The effort to resolve the 27th Street vacation and fence controversy between Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach got under way last week when Holmes Beach Mayor Rich Bohnenberger met with Bradenton Beach Mayor-elect John Shaughnessy. The two are seeking to avoid any legal action over the matter.
At the meeting, Bohnenberger said he presented Shaughnessy a list of “talking points” to take back to the Bradenton Beach commission.
Bradenton Beach Mayor Bob Bartelt did not attend the meeting due to his of concerns with Florida’s Sunshine Law, Bohnenberger told Holmes Beach commissioners at their Sept. 27 meeting.
At the meeting, Bohnenberger told Shaughnessy that Holmes Beach’s No. 1 issue is with the vacation of the street, not the fence.
Bohnenberger’s suggested solutions to the “conflict” that he gave Shaughnessy were presented to commissioners Sept. 27. They call for:
• The Sandpiper Resort to issue a quitclaim deed for 27th Street back to Bradenton Beach.
• Bradenton Beach issue a “right-of-way use permit”
to property owners “that are encroaching into the 27th Street right of way.”
• The fence can remain if “gates are removed and openings are wide enough for golf carts, including the alley.”
• “No trespassing” and “private property” signs are removed from the fence.
Bartelt attended the Sept. 27 Holmes Beach commission meeting and said Bradenton Beach commissioners had not yet seen the Holmes Beach list.
He said he was there to let Holmes Beach commissioners know he had not forgotten them or the problem.
Holmes Beach resident Jean Peelen, a candidate for a city commission seat who owns property in the Sandpiper Resort, said she was “troubled” by the discussion. It seemed to her that the focus had shifted.
Peelen said when she left the Sept. 13 meeting, she believed the main issue was the locked gate and the “no trespassing” signs.
“Today, I just heard the main issue is they don’t own the street. I was left with the impression this could be easily settled. Now this is like the gunfight at the OK Corral. This should have been litigated three years ago,” Peelen said.
She disagreed with spending more city funds on legal fees on an issue that readily could be resolved.
Bohnenberger said that “at some point, the commission has to decide what it’s worth to protect its citizens.”
The issue dates back to 2008, when Bradenton Beach vacated 27th Street east of Gulf Drive alongside the Sandpiper Resort. Holmes Beach protested the decision as illegal, but took no further action.
When the Sandpiper erected a fence in August and connecting two gated entryways for pedestrian access from Avenue A and Avenue B in Holmes Beach, Holmes Beach commissioners had city attorney Patricia Petruff investigate.
Petruff reported she found no quitclaim deed from Bradenton Beach to the Sandpiper and one gate was locked when she went to the resort.
Commissioners at their Sept. 13 meeting discussed “conflict resolution” against Bradenton Beach, but elected to table any action while the mayors met to resolve the issues. Petruff said legal action would be expensive and she applauded commissioners for trying to resolve the issue through talks.
Bradenton Beach Commissioner Gay Breuler spoke at that meeting and said the Sandpiper’s two gates have been up since 2008 without any problems. The gates didn’t restrict anyone and could easily be bypassed by walking on the grass.
But golf carts could also bypass the gates before the fence was built.
Sandpiper representatives said the fence became necessary after someone drove a golf cart from Holmes Beach around the gates and tore up some of the resort’s turf. Some Sandpiper residents claim such action has occurred more than once, and on at least on occasion the driver appeared intoxicated.
Breuler said the Sandpiper has never denied pedestrian access to 27th Street, the resort and Gulf Drive, or from walking on the Sandpiper’s private streets and 27th Street to reach the Gulf of Mexico.
“We’ve always been good neighbors,” said Breuler.
Bohnenberger, however, suggested that if the fence is lowering property values for Holmes Beach property owners along 27th Street, they could take “independent action” if they wished.