Bradenton Beach’s Historic Bridge Street Pier is the hottest place on the island.
It’s good for fishing, catching a sightseeing tour, grabbing a bite to eat and a brew and it’s the place for news on the latest backroom deals.
And the deal is off.
The city of Bradenton Beach, Paradise Boat Tours and AMOB, the restaurant on the pier, have been the subject of a lawsuit from Bradenton Beach Marina owners Allan and Mike Bazzy since November 2015. The Bazzys claim the city violated the Sunshine Law when it negotiated behind closed doors on a lease with AMOB.
The city leased the restaurant and two upland buildings to AMOB, which allowed AMOB owner John Horne to sublease the two upland buildings.
The Bazzys say the two accessory buildings upland of the pier only should be used to support the pier and the adjacent boat anchorage area.
In the past week, it became apparent that Paradise Boat Tours owner Sherman Baldwin, who leases one of the upland buildings, and the Bazzys have been trying to negotiate an amicable settlement.
Mayor Bill Shearon was copied on emails from Baldwin May 23 to Mike Bazzy, outlining — and subsequently on May 26 declining — the deal.
Shearon sent the email May 27 to Fred Moore, the attorney handling the matter for the city, and stated that “per our discussion,” there will be a shade meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at the police department conference room. He added that he would advise the commission that Baldwin had withdrawn from a Baldwin/Bazzy proposal.
Shearon copied the commissioners on the May 23 Moore email, including Commissioner Jake Spooner, who apparently sent the Bazzy-Baldwin email to the clerk, at which time it became a public document.
Shearon said he considered the email privileged — part of the ongoing litigation, and according to the Sunshine Law, correspondence concerning ongoing litigation is exempt until the lawsuit concludes.
In the email, Baldwin confirms four settlement terms he had negotiated with the Bazzys:
• The city will begin converting the anchorage into a managed mooring field and designate a harbormaster’s office at the pier in space currently under lease to AMOB.
• Focus Paradise Boat Tours at the Bradenton Beach Marina and buy fuel from the marina.
• Create a bait shop at the marina and focus the pier bait shop on marina services.
• Purchase a 49-passenger boat from the Bazzys.
In exchange, Baldwin stated in the email that the Bazzys were to agree to drop the current lawsuit and “not file further suits in this regard.”
In a May 23 reply, Mike Bazzy agreed on Baldwin’s points, adding the city would have to begin converting the anchorage to a mooring field “without delay.”
On May 26, after speaking with Shearon May 24, Baldwin sent an email to the mayor rejecting the Bazzy settlement proposal.
“This was a chance to work things out but it never got any further,” Shearon said, about ironing out the details of a settlement. He said he was surprised when Baldwin rejected the offer.
“As it stands right now, the offer is not in the best interest of Paradise Boat Tours,” Baldwin wrote to Bazzy May 29.
Shearon said the Bazzys believe “the marina should be the main commercial marina space in Bradenton Beach.”
Shearon added that negotiating the deal also was tricky because it made demands on the city.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection — which leases the submerged land the pier is built on — weighed in on the pier in February, saying the city could do whatever it wanted with the pier and buildings, as long as money wasn’t exchanged over the leased land.
The city filed for a summary judgment May 9 and the Bazzys threatened to submit a new complaint. As of May 27, no further complaints were submitted to the Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court.
The city is currently working with an ecological firm out of Sarasota on a study of the seagrass habitat in the anchorage area in order to apply for a submerged land lease from the DEP. The DEP’s permission is needed to create a mooring field.