SANDDOLLAR CONSULTING
Owners/operators of the Brian Dunwoody House at
520 N. Spring Street, Pensacola, Florida 32501
Mailing Address
12525 Meadson Road
Pensacola, Fl 32506
March 9, 2011
The Honorable Ashton Hayward
Mayor, The City of Pensacola
180 Governmental Center
Pensacola, Florida 32521
Dear Mayor Hayward
The following is a timeline for our property at 520 N. Spring Street.
June, 1998
We notified the Pensacola Building Department that we were going to purchase the Historic property at 520 N. Spring Street, being used as
an art gallery/antique shop holding functions (since 1980) and restore it, according to the United States Secretary of the Interior Guidelines
on restoring historic houses, and then continue using it as an art gallery/antique shop holding functions.
July, 1998
Sanddollar Consulting purchased the property. The majority owner and
president was and is Mary Mead (me).
July, 1998 - May 2000
City Officials, mostly Mr. Bonfield, City Manager and Mr. Wilkinson,
Director of the Pensacola Building Department, illegally required a
Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant and used this illegal authority to force us to hire the contractor they wanted, remove
valuable artifacts from the structure of the house (railings, spindles,
overmantels, etc.) which were then stolen by the contractor, etc.
Officials were required to use the Standard Building Code (SBC)
which prohibited a new Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant.
Nov 18, 1998
The Florida Building Commission issued a Declaratory Statement, at my
request, regarding the illegal requirement for a Certificate of Occupancy
on change of tenant. Their findings were: Conclusions of Law Therefore
neither sections 3401.2.2.1 nor 3401.2.2.2 of the SBC require that a certificate
of occupancy be issued for the subject property. I sent copies of the
Florida Building Commission’s findings to all City Officials, the Mayor and
City Council Members. All of them ignored the findings and continued to
require a Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant.
Feb 11, 1999
City Council members approved Proposed Pensacola Ordinance 4-99 which
listed “minor changes” to the Land Development Code (LDC). These “minor
changes” now required a new Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant
which affected every building in Pensacola. City Officials now illegally
used the LDC instead of the official SBC to force us to undergo getting a
new Certificate of Occupancy even after I pointed out that the effective date
of the LDC was Feb, 1999, and we had not had a change of tenant as
we bought the property in July, 1998. City Officials stated that our
historic property would sit unused until it rotted if we did not submit.
We submitted to this force.
Aug 4, 1999
I had contacted the Pensacola City Officials, the Pensacola City Council
Members, the Florida Department of Business and Professional
Regulation (DBPR), the State Attorney, Florida Department of Law
Enforcement (FDLE), local politicians and the Governor, Jeb Bush,
and no one would stop the apparent illegal/criminal actions against
us and the people of Pensacola. I also spoke at Pensacola City Council
Meetings about the illegal actions. City Officials sent false statements to these
agencies and the agencies then refused to make City Officials stop breaking the
law. I also contacted local media, Pensacola News Journal, WEAR,
Independent News, etc., and none would report the apparent
illegal actions against the people of Pensacola, including us.
City Officials told Governor Bush that I had to appear before the
Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals. Governor Bush
told me to appear before this Board and, since, he said, they were impartial
and independent, they would make a decision based on the law.
I appeared before the Board on Aug 4, 1999, and they ruled against me
so that City Officials could continue the illegal practice of requiring a
Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant.
I researched the Board and found that Governor Bush had been misinformed
by City Officials. The Board members were not independent and impartial. All
but one member had contracts with the City, in violation of Florida State Laws
regarding conflict of interest in Advisory Boards. I immediately notified City
Council Members, who appoint members to these Boards, City Officials,
Governor Bush, etc. No one did anything to stop this apparent violation
of Florida State Laws. The majority of current Advisory Board members
still have contracts with the City and have been appointed and reappointed
to these Boards by City Council Members apparently still in violation of
Florida State Laws. I notified City Officials, and still do, that all rulings by
these Boards appear to be null and void as no quorum can ever be reached if
the majority of the Board members have a conflict of interest.
Jan, 2000
City Officials decided to stop the illegal requirements of requiring a
Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant and issued an ordinance
which was not officially published until May, 2000.
March 17, 2000
I had reported grand theft on the part of the contractor for stealing 3 antique
Overmantels made of mahogany and heart pine, @500 hand-carved heart-pine
spindles and the accompanying hand-carved railings and many other items, all
made in 1883 specifically for the house, and large amounts of building materials,
to the Pensacola Police Department 4 times and they had refused to take the report
and investigate the matter.
