County says Medallion Home cleared trees for commercial project, not for cows

Medallion Home was issued a code violation Thursday for what the county alleges was an improper tree clearing operation.

The 32.65-acre plot of land on the northeast corner of Whitfield Avenue had been a sight for sore eyes for those who live near it. Since February, Mary DeLarco has driven past the piles and piles of dead trees and upended roots.

“My concern is that there are rodents, snakes, possums, disease-causing mosquitoes living in there,” she said.

From March to September, there had been 10 inquiries opened into the 4831 Whitfield Ave. property, which is zoned with agricultural exemption. Each time, code enforcement officers had either surveyed the cows on the property or corresponded with either Southern Manatee Fire & Rescue or Medallion Home about the inquiry.

When hurricane season started, DeLarco started to wonder if the trees would become projectiles into her neighborhood, Carlyle at The Villages of Palm Aire.

“When we had (Hurricane Irma) come through, I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen to this wood?’” she recalled.

After the storm passed, the cows had been walking around in knee-high water, DeLarco said.

The property owner is listed on the property appraiser’s website as Parkway Land Trust No. 1, with Margo Holeman as the trustee. She is with Medallion Home and also sits on the Aqua One Community Development District.

According to a letter dated Sept. 27 sent from Assistant County Attorney Katharine Zamboni to county commissioners, Holeman had told code enforcement that the property was cleared for cattle food. Pete Logan, Medallion Home president, also had said the land was cleared under the agricultural exemption, according to the letter. They would not burn the debris piles, as the property is too close to neighborhoods, and there were no plans to remove them.

“(Holeman) failed to address how maintaining the piles of vegetative debris is an activity related to cattle grazing,” Zamboni wrote in part.

But code enforcement also was not notified of an environmental resource permit issued by the Southwest Florida Water Management District last year, which gave the green light for constructing a stormwater management system for a commercial project on the property.

“Based on the foregoing, I am of the opinion that the land clearing, including the removal of trees, on the subject property was more likely conducted in preparation of the mass grading construction project authorized by (the permit), rather than as a bona fide farm operation activity,” Zamboni wrote.

Manatee County code enforcement chief Jeff Bowman said Holeman signed the notice of violation Thursday.

“We were trying to compel voluntary compliance,” Bowman said.

Bowman said the property owner has 60 days to remove the trees.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 5:34 PM with the headline "County says Medallion Home cleared trees for commercial project, not for cows."