The issue of the day dock must wait.
A letter from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection was delivered March 31 to Bradenton Beach City Hall, but it wasn’t the letter the city awaited.
Bradenton Beach Police Chief Sam Speciale updated the public about the letter April 6 at the Bradenton Beach pier team meeting.
“This isn’t the letter we were expecting,” he said.
City officials and the Historic Bridge Street Pier tenants, as well as pier users, have been waiting for a letter from the DEP about how the pier’s public day dock can be used.
Instead, the city received a letter from the DEP informing officials it had received a complaint about the dock’s commercial use.
“It has come to the department’s attention that commercial vessels use the day dock to conduct unauthorized revenue-generating activities,” the letter reads. “The lease limits the use of the day dock to the mooring of recreational vehicles and a water taxi.”
City officials also were told Feb. 29 during a conference call with DEP representatives that commercial vehicle passengers could be loaded and off-loaded on the day dock as long as no money is exchanged there.
“The city has always been told commercial vehicles can come and go, but no transactions can take place,” Special said. “If the DEP tells us otherwise, then we’re done and it will stop.”
The DEP’s March 31 letter also requests the city respond with copies of its submerged land lease and the lease with We’re Back LLC, the company that operates the AMOB restaurant at the pier.
Bradenton Beach Marina owner Allan Bazzy told Speciale April 6 he’s responsible for the complaint.
“The way the dock is being used is wrong,” Bazzy said. He added that his complaint to the DEP also was to ensure the businesses that do use the pier — Paradise Boat Tours and AMOB — would be able to continue.
Now Paradise Boat Tours subleases an office in a building upland of the pier from AMOB, but prior to renting the office, the tour company was observed accepting payment on the dock as passengers boarded.
YOLO Parasailing owner Ryan Davis told The Islander March 3 he intends to begin using the day dock to pick up and drop off passengers, too.
“It’s my opinion there are commercial vehicles operating on the pier,” Davis said April 6.
Baitmonger John Maguire moors to the day dock and sells live bait from his boat, but he says no money is exchanged on the dock.
The DEP owns the submerged land under the pier and leases it to the city. The day dock is limited by the lease to public use, but commercial businesses have been using it to load and off-load passengers. Some have been observed exchanging money on the dock.
Speciale said April 6 the city is waiting for the DEP’s opinion in writing because the city doesn’t want to tell the commercial businesses to leave the dock and then learn they are allowed to operate there.
“We’re opening ourselves to a lawsuit from lost revenue if we tell everyone to leave now,” Speciale said after the meeting. “Right now we just need to be patient.”
Speciale said after receiving the March 31 letter, he’s in contact with a DEP representative to provide any information needed by the DEP.
Click here to read the full letter from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection