Work has resumed at a Holmes Beach site where a teardown and construction were interrupted by a city stop-work order to investigate permit compliance and alleged dune destruction
A faded stop-work order issued July 7 by James McGuinness, Holmes Beach building official, remained taped to a front window Nov. 2 even as three painters from DF Quality Painting Inc. of Sarasota were at work inside.
“They are not supposed to be doing work there,” said Holmes Beach Mayor Bob Johnson a day later. “Code enforcement is checking on it.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved a revised construction permit Oct. 25 for the beachfront property at 102 77th St. in Holmes Beach.
But the first condition of the revised permit called for a preconstruction conference to be held on-site before work could be resumed. The conference would include the DEP’s Brandon Miller, the property owner — Shawn Kaleta — or his representative and contractors, with all proposed structure locations staked out.
“That conference has not been held,” Johnson said.
Louis Najmy, attorney for Kaleta, said the stop-work order has always been “much ado about nothing.”
Najmy said the city treatment of his client has been more “harassment than anything substantive.”
He said he made formal requests to Holmes Beach city attorney Patricia Petruff and McGuinness to lift the stop-work order after the DEP approved the revised permit, but is still awaiting their responses after a week.
“It is unfortunate the city is taking capricious actions like this, rising to unequal treatment,” Najmy said in an email to The Islander. “We’ve successfully dealt with situations like this before in other jurisdictions and we will do it again.”
In approving the revised permit, the DEP ruled the project will result in no significant impact to the dunes, beach areas or adjacent properties and is “appropriately designed” under Florida law.
The DEP also ruled vegetation at the site had been trimmed more seaward than authorized by the original permit, which is a violation of Florida law. McGuinness said the 1,200-square-foot allowance to clear vegetation for a pool was exceeded by 6,300 square feet.
When McGuinness suspended work at the site, he cited destruction of the dune and failure to comply with the DEP permit.
After an on-site investigation July 13, the DEP ruled no dune destruction took place, but the agency found the permit application was incomplete.
Under the revised permit, Kaleta agreed to remediate the property by replacing native vegetation that had been illegally cut or removed.
A swimming pool can now be built 212 feet seaward from the residence, according to the revised permit, rather than the 201.4 feet originally allowed.
The 1,398-square-foot home built in 1950 was purchased by Kaleta in 2016 for $2.2 million.