its final stage, with the remaining work taking place in the overflow parking area being created north of the picnic pavilion area.
This diagram illustrates where the work was completed and the overflow parking area, circled in red, still being worked on. – Manatee County | Submitted
According to Manatee County Information Outreach Manager Bill Logan, all the Coquina Beach parking spaces are now open except for the overflow area, which he said is expected to be completed by the end of July.
An overflow parking area is being constructed near the picnic pavilions. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“That is the last and final parking and drainage improvement,” Logan said of the final work taking place.
Formerly comprised of shell and sand, the Coquina Beach parking spaces are now paved with permeable concrete which contains gaps that allow water to drain down through the pavement and into the new drainage elements below.
A visit to the Coquina Beach parking lot on June 27 indicated that, with the exception of the overflow area, the entire parking lot was finished and available for parking.
The improvements made to the north end of the Coquina Beach parking lot are complete. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
The Coquina Beach drainage project started at the south end of the beach parking lot in May 2019 and included the removal of approximately 100 Australian Pine trees. County staff said the trees needed to be removed in part because their expansive root systems would hinder the drainage and paving improvements. As the second phase of the project moved north, approximately 87 more Australian pines were removed. Although many Australian Pines were removed, many still remain in place, including those along the recreational trail between the parking lot and the beach.
When the county commission approved the phase two plans and tree removals in 2020, the estimated phase one cost was $3.36 million and the estimated phase two cost was $3.62 million.
BRADENTON BEACH – City officials are pursuing two potential public-private partnerships with the Bradenton Beach Marina’s new principal, developer Shawn Kaleta.
One partnership pertains to proposed improvements to the city-owned parking lot next to the cell tower and the Public Works building, adjacent to the marina. Another pertains to the multi-use trail that passes through the marina property.
During a March 1 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, City Attorney Ricinda Perry and Mayor John Chappie referred to Kaleta as the marina’s new owner. A mortgage and security agreement dated Jan. 10 lists the Bazzy Marine Corp. as the mortgagor and the Holiday, Florida-based Capital Property Ventures LLC as the mortgagee. The agreement references “a principal amount of $14 million from mortgagor and Aquabiz LLC.” Kaleta signed the agreement as the mortgagor and as president of the Bazzy Marine Corp.
According to the Florida Division of Corporations, John Porreca is listed as the registered agent and authorized person for Capital Property Ventures LLC. Aquabiz LLC lists attorney Louis Najmy as its registered agent and Kaleta and Daniel Courtney Zoller Jr. as managers.
When previously contacted by The Sun on numerous occasions and asked whether Kaleta purchased the marina from the Bazzy family, Najmy declined to comment. Former marina president Mike Bazzy also declined to comment.
CRA discussions
During the CRA meeting, Perry initiated the parking lot discussion and noted that the CRA members previously authorized Colliers Engineering to put together a parking plan. The plan Perry presented shows 23 parking spaces at the cell tower. Perry said the goal is to create a nicer parking lot and one that’s compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
This preliminary parking lot plan was presented to CRA members. – City of Bradenton Beach | Submitted
“You have that plan in place. A property owner in the area is desirous of actually building out that parking plan and doing all the landscaping and markers, but they didn’t want to pay for installing pavers,” Perry said.
She identified the property owner as Kaleta and said Building Official Steve Gilbert wants to see an engineered parking plan before moving forward with the proposed improvements.
“We want to make clear that this is a public parking lot. We want to make sure that whatever’s put in there is low maintenance. It’s our parking lot. We’ll be maintaining it,” Chappie said.
“Do you have any objection with my office moving forward with that private individual to develop that parking area with either shell or some type of rock in that area?” Perry asked CRA members.
The CRA members unanimously approved a motion authorizing Perry, Gilbert, Woodard and Chappie to finalize the parking lot improvement plans and coordinate with Kaleta on the parking lot improvements.
Multi-use trail
During the same meeting, Chappie and Perry initiated two separate discussions about the multi-use trail that passes under the Cortez Bridge and passes through the marina parking lot along the south side of the bridge.
