After more than a decade of expensive litigation, the owners of the demolished Holmes Beach treehouse are seeking leniency from the municipality.
But it is proving to be a hard ask.
City commissioners unanimously voted May 27 to reject a request from Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen, owners of the Angelinos Sea Lodge, 2818 Ave. E., to reduce a $183,350 lien resulting from the treehouse drama.
In 2011, the property owners built a treehouse that the city and Florida Department of Environmental Protection found in violation of municipal and state law.
Litigation began in 2013, when the property owners filed a lawsuit against the city to contest the constitutionality of municipal codes that prohibit the treehouse.
Their lawsuit failed but a handful of others sprung up in its place — with the property owners ending on the losing side of each one.
A court order to demolish the treehouse was issued in February and it took place in August 2024.
While litigation concluded and the treehouse was demolished, the property owners still owed more than $370,000, including a $183,350 lien for a $50 daily fine for an unpermitted treehouse that ran from July 22, 2015, through Aug. 29, 2024.
As of May 27, the debt also included $191,375 in accumulated fines due to a $125 daily fine that began March 18, 2021, for renting units at Angelinos Sea Lodge without a city-issued vacation rental certificate.
The owners submitted a letter April 22 to the city requesting the reduction of the treehouse lien.
Tran said during the May 27 meeting that their property had been damaged by last year’s storms and they could not pay the city’s fines while also paying for necessary repairs.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer said reducing the lien would be the equivalent of allowing other taxpayers to pay more than $253,000 in attorney’s fees the city shouldered due to the property owners’ litigation.
Schaefer moved to reject the property owners’ request and his motion passed.