BRADENTON BEACH – With city-imposed closure deadlines looming, time is running out at Shawn Kaleta’s four paid parking lots.
City commissioners put multiple conditions in place before granting temporary use permits for the paid parking lots; 101 Bridge St. was approved with stipulations on Feb. 15 and 206 Bay Drive N., 207 Church Ave. and 102 Third St. N. gained approval, also with stipulations, on March 21.
Most of the agreed-upon conditions remain unfulfilled, according to City Building Official Darin Cushing. In an Aug. 1 letter to Kaleta, Cushing said he intends to barricade the lots on Aug. 9 with a permanent closure deadline of Sept. 6 if all the stipulations have not been met.
Cushing’s letter reads in part: “To date, very few, if any of these stipulations have been met, first and foremost, the presentation of Professionally Designed Site Plans in order to demonstrate that all of the other stipulations are being adhered to.”
Cushing noted in his letter that the commission approved the applications for temporary use permits contingent on administrative site plan approval by the building official.
“The actual permits have never been approved and are currently sitting in an ‘under review’ status,” he wrote. “Furthermore, the parking lots have all been in operation since February of this year, technically illegally, as they have never been approved by the Planning and Zoning Department.”
Cushing wrote that the applications for these temporary use permits were submitted “after the fact,” as the paid parking lots were all created and put into operation prior to any application being made to the department.
Cushing closed the letter with: “We have no choice but to close the parking lots for use, until such time that we receive the required documentation, and all of the above-mentioned stipulations have been met. We will be barricading the entries and covering the pay kiosks and signs on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. If by Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, we have not received 100% compliance with the stipulations for approval, we will revoke the applications, and all of the modifications that have been made on these parcels will have to be removed.”
Sam Negrin, manager of Kaleta’s Beach to Bay Investments Inc., responded on Aug. 2 to The Sun’s request for comment by text: “Our new parking management company, Island Parking, has taken over as of July 12th and has been working diligently to get the city’s requests completed. We look forward to meeting all of their requirements to remain operating.”
STIPULATIONS FOR APPROVAL
All the temporary use permits for the four lots were granted for one year. Stipulations included a review of a professionally-prepared site plan by the building official, active insurance to be carried by the property owner and production of a business tax receipt to the city clerk. The plans to be submitted to the building department are required to include requested parking spaces, golf cart parking dimensions, ADA compliance and adequate ingress and egress.
The parking lot stipulations for approval at 101 Bridge St. included no entrance or exit from Bridge Street, directional arrows, landscaping less than 3 feet high, sidewalk installation north of Third Street South to hook into the corner sidewalk on Gulf Drive, trolley benches and slab, black and white signage and review of site plan by building official. The one-year temporary use permit runs through Feb. 15, 2025.
There currently remains a driveway leading onto Bridge Street from the parking lot, the sidewalk and slab have not been installed and there are no directional arrows. A leaking artesian well is in the process of being capped.
Some of the stipulations for 206 Bay Drive N., 102 Third St. N. and 207 Church Ave. include the building owner submitting a building permit application or land development approval request within eight months of the temporary use permit approval, permits that will expire on March 21, 2025, and a limit on the number of parking spaces to be approved by the building official on a site plan.
A sidewalk is to be installed along Church Avenue with details to be approved by the building official for the Church Avenue lot, along with landscape buffering and the installation of a privacy fence along the northern and southern property lines. A sidewalk is to be installed along Third Street North along with landscape buffering for the 102 Third St. N. lot.
