HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners are asking police officers and City Attorney Patricia Petruff to work together to find a way to prosecute local builder Shawn Kaleta for the destruction of sea grapes and other vegetation on city property.
The destruction of the sea grapes and sea oats was observed over the summer with Building Official Jim McGuinness putting a stop work order on the 102 47th Street property and adjacent lot until Kaleta came into compliance and received permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Kaleta owns two parcels of land at the western end of 47th Street from which he cleared of all vegetation up to the dune line and public beach access on the southern side of the property. He also cleared the vegetation from the city unimproved right of way that would extend Fourth Avenue from 48th to 47th Street that divides his two properties without permission from the city.
The incident is similar to a situation Kaleta found himself in over the summer of 2017 when he removed sea grapes and sea oats from another property he was developing at 102 77th Street. The property remained under a stop work order for more than a month while the builder struggled to receive after the fact permits from the DEP, make an agreement to replace the removed sea grapes and sea oats with the DEP and come into compliance with the city’s building department. Though the sea grapes and sea oats were replanted at the location, it will take years for the plants to return to their previous size.
“This is minimal,” Commissioner Carol Soustek said of the replanting, a plan that will repeat itself at 47th Street. “What they destroyed at 77th Street was natural. What’s there now looks like a model house.”
Commissioner Judy Titsworth agreed, pushing for consideration of some sort of prosecution for the destruction at 47th Street and Fourth Avenue.
“Sea grapes need to be wild, not trimmed and pruned,” she said. “Fourth Avenue looks like a war zone.”
She added that as a licensed contractor, Kaleta should know the local laws and regulations about the removal of sea grapes. At the site of the sea grape removal on 47th Street, there is a sign at the beach access advising of the find for damaging sea grapes.
“We can’t continue to just allow it to happen,” Titsworth said, fearing that the situation would continue to be repeated if no further action is taken by city leaders.
City attorney Patricia Petruff said she would have to investigate to see what action can be taken at this point. She suggested that commissioners also consider potential uses for the Fourth Avenue right of way now that it has been cleared. Prior to Kaleta clearing the property, Petruff said the right of way was impassible due to vegetation.
The stop work order has been lifted on the property and McGuinness said Kaleta has reached an agreement with the DEP to replant the sea grapes on the right of way, the sea oats on the western edge of the property and create a buffer between the dune line and the planned residential development.
“What he’s offering isn’t even a token,” Commissioner Pat Morton said of the plan to replant some of the destroyed vegetation. Morton added that as a “habitual offender of city code” Kaleta should be “put in his place.”
Though several options for prosecution were suggested by commissioners, Petruff said it would take time to determine legally what the city’s prosecution options are and how strong of a case could be brought against Kaleta for the damage. She agreed to work with Mayor Bob Johnson and HBPD officers to determine what the best course of action will be. In the meantime, commissioners reached a consensus to write a letter reporting the incident to the state licensing board so that the issue is on record when Kaleta’s construction license comes up for renewal.
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