When Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy issued a Sept. 11 order banning developer Shawn Kaleta from future building projects in the city, he said he did it as a last resort.
“It’s not something I wanted to do,” Murphy said. “I didn’t want to make this decision, but I had to do what I had to do.”
Citing public safety, Murphy did something no Anna Maria mayor has done. It was an act he knows will come with a price, but, he said, he took an oath to protect the city. He’ll do what needs to be done.
Ordering the ban wasn’t a decision made in one night. The events leading up to the action stretched out for months.
The mayor said he came to his decision after what appeared to him to be a disregard for responsibility from an incident in the spring on Magnolia Avenue and recent events at a home on 9802 Gulf Drive.
Kaleta’s company, Beach to Bay Construction, 5702 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, completed construction of five homes in 2014-15 in the 200 block of Magnolia Avenue. The city claims that during construction, city-owned stormdrains, sidewalks and the alley behind the homes were damaged.
So the city asked Kaleta to pay for the damages.
On March 3, the city received a letter from the developer agreeing to pay for damages to the sidewalk, drainage ditch and back alley.
But Kaleta also says he improved the drainage system for the Magnolia properties and further repairs are not needed. He added that he expected to pay for any needed repairs, but he believes there are none.
A few months later, on July 31, men were seen working inside a Kaleta-owned home at 9802 Gulf Drive.
Building official Jimmy Strickland stopped in and found the men performing interior renovations without a permit and immediately put a stop work order on the home.
Truth or rumor
The mayor began receiving complaints Sept. 8 about work ongoing at 9802 Gulf Drive and that the home was being converted into a restaurant.
Strickland again went to investigate and found men laying tile.
“You don’t normally need a permit for tile,” he said, “But we had heard they were planning on changing the occupancy level.”
On Sept. 10, the city began receiving more complaints about work at 9802 Gulf Drive.
This time, code enforcement manager Pamela Gibbs went to investigate. She found trash and debris outside, but didn’t see anyone inside the residence.
Later that day, Emily Wettstein, who leases the home from Kaleta, came to visit city planner Alan Garrett to explain her plans.
Garrett said Wettstein asked what it would take to turn the house into a restaurant.
They discussed a raw bar restaurant on the site and she wondered if the home was zoned for business.
He told her it’s “not as simple as putting down gravel, installing a sign and opening your doors.”
Plans for a restaurant need a site review, planning and zoning and commission approval, health department and fire marshal approval and the neighbors must be informed of the change of use.
The process could take four months or longer.
Wettstein left city hall without indicating what she plans for the house and efforts to reach her by phone and email have been unsuccessful, however, Kaleta said she asked him to build a handicap-access ramp.
That evening, at the Sept. 10 city commission meeting, Murphy told commissioners he was concerned Kaleta was beginning to renege on his responsibilities for the damages on Magnolia Avenue.
Kaleta’s attorney, Aaron Thomas of Najmy Thompson Attorneys at Law in Bradenton, told the commission he had sent a letter asking the city for more information but didn’t hear back.
The commission voted 4-0 to have city attorney Becky Vose resolve the matter of $17,000 in damage to the stormdrain system on Magnolia Avenue.
Red tag removed
The next day, Sept. 11, Gibbs returned to 9802 Gulf Drive. This time she found a parked truck belonging to Romines Electric of Bradenton, men working inside and the July 31 stop work order discarded on the ground.
“The stop work order was obviously torn down,” Gibbs said. “I found it lying on the ground outside the building.”
She ordered the men to leave and the city mailed them a $100 citation.
A contact at Romines Electric confirmed workers were at the location, but refused to state what work took place.
Gibbs posted another red tag and Murphy ordered the building’s power and water cut.
He then ordered Kaleta be banned from future permits.
Kaleta has denied knowledge of illegal work at 9802 Gulf Drive. He said Weittman is three years into a 10-year lease, and he was not her contractor. He said the work was not ordered by him, and his construction company was not doing the work.
Vose reached out to Thomas Sept. 17, but the city is silent on the details of the attorney conversation.
Murphy said he plans to update the commission at its next meeting.
Thomas declined to comment.
The Islander reached out to Kaleta about the ban and, while he acknowledged there are problems, he believes the Magnolia issue to be resolved by the improvements he made. He acknowledged the lease for 9802 Gulf Drive and a recent application to build a handicap ramp there, however , he maintains he was not the contractor for any other work at 9802.
