BRADENTON BEACH – An April 10 proposal submitted by the Pines Trailer Park homeowners for the long-term retention of the mobile park was declined by the park’s ownership group.
The proposal, titled “Revenue Proposal for Long-Term Retention and Recovery of 88 trailers at Pines Trailer Park post-Hurricanes Helene and Milton revenue and stability plan” was sent by Pines HOA vice president Rex Geissler to Pines Park Investors LLC manager Sam Negrin and former LLC manager Shawn Kaleta.
In an April 30 email to The Sun, Geissler wrote: “Sam and I corresponded back and forth. He was very respectful and basically said, ‘At this current moment, we will respectfully have to decline the proposal.’”
The proposal offered the park ownership group two options: The sale of the park to investors with a sales price in the range of $25 million to $30 million, or to retain the park with consistent revenue and a 25-year commitment.
The proposed revenue included the sale of approximately 68 of the repairable trailers at $100,000, each, with a 25-year retainer contract, as well as immediate revenue from 20 repaired trailers where lot fee paying tenants are in place at $50,000 each, with a 25-year retainer contract.
In addition to the upfront capital of approximately $8 million in trailer sales, the proposal stated the monthly lot rental for 88 lots would produce $155,500 in monthly income, or $1.86 million annually.
“Following the extensive damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, and with an eye on ‘maximizing your investment with minimal expenses,’ and in the spirit of the September 2025 confidential settlement agreement with the HOA that allows remaining residents to stay at the Pines Trailer Park, I respectfully submit this comprehensive proposal,” Geissler stated in his proposal.
While terms of the settlement agreement are confidential, sources have indicated that under the terms of that agreement the remaining 20 or so residents at the trailer park will be allowed to remain there until this fall.
The park ownership group’s future plans for the mobile home park property have yet not been disclosed.
On March 19, contracted Bradenton Beach Building Official Rob Perry told the mayor and city commissioners the park ownership group’s lot split application had been denied.
“They did put in an application for a lot split, which was rejected,” Perry told the commission. “They can’t do a lot split. There’s an old plat there. We have five mobiles on each lot in the old plat.”
Perry told the commission he expects the park ownership group to eventually submit an application to rezone the mobile home park property from its current M-1 mobile home zoning to a different zoning designation that would allow for a different type of development.
“They want to develop the property, and it won’t be a mobile home park,” Perry said.
According to the Bradenton Beach building department, a formal major development or zoning change application had not been submitted for the Pines’ property as of May 1.
BRADENTON BEACH – The owners of the Pines Trailer Park have applied to the city to subdivide the mobile home park into two separate parcels.
“They did put in an application for a lot split which was rejected,” Building Official Rob Perry said during the March 19 city commission meeting. “They can’t do a lot split. There’s an old plat there. We have five mobiles on each lot in the old plat.”
It’s unclear from the Jan. 30 lot split application exactly what the owners’ future plans are for the 86-unit mobile home park. The application shows the park’s present zoning classification as M-1 (mobile home use). The future land use category is listed on the application as “ROR (retail/office/residential) and Commercial (split).
“It’s going to go from M-1 (mobile home zoning) to something, but I’m going to put a question mark on that,” Perry said. “The city’s going to determine what they want that zone to be. They (the park owners) want to develop the property, and it won’t be a mobile home park.”
The lot split application was submitted by land use attorney Marshall Robinson on behalf of Pines Park Investors LLC.
“They are going to go back to their planner and submit a proper PRD (Planned Residential Development) or PUD (Planned Urban Development). It would be a major development,” Perry said. “It’s coming. There’s going to be a zoning change request and not a lot split.”
“That was always going to be a rezone request when Kaleta’s group bought that property,” Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce said. “They bought it with the intention of doing a rezone request within five years.”
Developer Shawn Kaleta was listed as the LLC/corporation manager when Pines Park Investors LLC was formed in May 2023. Kaleta was also listed as the limited liability corporation’s manager in the annual reports filed with the Florida Division of Corporations in 2024 and 2025. The amended annual report filed on Nov. 3, 2025, now lists longtime Kaleta associate Sam Negrin as the corporation’s manager. Attorney Louis Najmy remains listed as the corporation’s registered agent, as he has been since the corporation was formed.
Pines Park Investors LLC purchased the 2.78-acre mobile home park from the Jackson Partnership LLC on Aug. 25, 2023. The ownership group purchased the property subject to the stipulation that it would remain a mobile home park for five years from the date of purchase.
The uncertainty about the future of the Pines Trailer Park began in 2024, after Hurricane Helene caused water intrusion into the mobile homes. That December, then-Building Official Darin Cushing informed 83 of the mobile home owners that they could repair their hurricane-damaged homes if they obtained the proper permits.