On March 17, 2000, Investigator Stone finally took the report, on the 5th reporting,
and did an investigation. His findings were:
Even though the contractor confessed to taking large amounts of our
property, Investigator Stone dismissed this as he said the contactor
said we owed him money. I gave Investigator Stone a copy of all
of the contractor’s invoices marked “paid in full” by the contractor
and told him that the contractor should have filed a “mechanic’s lien”
if he thought we owed him money and not committed grand theft.
Investigator Stone still excused the grand theft. The contractor was
charged in Santa Rosa County for cheating an elderly couple and
his license was revoked for 5 years. He was then arrested for
contracting without a license. He had many charges and unpaid
judgments against him and should have never been issued a contractor’s
license in Escambia County.
Investigator Stone met with Mr. Wilkinson, who said, “in reference to the
issue concerning Mead’s claim of unlawful charges for Certificate of
Occupancy permits, that his office was going by the City Ordinance which
had been in place for some time.” Even though I had given Investigator
Stone a copy of the illegal ordinance produced in Feb, 1999, he accepted
Mr. Wilkinson’s false statement as fact.
A worker had been observed removing copper downspouts from our
property and I made this part of the investigation. Investigator Stone
met with this individual and said, “He told Mead they were no good and
rusted beyond being re-usable and told her they needed to be thrown away.”
I informed Investigator Stone that copper does not rust, that the downspouts
were already over a hundred years old and would last many more hundreds
of years. This same worker had been seen removing huge amounts of
expensive paint from our property (blue, yellow, red and white) for use
on another property. Investigator Stone said it was not our paint as the
colors on the other property were green (blue and yellow) and pink (red and
white).
Investigator Stone, working with the State Attorney’s office, could find
nothing wrong and brought no charges nor returned our property to us.
May, 2000
We officially opened as authorized by the Director of the Pensacola Planning
Department, Mr. Doidge. No restitution was made to us for the damage done
to our historic property, the grand theft of our historic artifacts and building
materials, nor for stalling our reopening. We had to use our life savings, cash
in our retirement plan and refinance our residence to pay the $300,000.00 illegally
forced from us by illegal actions of City Officials.
We won the North Hill Preservation Association’s Award for best restored historic
property in 2000, and were on the 2000 NHPA Tour of Historic Homes. We were
vetted and approved to reopen under the grandfathering-in contingencies (parking,
operation, zoning) and, in addition, we met and exceeded all the current
ordinances regarding parking, zoning, etc. We were issued a business license in
2000, renewed it annually and it is good until October, 2011.
May, 2000 - Mar, 2005
We operated our business as authorized by officially being grandfathered. We operated
an art gallery/antique shop where functions were held as we were legally
authorized. We enjoyed collecting antiques and art pieces for resale. We also enjoyed the gallery nights, meet-the-artist nights, children’s tea parties, poetry readings, weddings, reunions, and other social functions which took place in our beautiful historic building especially the candlelight weddings (I supplied the candles and flowers free of charge) for young servicemen and women where I performed the marriage ceremony as I am a notary public.
During this time, we received no complaints from the City, our neighbors or our clients. We have followed the rules and have done no harm to our neighborhood. Neighbors and guests have indicated that we have added greatly to the appearance of the neighborhood.
Mar 19, 2005
Without notice and out of nowhere, a police cruiser showed up at 7:00 PM on a Saturday night, during a wedding, causing a disturbance by going the wrong way on a one-way street with lights flashing. The police officer said, loudly and repeatedly in front of many witnesses, that we were not authorized to have weddings. He said we were closed down altogether as we were breaking the law by having functions.
Mar 20, 2005
I called the desk sergeant the next morning and told him that we were authorized
to have functions but that we were closed down by a police officer. He said that if
we had functions a police officer would be dispatched and hung up.
On reading the Sunday paper later that morning, I discovered that City Officials
had decided to spend approximately 40 million dollars on a Community Maritime
Park to be built at the end of our street, Spring Street. Suddenly our property
became very important.
Mar 21, 2005
On Monday morning I called Mr. Cowper, Director of the Community Development
Department and told him that we were grandfathered and had been properly
reauthorized or vetted for operation, to include functions in 1999-2000, and that proper procedures, required by Pensacola City Ordinance Sec. 13-2-2. Authority to issue citations and citations procedure, for closing a business had not been followed as neither Code Enforcement nor any City Official had given us prior notice that we were in violation of anything.
