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New filing in tree house case

New filing in tree house case

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

HOLMES BEACH – A new battle is beginning in the ongoing war between the city of Holmes Beach and tree house owners Richard Hazen and Lynn Tran.

A summons was received at Holmes Beach City Hall March 27 informing city leaders that they have 21 days to respond to a new suit. According to the summons, Hazen and Tran have filed a case against the city and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection alleging violation of civil and constitutional rights.

The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa division, says the owners allege the violation of their rights due to the ongoing attempts by the city to remove the tree house and prohibit the construction of future similar structures on their property. The suit also alleges a violation of the couple’s rights due to ongoing efforts by the city to claim damages and relief for the ongoing legal fees incurred because of the case.

Due to a previous code enforcement board ruling, daily fines are stacking up against the tree house owners. Currently, those fines exceed $65,000 and are a part of the financial recompense city leaders are seeking from Tran and Hazen.

The two-story tree house was built beachfront near the Angelinos Sea Lodge in 2011 by Tran and Hazen and cost approximately $28,000 to build. Issues between the city and the owners arose when it was discovered that the couple did not get a permit from the city to build the tree house. The owners argue that they contacted the city’s building department and were told a permit was not necessary. When trying to get an after the fact permit, their application was denied by former Building Official Jim McGuinness because he said the structure could not be brought up to current codes and made ADA compliant as it is. The tree house also is located on the erosion control line, the line across which construction is not allowed without an FDEP permit.

On different matters in the tree house case, three trial dates have been set for Tran and Hazen versus the city beginning in mid-April in Manatee County Circuit Court.

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Holmes Beach tree house file photo

Tree house case continues in court

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

BRADENTON – It was a win and a loss for both sides during a Jan. 8 hearing in Judge Edward Nicholas’ courtroom on the tree house case.

New to the case, Nicholas dismissed the City of Holmes Beach’s motion to default, an attempt to push the case to a trial, and the tree house owners’ motion to abate, saying the move wasn’t warranted at this time. Both sides of the years-long case will have the opportunity to have their motions reheard, including a declaratory judgment request filed by attorney David Levin on behalf of owners Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen in 2013, and not pursued by either side until now.

During the Jan. 8 court proceedings, Levin argued that the declaratory judgment needs to be ruled on before the case can go to trial. On behalf of the city, attorney Jim Dye argued that the case has gone on long enough, since a code enforcement hearing in 2013, and the city wants to “go to trial and get a resolution as quickly as possible.” He also said that with different hearings and rulings happening in the case since the submittal of the request for declaratory judgment, the complaint is obsolete and would need to be redone to take into account all of the facts of the case in the previous five years.

The March 5, 90-minute conference will allow the court to consider the nature of discovery, if any, needed for a trial, determine if the declaratory judgment needs to be resolved before going to trial and allow both sides to tell their stories to the new judge on the case. If the case goes to trial, it will be to receive a ruling on the city’s request for injunctive relief and motion for default. These would either require Tran and Hazen to pay more than $65,000 in code enforcement fees and remove the tree house themselves or allow the city to forcibly remove the structure.

Holmes Beach tree house judy
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth listens to councils’ arguments during a hearing for the tree house case. – Kristin Swain | Sun

The tree house has been the subject of much debate in the city since it was built in the last half of 2011. The two-story structure is built partially in an Australian pine and supported by telephone poles designed to look like trees.

Tran and Hazen argue that they went to city hall before building the tree house to ask if they needed a permit and were told ‘no’ by a building department staffer. City leaders have previously argued that a permit was needed, that the tree house is potentially hazardous to neighbors in a storm, and that the tree house was built partially over the erosion control line on public land. The owners maintain that the structure is entirely on their property and within required setbacks from the erosion control line.

While the owners applied for after-the-fact building permits from the city, Building Official Jim McGuinness found that the supports for the tree house were not deep enough in the sand, the structure could not be made ADA compliant, and to bring it up to code would require tearing it down and rebuilding it, which could happen only if the owners could get a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The tree house case is back in court on Tuesday, March 5 at 9 a.m.

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