In January 2025, however, Pines Park Investors LLC notified homeowners of their decision to close the park, citing “financial challenges, resident concerns and safety and long-term viability.”
Many of the mobile home owners withheld paying their lot rent due to what they said was the continued disrepair of the park following the hurricanes. Subsequently, many of those mobile home owners were either evicted or had to turn over to park ownership the titles of their mobile homes to avoid eviction. After those titles were turned over, those mobile homes were sealed, with screws driven into the doors to prevent entry.
The Pines Trailer Park homeowners’ association filed a lawsuit against the park ownership group and the lawsuit was later settled under confidential terms.
According to Perry, there are only five to seven residents remaining in the mobile home park.
The Pines Trailer Park is mostly vacant of residents. – Leslie Lake | Sun
After the March 19 meeting, Perry said, “We’re basically going to guide them (the park owners) in the right direction and let them get a private planner to submit a new plan, which is going to need a new plat and a PRD or a PUD.”
He said a replat and a major development application is needed and there are city-owned streets that run through the park.
Perry said he does not know what the Pines owners plan to specifically do with the property.
“I’m giving them the guidance to go through a zoning review with the planning and zoning board. There’s a process if they apply for a zoning change,” he said. “My job is to educate them and get them in the right direction.”
When contacted later in the week, Negrin did not respond to The Sun’s request for comment regarding the upcoming plans for the park.
BRADENTON BEACH – Pines Trailer Park residents came to an April 17 city commission meeting well-prepared and represented to discuss their lack of parking at the park.
At issue was the parking lot at 201 First Street, which had historically been used for free by Pines residents and was converted to paid parking in January by park ownership Pines Park Investors LLC. Nearly half of the 86 Pines residents who do not have parking at their units relied on the parking lot.
The lot was free to residents until Jan. 1, 2024 but Pines owners shut it down on Dec. 31, 2024, giving Pines residents the option to pay $750 a year for a single space.
Many Pines Trailer Park homes have no space for parking, with residents depending on the nearby parking lot. – Leslie Lake | Sun
Park owners’ attorney Stephen Thompson requested more time to make a presentation to the commission. Commissioners granted that request but also heard public comment from Pines residents, then decided to have the city planner and building official review the parking lot.
“At a minimum we would like to have a more comprehensive meeting where we get some time to make a full presentation about this parking, the history and why we feel we’re entitled to it,” Thompson said.
That request drew protests from Pines residents, and Mayor John Chappie asked for quiet in the chambers.
“If we’re going to do that, it needs to be by May 1. Otherwise, we’re waiting a whole month and that’s not fair to the Pines,” Commissioner Scott Bear said.
“I just think like Scott said we can’t wait too long,” Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce said. “They’ve been waiting long enough. It’s a constant battle for these people and they’ve gone through a lot already and I would like to get this resolved.”
“You give us a date and we’ll be here,” Thompson said.
“Today was the day,” people called out.
Chappie read six emails into the record from Pines residents before opening the meeting to public comment. Residents asked commissioners to look at the city codes including for M-1 zoning, which requires a parking space for each mobile homeowner.
“I purchased in April 2024 with the understanding from both the seller and the park manager that I was guaranteed a parking spot. I wouldn’t have purchased my unit if I’d been informed the parking situation would be questionable. The uncertainty around the park’s timeline and this disastrous parking situation left me with no choice but to walk away from the investment of $200,000 I poured my heart into,” one resident wrote.
Prior to public comment, City Attorney Ricinda Perry left the meeting for an appointment but said she would listen to the recording.
Pines homeowner Mary Mox talks to commissioners about the parking lot formerly used by Pines Trailer Park residents. – Leslie Lake | Sun
Mary Mox said, “My husband and I bought our place in the park and were assigned a parking space. When we purchased our mobile home and were told to park in the lot.”
Mox showed commissioners her prior years’ parking passes.
“These say Pines Parking lot,” Mox said. “We would receive memorandums saying, when you arrive this fall make sure you see the manager and obtain a parking permit and any people without a parking permit will be subject to being towed away. We were allowed one vehicle per mobile home.”
“I’ve been prepared for two weeks because that’s what you told me to do,” Pines homeowner Elayne Armaniaco said. “That’s what you told all of us to do. They didn’t prepare and yet somehow or another they’re being time allowed for extra preparation.”
She said that it’s commonly known that the parking lot was assigned for Pines Trailer Park resident use.
“Everyone in this room knows that this parking lot for five decades was assigned for Pines Trailer Park for owners who don’t have parking in their units,” Armaniaco said. “Even Mr. Kaleta and all associated with the Pines Park Investors know this.”
She produced a real estate listing prior to the Pines Park Investors’ 2023 purchase that described the parking lot as part of the sale.
