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The Pensacola Community Development Department appears to routinely break the law by allowing illegal actions on the part of some, particularly those in a position to wield influence, and punishing law-abiding people such as we are.
In two recent cases--both dealing with parking requirements, it appears that Mr. Cohen is violating City Ordinances. He and his Department approved and argued for a property, owned by the Bank of Pensacola, to receive a conditional use on DeSoto Street which did not have adequate parking, according to the City Ordinance, yet he says that we do not have adequate parking when we do, according to the City Ordinance. Council Member Nobles is affiliated with the Bank of Pensacola, as one of the many speakers against the conditional use request pointed out to the City Council and the public at large. There was also a citizen’s petition presented from those against the City breaking the City Ordinances in recommending approval for this illegal action.
At the City Council meeting on May 8, 2008, Mr. Cohen’s department participated in a quasi-judicial hearing regarding granting a conditional use to have an office building at 9 W. DeSoto Street in the historic district. This building is on a narrow road, not a major artery, there is inadequate parking, and the setback is only 5 feet when 10 feet is required yet the Pensacola Community Development Department recommended approval to the City Council.
Many of the statements made at this City Council meeting by Ms. Morris, representing this Department, were false. She indicated that the determination of parking spots should be made on square footage less storage space which would require 9 parking spots. This is contrary to the City Ordinance, quoted below, which specifies that the determination of parking spots should be made on gross square footage which would require at least 13 parking spots.
Sec. 12-3-1. Off-street parking spaces requirements.
Off-street parking is required in all zoning districts, except as provided below. The following off-street parking is required by this chapter.
(A) General provisions.
(1) Area calculations based on gross square footage.
Ms. Morris indicated that the applicant complied with the setback of 5 feet but the setback required is 10 feet. She then indicated that the City Council could waive the required setback of 10 feet.
9 WEST DESOTO STREET
Parking spaces #1-5 are at the back of the property (bottom of the page), #5 is the handicap space, #6-7 are on the side of the building, and #8 and the bike rack are in the front yard.
As for parking, the Planning Department and engineers helped with the proposed parking arrangement by actually drawing the plans wherein one vehicle and a bike rack would be parked in the front yard of the North Hill Historic District. Also, the convenient subtraction of storage space from the square footage resulted in just enough parking spaces for the interested party to avoid costly requirements such as paving and lighting. Thankfully, the City Council voted to deny this request even though the Community Development Department, the Architectural Review Board and the Planning Board had recommended and argued for approval.
At this meeting, Ms. Wilhelm, President of the North Hill Preservation Association, of which we are members, stated that there was no problem with businesses which had been grandfathered -in and especially those on major arteries in North Hill. That describes us.
Another recent case inappropriately handled by Mr. Cohen is our case. We are legally grandfathered in, based on City Ordinances, for an art gallery/antique shop, functions and parking and were properly vetted in 2000. Our PR-2 zone codes freely permit the functions we hold. No legitimate complaints have ever been filed against us – we had one noise complaint in over 10 years from an individual who is acknowledged to be supersensitive. Even though we comply with all City Ordinances, Mr. Cohen insists that we do not comply with parking requirements and is keeping us closed down. I have included pictures of our parking spaces, both off-street and on-street.
We come to our current status with clean hands – we have carefully followed all processes laid out by City Ordinances. We were properly vetted in 2000. We closed our business in 2005 as demanded by the Police Department and by the Director of the Community Development Department and we tried to mitigate our loss by immediately, consistently and continuously pointing out that closing us down was and is illegal and requesting that these illegal activities be abated and that we be allowed to reopen our legally sanctioned business.
The Community Development Department Officials come to the current status with a record of violating Pensacola City Ordinances in this case. City Ordinances specifically require a code enforcement official to notify the property owner of a possible violation and that a citation be issued spelling out the violation. This was not done and has never been done. Instead, the Pensacola Police Department was used in a code enforcement capacity.
Mr. Cohen of the Community Development Department is insisting that we go before the Zoning Board when we have not violated our zoning.
Officials of the Community Development Department have not followed the correct legal procedure of prior notification and issuing a citation.
OUR PROPERTY AT 520 NORTH SPRING STREET
THE ENTRANCE/EXIT TO OUR PARKING LOT LOCATED ON JACKSON STREET
BOTTOM – OUR PARKING LOT FROM THE WEST END (SPRING STREET)
ON-STREET PARKING ON SPRING STREET IN FRONT OF OUR PROPERTY (BLUE WALL ON THE LEFT) FACING SOUTH
ON-STREET PARKING ON SPRING STREET FACING NORTH
PART OF THE ART GALLERY –ALL ARTISTS LEFT AFTER WE WERE CLOSED
THE BOTTOM PICTURE IS PART OF OUR ANTIQUE SHOP SETUP
A TYPICAL WEDDING IN THE GAZEBO/PATIO
WORDERFUL FOOD – WE HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE TO HAVE EXCELLENT
CATERERS TO RECOMMEND FOR FUNCTIONS
At this point, the correct remedy is an abject apology for the false and illegal actions against us and depriving us of enjoyment in our business for the last 4 years, written permission to reopen, an investigation into apparent illegal/criminal activity on the part of the City Council, the Community Development Department, the City Manager and the Pensacola Police Department and restitution for their activity depriving us of income from our legally authorized business property for almost 4 years.