The multi-use trail passes under the Cortez Bridge. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
In reference to the pending Cortez Bridge replacement project, Chappie said the existing multi-use trail under the bridge will be replaced by a new trail that’s hopefully wide enough to accommodate golf carts and other low speed vehicles too.
Chappie said city staff is researching the exact location of the city easement on the marina property that provides access to the trail area under the bridge.
“Working with Ricinda, we can talk with Kaleta to assure that’s part of our scenic right of way. I don’t think there’s going to be an issue,” Chappie said.
The multi-use trail that passes under the Cortez Bridge also passes through the Bradenton Beach Marina property. – Joe Hendricks Sun
Later in the meeting, Perry initiated discussion about connecting the multi-use trail under the bridge to the multi-use trail along Gulf Drive South that passes by Cortez Beach. She mentioned the CRA members’ long-held desire to create a dedicated tram path along Gulf Drive South with a potential crossing point at Fifth Street South, which provides access to Bay Drive South, Bridge Street and the trail that passes under the bridge.
“I have talked to Shawn Kaleta about his purchase at the marina – actually, it was Mike Bazzy and Shawn Kaleta together – and walked their property, walked all the way down through Bridge Street and up and down Third Street talking about what the city is doing and what Mr. Kaleta is doing in that area. There was interest by him to work together with the city. He’s also talked to Elliott Falcione with the TDC (Tourist Development Council) about doing a major improvement to the multi-use trail that the city has,” Perry said.
She noted Kaleta owns a lot of properties in those areas and said he’s expressed interest in working with the city, and potentially the TDC, in providing some construction assistance to further enhance that corridor that’s heavily used by pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists.
Perry asked the CRA members if they were interested in formulating a workplan and a budget to pursue the trail improvements.
CRA Chair Ralph Cole said, “It’s part of the goal to make this a more walkable community, which gets cars off the road. It’s a nice walk down to Bridge Street from the north end hotels and vacation rentals. I think it’s a good idea any time you can get help with funding. It’s a win-win situation.”
CRA member David Bell expressed concerns about the large number of pedestrians that walk along Bay Drive South between Bridge Street and Third Street South, where there are currently no sidewalks.
The portion of Bay Drive South between Bridge Street and Third Street South is heavily traveled by pedestrians, motorists, bicyclists and others. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“Until we resolve that bottleneck, there’s really no point adding more traffic to that area that’s already dangerously overpopulated with cars, pedestrians, bicycles and trams. Until we resolve that, I don’t want to see us add more traffic to that area,” Bell said.
In response, Cole said, “One of our main objectives in the CRA district is to bring people to the CRA district. What we’re doing is going to make it safer and create a pathway so you don’t have everybody walking down Gulf Drive.”
Perry sought and received authorization to formulate a plan to connect the multi-use trail from Gulf Drive South to the Cortez Bridge using Fifth Street South and Bay Drive South as connecting streets, with Bell casting the lone opposition vote.
BRADENTON BEACH – Commissioners are abandoning the city’s efforts to rezone 23 residentially-zoned properties north of Bridge Street and south of the Cortez Bridge.
Instead, to address inconsistencies between the city’s zoning and future land use maps, city officials may redirect their efforts to amending the future land use map designations for those properties instead.
The city commission rejected Building Official Steve Gilbert and City Planner Luis Serna’s recommendation on Oct. 20 to rezone those properties from their current Multiple Family Dwelling District (R-3) zoning designation to a Mixed-Use District (MXD) zoning designation.
The commission also rejected the Planning and Zoning Board’s contrary recommendation to rezone those properties to R-2 (two-family dwelling) and change the future land use map designation to Medium Density Residential.
A letter sent to the commission and signed by planning board Chairman Ken McDonough noted five potentially impacted property owners oppose any commercial use in that residentially zoned area. The letter suggests the city poll all 23 potentially impacted property owners to get their input on these matters.