“That parking lot is necessary for the park owners to comply with your code, and yet there has been no code enforcement,” she said. “City Attorney Perry would have you think because this lot has historically been used for parking, that it’s OK to just disregard the tenants who were using it.
“If that’s not enough for you to recognize that a paid lot at this location is improper, then let’s ask other questions like, does it comply with code? Is it a parking facility? Does it change from ownership assigning parking to its residents to ownership making a profit as a public lot increase the intensity of its use? Of course it does,” Armaniaco said. “You don’t need two weeks to make a presentation to make that point. This is literally forcing Pines Trailer Park residents out of their homes. If the terms of the agreement between the (former owners) Jacksons and the LLC had been honored, this park would be thriving by now.
“Taking away parking is not just unjust, it’s against your own city code,” she said. “Will this governing body really vote to push out the tenants and homeowners of Pines Trailer Park? You have the opportunity and the authority to right a wrong.”
Sarasota-based attorney Nathan Reneau, who is representing the Pines Park Homeowners Association, read a letter from the HOA president.
“Many residents have transferred their deeds to the Urban Group that Pines Trailer Park investors have retained to manage eviction processes. Why have they done this? Because they have nowhere to park their vehicles. And they have stated to us, their HOA, they have no choice but to surrender their deeds,” Reneau read.
“Historically and traditionally the parking lot at Pines Trailer Park has been part of the residential parking,” Reneau said. “The code for trailer parks is M-1, which requires one parking spot per trailer. Without the parking lot across the street, the trailer park itself is outside of code.”
Reneau said it appears that the current strategy of Pines Park Investors is to drive out residents by removing their parking.
“Pines Trailer Park is not closed yet and there is an active lawsuit against Pines Park Investors,” Reneau said. “If it’s successful, the parking lot will continue to be needed as part of the park. Currently it is zoned as C-1, which does not allow for a standalone parking lot, but it does allow for residential use and trailer park. Without this being made available for use by the trailer park residents, it’s a code compliance issue for the park, and the owner needs to be made to shut down the paid parking use and make it available for use by the park to meet those M-1 zoning requirements.”
Pines Park Investors LLC representative Sam Negrin defends the conversion to paid parking in the lot that was formerly used by Pines Trailer Park residents. – Leslie Lake | Sun
Sam Negrin, a representative for Pines Park Investors, said, “Upon our acquisition of the trailer park we were told from the sellers, the agents and park manager that every single trailer lot came with parking. The ones who do not have parking because they, I don’t want to say the word, but illegally built lanais.”
Pines residents reacted in protest to Negrin’s comments.
“I’m not standing here saying that’s 100% accurate, from that reaction, but that is always the impression we’ve been under,” Negrin said.
Negrin said the park is governed by state statute and the park prospectus.
“The lot in the sale was addressed to us as an additional selling point, it comes with a parking lot, but is not required by the prospectus for the residents,” Negrin said. “The parking lot is not anything that’s entitled to the residents.”
“With those storms came the assumption from the residents that they don’t have to pay us anymore. Our sellers who we have the note with on the property, we still have to pay them in full every month,” Negrin said. “At the end of the day we’re a business just like any other business; we need our income to continue running it. That is why we had to change the parking. This is a business. We aren’t a charity.”
“Let them rebuild so they can pay you,” Danielle Armaniaco said during her public comment.
“The evidence shows in fact that it was Pines parking, but aside from that, I don’t understand how we’re allowing that paid parking to operate today,” Bear said. “I’d like to understand how we’re not enforcing the code violation.”
Scaccianoce characterized Negrin’s claim that the parking lot was unrelated to the trailer park a “failed argument.”
“As professional as all these investors are, I find it extremely difficult that they never saw the sign that said Pines Trailer Park parking on that lot when they were deciding to buy the property and they took the word of the Jacksons saying, ‘Oh, that’s just an ancillary lot, it has nothing to do with the trailer park’, when it was obviously marked before they bought it,” she said. “That should have been a red flag to Mr. Kaleta and his investment group to at least question what they had been told. I don’t remember when that parking lot wasn’t for the Pines.”
Chappie suggested a review of the parking lot by the city planner and code enforcement officer.
“Time’s running out for the Pines people and that’s not fair,” Chappie said, asking if the commission would like to wait until May 1 or take a stance right now.
“I think we should take a stance right now,” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said.
Bear said he would like to advance it to code enforcement for a review and to make a decision about the current use of the parcel as a paid parking lot.
“There’s a pretty strong abundance of information that was never paid parking and shouldn’t be paid parking now,” Bear said. “This is a paid lot that was not approved.”
Commissioners unanimously approved a review by the city planner and building official about the use of paid parking on the site. The discussion will be continued at the May 1 commission meeting.
A GoFundMe page has been established for the Pines’ residents.
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