We deserve to be treated fairly and to be allowed to follow the law regarding our business.
I am forwarding emails I have sent to Mr. Coby, Mr. Cowper and Mr. Cohen under separate cover.
We have deep concerns about Pensacola City Boards. City Boards were established by the City Council in 1994. The City Council immediately appointed members who regularly do business with the City (DeFacto employees of the City). This is in violation of the required makeup of boards who are supposed to be impartial and independent. It also appears to be in direct violation of the Florida Statutes on conflict of interest.
The Chairman of the Zoning Board, whom Mr. Cohen insists that I appear before, is Tam Landis, the former Assistant Director of the Pensacola Building Inspections Department who made many illegal demands on us personally – Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant, replacing rafters approved by property inspector, unnecessary construction which destroyed some of our historic property. The damage to our historic property caused by the illegal demands of the Pensacola Building Inspection Department was more than we suffered during Hurricane Ivan when the shingles were blown off our roof and two trees fell on the east wall of our house. My husband and I did the construction work ourselves on the tree damage. We were able to use all of the damaged longer clapboards to repair damaged shorter clapboards thereby retaining as much of the original wood as possible unlike the unnecessary construction forced on us where the original wood, spindles, overmantels, sconces, etc. were illegally carried off (read stolen). Another member is Rhette Anderson who is a former Pensacola City Councilman. Another member is E. Dean Dalrmple, Jr., an Architect who worked on property owned by the City, 600 S. Barracks St (the Fish House).
The Planning Board, cited above for illegal approval of the 9 W. DeSoto request, consists of 7 members (1 non-voting) of whom 6 do business for the City. Impartial and independent – I don’t think so.
Since 6 of the 7 members of the Pensacola Planning Board do business with the City, this means that 84% of the Board Members are DeFacto employees of the City. To avoid conflict-of-interest concerns, none of the Board Members should be individuals who do business with the City. Of the 7 members of the Pensacola Planning Board, 2 are architects, two are realtors from large real estate firms, 1 is from the Bank of Pensacola and two are owners of businesses. The rules require that 1 should be an architect nothing else is specified. There are no members of this board who appear to represent average citizens such as my husband and myself.
During this meeting, the Planning Board discussed the request for conditional use at 9 W. DeSoto Street. The minutes state:
“City Staff and utility providers have reviewed and recommend approval of the request. On March 20l, 2008, the Architectural Review Board reviewed and approved the site plan and building renovations.”
The City Staff, the Architectural Review Board and the Planning Board all violated Pensacola City Ordinances in approving the site plan as you have seen from pictures shown above.
Bullock Tice Associates (BTA)
People John P. Tice Jr., CEO, FAIA; Mike C. Richardson, AIA; Jon R. Molloy, AIA CSI; Doug S. Ashley, RA; Jean Wallace; Bob Maggiore, RA; Jason Scarbrough, RA; Larry Adams, Jr., AIA; Keith White, RA; Paul Ritz, RA; Lee Goodson, AIA; Linda Sawyer, AIA; Luann Hecht, ID; Maryanne V. MacNeil, ASID;
Address 909 East Cervantes
Our Clients
Board of County Commissioners, Escambia County, FL
Board of County Commissioners, Santa Rosa County, FL
Board of County Commissioners, Bay County, FL
Board of County Commissioners, Walton County, FL
Board of County Commissioners, Okaloosa County, FL
Board of County Commissioners, Baldwin County, AL
Board of County Commissioners, Mobile County, AL
City of Tallahassee, FL
City of Fort Walton Beach, FL
City of Pensacola, FL
City of Chipley, FL
City of Destin, FL
City of Tallahassee, FL
City of Mobile, AL
As you can readily see, one of the clients (or employers) of Bullock Tice is the City of Pensacola yet members of this organization sit on at least two Boards of the City:
Pensacola Planning Board Paul Ritz Bullock Tice Associates
Pensacola Gateway Board Larry Adams Bullock Tice Associates
Mr. John Tice, CEO of Bullock Tice Associates, regularly attends these meetings with his employees who sit on these Boards and is regularly awarded contracts with the City. This appears to be a conflict of interest and looks very bad for the City Council who appointed the Board Members. This situation should be immediately corrected.
Another Company who does business with the City and has members of the organization sitting on Pensacola Boards is Quina Grundhoefer Royal Architects. Mr. Carter Quina is a member of the Architectural Board and Mr. Grundhoefer is chairman of the Code Enforcement Board. Quina Grundhoefer Royal Architects is currently working on the Sanders Beach project for the City. Again, this is an apparent conflict of interest.
An additional Company who does business with the City and has members of the organization sitting on three Pensacola Boards is Moulton Properties. Mr. Bob Moulton sits on the Planning Board and the Architectural Review Board. His brother, James C. Moulton, also of Moulton Properties sits on the Construction Board of Appeals and Adjustments.