Working in unison, the zoning and future land use maps designate which type of development is allowed on a property. More than a year ago, the city commission directed Gilbert and Serna to begin addressing long-stand- ing inconsistencies that have existed between the maps.
Gilbert, Serna and the planning board have repeatedly discussed and debated city staff’s recommendations to rezone several properties throughout the city. In most instances, the planning board disagreed with the staff’s proposed rezoning recommendations.
City staff’s proposed mixed-use rezoning of these specific properties would have made their zoning designations consistent with the existing Retail/Office/Residential (ROR) future land use map designation.
The mixed-use zoning would have allowed ground-level commercial activities in what has traditionally been a residential area. The proposed mixed-use zoning would have restricted residential use for new construction to no more than 50% of a property’s buildable space while allowing no more than 80% non-residential use of the buildable space.
The now-discarded rezoning considerations applied to the properties shaded in orange that contain the number 4. – City of Bradenton Beach | Submitted
City Attorney Ricinda Perry told the commission downzoning those properties from R-3 to R-2 as proposed by the planning board could be considered a taking of existing development rights, which could potentially diminish property values and expose the city legal action, including the filing of Bert Harris claims seeking compensation for the diminished property values and/or loss of future revenues. Perry also said the existing inconsistencies between the zoning map and the future land use map could expose the city to legal challenges.
The zoning and future land use map issue is further complicated by the plans of the Chiles Hospitality group that owns the BeachHouse restaurant. Chiles Hospitality owns the currently undeveloped property at 109 Third St. N. The perimeter of that vacant lot is currently used for unregulated parking. In September, Chiles Hospitality applied for a special use permit that would allow that property to be converted into a private parking lot to be used predominantly by their employees. The R-3 residential zoning designation prohibits standalone parking facilities.
Public input
When addressing the commission, Chiles Hospitality Facilities Director Brooks O’Hara said, “We strongly urge you to support this rezoning to mixed-use and support giving the property owners more freedom in decisions regarding their property, and not less. We reserve the right to protect our rights legally and could consider a more restrictive zoning as taking, so we would be concerned about that.”
Perry said “spot-zoning” the vacant Chiles Hospitality property with a different zoning designation might be a potential solution to that concern.
In September, Chiles Hospitality submitted this proposed parking configuration for its property at 109 Third St. N. – City of Anna Maria | Submitted
Evelyn Stob owns the single-family home at 105 Third St. that sits between the vacant Chiles Hospitality property and the Chiles Hospitality parking lot to the west that now provides paid public parking. Stob expressed her support for retaining the existing R-3 zoning designation for the residential properties in question.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s lengthy discussion, the commission rejected the proposed rezoning ordinance and directed staff to revisit these matters with the planning and zoning board and the potentially impacted property owners.
BRADENTON BEACH – Beachgoers will be vying for limited parking spaces at Coquina Beach all summer with the next phase of drainage and parking lot improvements expected to be completed no sooner than October.
As was the case with Phase I improvements, previously completed at the south end of the parking lot, the county has contracted the Woodruff & Sons construction firm to install the Phase II drainage elements and pervious concrete parking spaces in the central and northern portions of the Coquina Beach Parking lot.
The pervious concrete previously installed at the south end of the parking lot allows rainwater to drain through it and into the improved drainage system below.
The previously installed pervious concrete parking spaces allow water to drain through them. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
According to the updated project schedule provided by Manatee County, miscellaneous cleanup and demolition work was scheduled to take place in the central portion of the Coquina Beach parking lot through early this month, followed by the installation of new curbs and new underdrains scheduled to be completed by early September, with the installation of the pervious concrete parking surfaces scheduled for the same time frame.
The pavement striping and parking space wheel stops are scheduled to be installed in October, with the currently closed central portion of the beach parking lot to then be reopened to the public.
This updated project schedule was provided by Manatee County. – Manatee County | Submitted
Around that same time in October, clean up and demolition work is scheduled to begin at the north end of the parking lot where similar drainage and parking improvements will be made. The anticipated completion date and reopening of the north parking area is anticipated in March 2023.
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