Mr. Cowper said that we were not authorized to have functions and were completely
closed down. After 25 years of authorized operation as an art gallery/antique shop
holding functions, in the same location, our business was closed down with no reason
given other than functions were not authorized and we were having them so we were
closed down as punishment. There appears to be a conspiracy among City Officials as, after 25 years of peaceful operation, three City Departments closed our business down within 48 hours.
Jul 27, 2005
I contacted Ms. Melanie Nichols, the President of our North Hill Historic Preservation Association, about the illegal closing. She wrote to the Community Development Department for clarification for the Association. Ms. Morris responded that we had an office building and hosting events would change the occupancy, etc. All of Ms. Morris’s statements are false. We are not and have never been an office building, we have had a license for a retail shop since 1998, we classify for assemblies of less than 100 people.
Aug 15, 2005
We received an email from Mr. Cowper where he finally stated the specific reason for
our closing: “we have no record that a conditional use permit was ever approved by the planning board and city council for an art gallery.” And, “While I do not wish to see you sell your property I’m sure that you can understand that I must enforce the applicable zoning regulations. I encourage you to review the applicable zoning regulations and to restrict the use of your property to those allowed. “
Sep, 2005
Mr. Cowper sent an email, in answer to my many emails, where he admitted that we are
grandfathered as an art gallery/antique shop but he still, illegally, refused to recognize our grandfathered status to hold functions and still refused to allow us to hold functions, even gallery nights. He stated, “Based upon information and evidence presented by you along with city records that I have reviewed I am convinced that the use of the property for an antique store / art gallery is indeed grandfathered.” and “While I agree that the occasional art showing is incidental to an art gallery I do not think this extends to weddings and similar gatherings/functions/social events in the PR-2 zone.”
Sep 2005
I sent many emails to Mr. Cowper, Pensacola City Council Members, City Officials,
the State Attorney, DBPR, the Pensacola News Journal, FDLE, etc. I contacted as
many local, state and federal agencies as I could find. Each time, it appears that
when these agencies contacted Pensacola City Officials to see what the problem was,
City Officials sent false statements, as in the Certificate of Occupancy case and Ms. Morris as shown above, to cover up apparent illegal/criminal actions on the part of City Officials. The agencies believed these false statements and wrote me that they could do nothing, based on these false statements.
Apr 25, 2008
Mr. Cohen, the new Director, Department of Community Development, sent an email, in
answer to mine, regarding the City’s illegal restrictions placed on our property:
“I am sorry for the delay in my response to you.
This memo, however, is to reaffirm the City’s position that the use
of the property as an antique store and / or art gallery is a
grandfathered use that is allowed to continue. The property being
utilized for weddings and other similar functions, however, remains
an issue. There are accessory / incidental uses that would normally
be associated with and antique shop or art gallery, such as featured
art showings. That same connection is not apparent for weddings
and other similar social functions which tend to have a large
attendance and a greater requirement for the availability of off-
street parking; and therefore is not permitted. The PR-2 zoning
district allows limited commercial uses with conditional use
approval, and the continued use of your property as an antique shop
or art gallery (with no outside displays) is certainly permitted.”
Apr 28, 2008
It appears that, now, the reason for our illegal closing is a lack of parking. I emailed Mr. Cohen, “The number of off-street parking spaces provided for buildings constructed prior to October 13, 1994, shall be deemed in compliance with the requirements of this code, for as long as the same land use is maintained within the same building footprint.” (quoted from City Ordinance). For over a year, I emailed Mr. Cohen monthly reminding him that we were in compliance with all parking requirements and that we wished to operate as authorized. He has never acknowledged or answered these emails much less admitted that he was wrong about the parking. Mr. Cohen never answered this or any other email I sent.
Apr 28, 2008
Contact various officials reporting the apparent illegal/criminal actions against us – no one takes any Present action to stop these apparent illegal/crime actions. Some City Council Members and City Officials have insisted that we appear before the Zoning Board of Adjustments. We are in compliance with our zoning and don’t need an adjustment. All of the Advisory Boards I have researched, including the ZBA, appear
to be in violation of Florida State Laws as the majority of the members regularly
have contracts to do work for the City. This is classified as a Conflict of Interest situation and is forbidden by Florida State Laws yet Pensacola City Council Members routinely appoint and reappoint members to the Boards who have a conflict of interest.
