Two of the three parties in Holmes Beach’s long-running treehouse legal battle are ready to come to the table.
Clearwater attorney Randol Mora, representing the city, wrote a letter June 21 to defendants Richard Hazen and Lynn Tran-Hazen, owners of the property at 103 29th St., stating the municipality is open to their mediation request.
The case began in 2011, when the property owners built the treehouse in an Australian pine tree beyond the erosion control line and without a permit on their beachfront property. The pair reside at the property and operate four adjacent vacation rental units as Angelinos Sea Lodge.
The city found the structure in violation of the municipality’s land development code and moved for its removal in 2013, sparking litigation with the owners.
The Hazens have been on the losing end of each ruling of several lawsuits and appeals over the years.
As of June 24, three circuit court cases on the treehouse remained open, but Judge Charles Sniffen had yet to issue a ruling on the aforementioned case and hearings have yet to be scheduled for the other two.
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied two petitions to review the Hazen’s treehouse failed cases.
However, the property owners have accumulated more than $105,000 in code violation fines from the city, which were unpaid as of July 9.
The defendants’ June 16 letter asked Sniffen to issue an order forcing the parties to resolve the matter through mediation.
Their letter stated the property owners wished “to avoid another legal action” and wanted to “stem the tide of excessive daily fines and stop the unnecessary litigation costs” with mediation.
Mora’s letter, filed for the record June 24, states the court-ordered mediation may have been unnecessary.
“Had you directed your request for mediation to the city’s litigation counsel, I could and would have given your proposed course of action the consideration it warrants,” Mora wrote. “… The city is amenable to the parties mediating in good faith to consider whether a global settlement arrangement is possible.”
“The city also desires to bring closure to this long-pending matter,” he added.
However, the third litigant involved in the treehouse lawsuits — the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — also would need to sign off for mediation to proceed.
Carson Zimmer, the DEP’s assistant general counsel, did not respond to a July 9 call from The Islander.