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Dock Owner Appeals To Council

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

PORT RICHEY - Tate Lundquist appeared before the city council in June with a video camera and a laundry list of grievances, threatening to take them to court.

At the time, Lundquist, who owns property along the Pithlachascotee River, was under fire from state regulators and city officials for running an illegal commercial marina.

Council members wanted him to explain what he was doing with the property.

But Lundquist was defiant. He sat in the front row, smirking sarcastically at council members and videotaping the meeting. He called the proceedings a 'witch hunt.'

'The only thing I did was improve the look of the area and put in some docks,' he said.

Tuesday night, Lundquist was back before the council - this time to request, in a much more conciliatory tone, a temporary business license to open a marina on the property.

'In the past I've been rude and somewhat boisterous,' he told council members. 'That was mostly due to my frustration with the city's administration, not with the council.'
Lundquist said he has been trying to build a marina and a bait shop on the property, but claimed he is being stonewalled by Ed Winch, head of the city's building department.

He wanted the council to issue a provisional license but didn't get very far.

Mayor Richard Rober told him the council didn't have the authority to circumvent the building department by issuing him a license before his application had been filed.

'By law, we cannot do that,' Rober said Thursday. 'He has to jump the right hoops.'

Councilman Mark Hashim, who put the license request on Tuesday night's agenda, said he thinks Lundquist has been treated unfairly by the city's building department.

'He's asking to be treated equally,' Hashim said. 'This is a property owner who wants to conduct business in the community, and the city has been preventing him from doing it.'

Strained Relations With City

Lundquist, who is developing the site under a limited liability corporation called Belleair Bluffs Properties, has had a turbulent relationship with city officials in the past year.

City records indicate Belleair Bluffs was issued permits to build the eight wet slips on the riverfront property last year. Even though the property is zoned for commercial use, the permits issued by the city required the slips be used only for residential purposes.

The city started investigating the use of the commercial-grade docks over the summer, acting on a tip that Lundquist was leasing wet slips and advertising the property as a full-service marina.

Some city officials had even seen shrimp boats tied up there overnight.

They also accused Lundquist of illegally converting two houses on the property for commercial use.

Case Opened Against Lundquist
In June, the building department slapped stop-work orders on the property and opened a code enforcement case against Lundquist because of his failure to allow a permit inspection.

Shortly after, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection got involved.

DEP officials say Lundquist applied for and received approval for regulatory exemptions that allowed them to use the property for residential, not commercial, boat docks.

But state regulators said he ignored restrictions on the state-issued permits.

Currently, the DEP is negotiating a settlement with Lundquist, but he could face a county judge and hefty fines in the future for violating the terms of the regulatory exemptions.

Thursday, Winch said the dispute over the marina proposal wasn't personal.
Lundquist just needs to follow the rules, he said.

'He knows what he needs to do,' Winch said. 'He just hasn't done it yet.'

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib .com.

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