Litigation over a pair of Anna Maria vacation rental properties declared to be public nuisances didn’t last long.
City commissioners voted April 24 on motions to approve settlement agreements with the owners of property at 205 S. Bay Blvd. — Beach to Bay Investments Inc. — and at 313 Magnolia Ave. — Mangoes on Magnolia LLC.
Special magistrate Gerald Buhr, an attorney from Tampa-based Saxon Gilmore & Carraway law firm, declared the vacation units to be public nuisances last summer due to repeated noise ordinance violations at the properties.
City code deems three or more violations at a single property within a rolling 12-month period evidence of a public nuisance.
The designation allows the city to pursue litigation against property owners and management for injunctions for relief.
Buhr declared the vacation unit at 205 S. Bay Blvd. a public nuisance July 26, 2022, after reviewing three noise citations issued to renters from Sept 2021-March 2022.
Beach to Bay Investments owns the property, which is managed by AMI Locals.
Developer Shawn Kaleta serves as title president of Beach to Bay and title manager of AMI Locals.
Beach to Bay appealed Buhr’s order in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in August 2022, claiming the city violated its due process rights.
Attorney Michelle Grantham, from the Bradenton-based Najmy Thompson law firm, filed an initial appellant brief in February.
The city moved to extend the deadline to respond to the brief from March 8 to March 28 due to “the complexity of the constitutional challenges raised by Appellants, heavy workloads and ongoing staffing constraints”.
The extension was approved but, by March 28, the court had already approved a 30-day extension for the involved parties to conduct settlement negotiations.
The parties had until April 28 to negotiate a settlement agreement, and city officials met April 13 in a shade meeting to discuss the possible outcome.
A shade meeting allows public officials to discuss pending litigation with legal counsel in private as an exception to the state’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law, which guarantees public access to governmental proceedings.
The shade meeting minutes become public at the outcome of the litigation.
During the meeting’s public session, city officials agreed to hold another shade meeting April 24 to discuss the case.
However, by April 24, the shade meeting had become a special meeting, with a finalized settlement up for commission consideration.
The settlement agreement specifies:
- The city will withdraw the public nuisance designation from the property;
- If any verified noise citations occur at the property on or before July 24, the nuisance designation shall be reinstated for a 90-day period from the date of such citation;
- Beach to Bay will dismiss its appeal against Buhr’s order upon the settlement’s filing.
Commissioner Deanie Sebring noted a scrivener’s error in the agreement.
City attorney Becky Vose said she would write in a correction and recommended commissioners approve the agreement.
Commissioners unanimously voted to approve the settlement, with a revision to correct the error.
Mangoes on Magnolia
Buhr declared property at 313 Magnolia Ave. a public nuisance due to five noise violation citations issued to renters staying there from June 2021-March 2022.
The property is managed by Vacasa and owned by Mangoes on Magnolia LLC, of which Orlando resident Rajendra Patel is the registered agent, according to sunbiz.org.
Following Buhr’s ruling, the city filed a complaint in June 2022 for injunctive relief against Mangoes on Magnolia, asking the court to close rental activities at the property for a year.
Mangoes on Magnolia LLC responded by July 2022 and the case was moving forward as recently as April 21, when a witness and exhibit list for the case was released.
City officials discussed a potential settlement during an April 13 shade meeting, before the shade meeting on the Beach to Bay Investments case, and a finalized agreement made it onto the April 24 special meeting agenda.
The settlement agreement specifies:
- Mangoes on Magnolia LLC will be on a “form of probation” for one year, beginning when the settlement is signed by all parties, and if there are no further proven noise violations, the city will dismiss its case;
- If there is a proven noise violation, the vacation unit must be shut down for a consecutive six-week period that must commence no later than four months after the violation;
- In the event of any litigation regarding the settlement, the losing party shall pay the reasonable attorney’s fees of the prevailing party.
Commissioner Jonathan Crane said last time city officials discussed the case, they talked about an advertisement for the rental unit displaying a length of stay they wanted changed.
He said a representative from Mangoes on Magnolia LLC told the city it would change the ad, but it hadn’t.
Vose said the city was only legally interested in reducing noise from the property and was not concerned with how it was accomplished, including the advertisement.
She said she did not want to risk the city’s vacation rental ordinance by dictating ads or attempting to regulate length of stay.
Crane said he had a problem with Mangoes on Magnolia LLC’s failure to change the ad after the representative’s “promise.”
Vose said such a promise had never been made. She said problems had stopped at the property since it was labeled a public nuisance and the owners had installed noise meters to enforce a low noise level.
Vose said she “strongly” recommended commissioners approve the settlement.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the settlement.
Crane voted “no.”
There was no public comment on either item.