The majority of Board members, across all Boards, are developers (real estate and/or architect) which appears to lend credibility to the complaint by many citizens that Pensacola is being led by developers, a special interest group. These Boards do not appear to include average citizens. These Boards do not meet at a time convenient for average citizens to attend but the CEO of Bullock Tice and other companies doing business with the City can and it appears to be to their advantage to do so. The City Council refuses to set the meeting time of these Boards at a time where the average public can attend even though speakers at Council Meetings have asked.
One resulting legal consequence of this illegal bias favoring developers who do business for the City appears to be that if too many Board members do not meet the criteria and are not authorized to sit on the board, no quorum can be reached and this might negate all decisions previously made by the Boards.
The Construction Board of Appeals and Adjustments has many problems, the major one is violating Florida Statutes, Standard Building Codes and City Ordinances which control construction. The Board Members ignored all exceptions which specifically excluded historic properties because they didn’t like it – no matter what the law dictates.
The Construction Board also excludes the public from at-large public positions (2) on the Board. Mr. Dewey A. Miller, Alt. At-large public, has an air-conditioning business and Mr. Myles B. Sampson, At-large public, is an architect. Both are in the construction business and do not represent the non-construction public.
Freedom of information I am requesting access to all information you have received concerning my husband (Eugene L. Mead, Jr.), myself (Mary M. Mead) or our property (520 N. Spring Street). Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
We are not asking for a favor, for a waiver or for anything not permitted by law. We are, however, again asking that, as City Council members, you follow the law and insist that City Staff, through the City Manager, also follow the laws instituted by our elected officials. Since we are and always have been in compliance with all ordinances especially parking requirements and assembly requirements (under 100), as I have consistently and constantly pointed out for almost four years now, I am again asking that you, as City Council Members, take the steps that I have outlined above.
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During the two years since I sent this correspondence to Mayor Wiggins and the Pensacola City Council Members, nothing has changed. All of them seem to see nothing wrong with violating Florida State Statutes as they appear to continue doing exactly that.
In addition, neither Mayor Wiggins nor any Pensacola City Council Member honored my request for information they had received about us, in violation of the public informamtion laws.
At the Pensacola City Council Meeting of 9/23/2010, Mr. Carter Quina, Quina Grundhoefer Royal Architects which does business for the City (defacto employee), was reappointed to the Pensacola Architectural Review Board. At the Pensacola City Council Meeting of 1/28/2010, the Pensacola City Council had awarded $81,770.00 to Quina Grundhoefer Royal Architects per RFQ #09-0361. At the Pensacola City Council Meeting of 9/24/2009, Mr. Grundhoefer was reappointed as chairman of the Code Enforcement Board. Quina Grundhoefer Royal Architects worked on the Sanders Beach project for the City which cost millions. Again, this is an apparent conflict of interest according to the following Florida State Statute.
The 2010 Florida Statutes, Title X PUBLIC OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND RECORDS
Chapter 112 PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES: GENERAL PROVISIONS
112.313Standards of conduct for public officers, employees of agencies, and local government attorneys.—(1) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the term “public officer” includes any person elected or appointed to hold office in any agency, including any person serving on an advisory body.
(7) CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP.—
(a)
No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he or she is an officer or employee, excluding those organizations and their officers who, when acting in their official capacity, enter into or negotiate a collective bargaining contract with the state or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision of the state; nor shall an officer or employee of an agency have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his or her private interests and the performance of his or her public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his or her public duties.
(8)
DISCLOSURE OR USE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION.—A current or former public officer, employee of an agency, or local government attorney may not disclose or use information not available to members of the general public and gained by reason of his or her official position, except for information relating exclusively to governmental practices, for his or her personal gain or benefit or for the personal gain or benefit of any other person or business entity.
According to the above, members of the Pensacola advisory boards (Planning Board, Code Enforcement Board, Architectural Board, etc.) are "public officers" and, as such, are subject to this Florida Statute which states that no public officer "shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he or she is an officer or employee". The vast majority of board members are owners of or employees in companies, corporations, business, etc. which specifically do business for and with the City.
I also stated: “There are many other cases which I, and others, can bring to your attention if you would be interested in fixing legitimate violations.” Not one addressee appeared to be interested as I have received no queries about violations to be remedied.
ProBoKnows Restaurant at 400 West Gregory Street, Pensacola, Florida
The following case is also from the email I sent, on February 23, 2009, to the Pensacola Mayor (Mayor Wiggins) and each Pensacola City Council Member after the swearing in of the new Pensacola City Council Members the month before.
In another case, false statements by employees of this Department, regarding parking, were also used to illegally grant a conditional approval of a Series 2 COP alcoholic beverage license for ProBoKnows Restaurant located at 400 West Gregory Street. In addition, a Certificate of Occupancy was issued for ProBoKnows Restaurant (from a Men’s Wear Consignment Shop) when it seems that the building was not in compliance with building standards and parking codes. The square footage requires at least 16 parking spaces. There are only 7, one extends over the sidewalk, yet they are open and we are closed.
400 WEST GREGORY STREET
