The president of a condominium association already embroiled in one dispute with Holmes Beach over a boat canopy sent an email to city hall May 25 alleging “abusive police behavior” toward an employee of a company hired to trim mangroves.
“Is your police chief trying to intimidate us?” Graham asked in his email.
“I think the police chief has been after us ever since we went after the canopy,” said Alex Graham, president of Westbay Point & Moorings Condominium Association Phase III. Graham claimed in his May 25 email to Mayor Bob Johnson that an employee was pushed against a wall and frisked.
Westbay Point & Moorings at 6500 Flotilla Drive in Holmes Beach, is a cluster of townhomes developed in 1978-79 on Anna Maria Island Sound. It comprises four phases and four homeowner associations.
The condo association is pressing HBPD and West Manatee Fire Rescue to take down the new boat canopies that inhibit the views of some condo owners.
Chief Bill Tokajer said the alleged abuse “never happened.” He said an officer, investigating a complaint workers at Westbay had trimmed mangroves too much, patted down an employee who reached for a cigarette in his pants pocket during an interview.
Tokajer said it is police procedure to check for weapons or drugs with a quick pocket pat.
“This is not a case of abusive police behavior nor harassment by code enforcement,” Tokajer wrote in response to Graham. “This is a case of police and code enforcement responding to a citizen complaint and taking appropriate action to investigate and document the citizen complaint.”
Bronson Churchfield of Johnson’s Out of His Tree Service of Bradenton, the mangrove trimmer, signed an affidavit stating he was not manhandled.
“He did not slam or grab me,” Churchfield wrote.
HBPD officers were investigating a complaint that the mangroves were being trimmed illegally when the alleged abuse occurred.
But Westbay Point manager Bob McGlynn maintains the mangrove trimming is legal.
In 1996, the Mangrove Preservation Act grandfathered maintenance trimming previously permitted, McGlynn said, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection had previously issued Westbay a five-year permit dated Sept. 2, 1992, to maintenance trim its mangroves.
McGlynn cited a Florida statute that grants an exception for maintenance trimming of mangroves previously trimmed in accordance with an exemption or government authorization. Historically established maintenance trimming is grandfathered in all respects, according to the statute.
“These mangroves have been trimmed since Pat Neal got the property in 1996,” McGlynn said.
McGlynn said he instructed the employee to trim 10 inches from a year’s growth of 3 feet during the annual cutback. He said Johnson has handled Westbay’s mangrove trimming for 13 years.
The HBPD investigation determined the mangrove cutting could have exceeded state guidelines and sent a report to the DEP.
Shannon Herbon, DEP spokesperson, said June 2 the complaint was received and investigated.
She confirmed Westbay’s permit is valid and the trimmed mangroves were found to be healthy.
However, Tokajer says the dispute does not end there. He says the city survey will determine if Westbay illegally trimmed mangroves on city property.
Canopy controversy
On May 14, Holmes Beach commissioners said they would work with Westbay to soften the look of two new canopies on the dock at the city’s 63rd Street boat ramp.
The canopies that protect the WMFR and the HBPD rescue boats were permitted by the city in November 2016.
Graham said the condo association will decide whether to talk to a lawyer after the city makes its next move regarding the canopy.
According to Commission Chair Judy Titsworth, the city is awaiting completion of a survey.
“They are just dragging it out. I don’t know why,” he said in a phone call with The Islander.
Taking down the canopy would satisfy the people in the buildings whose property values have been affected, Graham said. It won’t fully mitigate the decision to place police and fire boats there in the first place, he said.
“I don’t think the boats should ever have been put there,” Graham said. “It’s the nicest park in Holmes Beach. They’ve taken a third of the park and made it difficult for people to launch (boats) there.”
Commissioners will meet next at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 13, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach.