I have pointed this out for over ten years and nothing has changed. I have also pointed out that it appears that no rulings of these Boards are legal as, since the majority of the Board members are in violation of the law, no quorum can ever be reached and without a quorum, no discussion or voting should take place.
Sep 9, 2010
It appears Florida State Attorney, Mr. Bill Eddins, the Pensacola City Attorney, Mr. Wells, and Pensacola Community Development Department employee, Ms. Morris discussed the answer Mr. Wells was going to send to Mr. Ramage of the FDLE regarding my reporting to FDLE the illegal closing of our small business, an art gallery/antique shop holding functions, on March 19, 2005. Mr. Wells sent the email to Mr. Ramage, FDLE, at 3:03 PM on 09/09/2010 to FDLE. Mr. Wells made many false statements in this email to the FDLE.
Mr. Wells stated to the FDLE that the reason we were closed is that we were violating Conditional Use requirements by having outside functions. This is a false statement and is impossible as we have never had nor do we now have a Conditional Use so we can’t possibly violate it. The first reason given for our closing, by Mr. Cowper in 2005, was that we did not have a Conditional Use and I had to point out then to Mr. Cowper that we did not need a Conditional Use as we were officially
recognized as being grandfathered after we restored our building in 2000. It is repeatedly documented that we do not nor have ever had a Conditional Use.
Mr. Ramage, FDLE, wrote to me and quoted Mr. Wells’ false statements to me, as fact and as an official reason why the FDLE was dropping my complaint, why the FDLE would not stop the apparent illegal/criminal actions against us and why the FDLE would not investigate.
The action on the part of FDLE in believing undocumented false statements by Mr. Wells instead of the heavily documented report I submitted concerns me as I am now questioning the findings of the FDLE in local matters where they have found that government officials were not guilty of an apparent illegal/criminal action. If FDLE, Mr. Ramage, had read the facts, surely he would have realized something so simple as we can’t violate the terms of a Conditional Use if we don’t have
one. I wrote to Mr. Bailey, Commissioner of the FDLE but he has not responded.
Feb 22, 2011
I resent the information I had sent on Jan 30, 2011 to all Pensacola City Council Members, again addressing apparent illegal/criminal actions on the part of Pensacola City Officials.
Mayor Hayward, our operation was a win-win situation. The people holding the function hired photographers, caterers, florists, even a limo a few times and out-of-town guests stayed in the nearby motel. Several local schools conducted walk-throughs of the historic neighborhood and I always invited them in for a tour of our building which was constructed before electricity, refrigeration, cars, and indoor bathrooms.
While we have had no income from our business property for six years, the expenses continue: mortgage payments, insurance payments, property taxes, electricity, water, etc. I recently paid our annual property taxes, @ $6,000.00, and what services have we received: the City Attorney, Mr. Wells, has refused to stop the apparent illegal/criminal actions against us; the City Attorney, again Mr. Wells, has made false statements about us to FDLE and others; Mr. Cohen, Pensacola Community Development Department, has made false statements to us and when I corrected him, he ignored us from then on; the Police Department closed us down and, since then, has refused to stop this; Mr. Coby ignored us from the beginning; the Pensacola City Council and Pensacola Mayors have refused to stop this; the Escambia County Sheriff (who also receives our tax money) has refused to stop this and on and on. Although we pay property taxes, we can’t use our property as we are legally authorized since we have been threatened with being charged with a crime if we do.
During the last 6 years, I have persistently asked for a legal reason for our closing. City Officials have given many different invalid reasons for our closing. We will have been closed for 6 years as of March 19,2011, and City Officials have failed to supply a valid reason for our closing but have refused to let us operate as we are legally authorized.
The stalling routine is: City Officials give a reason for our closing, no Conditional Use, and I counter with the reason we are legal, we are grandfathered. Then City Officials think of a new reason for our closing, no parking, and I counter with the reason we are legal, our parking is grandfathered to 1994 and, in addition, we exceed current requirements. The current reason for our closing is that we are violating our Conditional Use and I have countered with the reason we are legal - we don’t have a Conditional Use.
I am looking forward to this matter being settled according to local, state and federal laws so, with the help of my children and grandchildren, I can reopen our business and receive income from our investment property.
In addition, City Officials appear to be violating our United States Constitutional rights which is especially egregious since both my late husband and myself are veterans and served to protect and defend the United States Constitution.
Sincerely,
Mary Mead
cc: The Pensacola News Journal
WEAR
Pensacola City Council Members
Pensacolanewsletter2.blogspot.com
