Manatee inspector says bosses dropped complaints about property tied to Sarasota official

A Manatee County code enforcement officer says her department has not properly investigated complaints about construction of a new home for the Sarasota Medieval Fair in Myakka City, because the property owners are family of Sarasota County Building Official Kathy Croteau and her son Jeremy Croteau.

Tanya Shaw, who has been a code enforcement officer in good standing with the county for three years, said a site plan for the property was never submitted to the county and the current development well exceeds any permits and exemptions currently on file.

Shaw said her attempts to get the property owners to abide by county codes have been stymied by her supervisors because of their connection to Kathy Croteau.

“At first, my supervisors were supportive in getting this resolved,” Shaw said. “The property was listed under a corporation so it took a little longer to find out who the owner was. My supervisor Tom Wooten found out and said, ‘Oh no, do you recognize her name?’”

John Barnott, director of Manatee County’s building and development services department, said he is investigating how his department handled this case.

“There’s no special treatment given to anyone in this situation. We can’t do that,” Barnott said.

“This is a full-blown investigation,” he said. “I want to know why a stop order wasn’t issued. I want to know what happened and who did it. This case just came to my desk a few days ago and I want to know everything that happened. This is an active and ongoing investigation.”

Shaw first began investigating the property in November after receiving complaints from the neighboring families of Russell Ireland and Amy Grosse that the development was redirecting storm water onto their properties.

“I went to that to that property, but wasn’t allowed in, but I saw tons of heavy equipment that was clearing the property,” Shaw said. “I asked one of the workers what was going on and found out there was no site plan and nothing in our system as far as permits.”

Shaw was initially told by a worker on the site that the development was for a nursery.

Shaw brought the case to her supervisors who were anxious to find out what was going on, as well, until they discovered in January who the property owner was. That’s when things changed dramatically, according to Shaw.

The property at 29847 S.R. 70 is listed under the corporation name MALLARANNY LLC, which code enforcement tracked back to the Croteau family, according to Shaw.

After denying any involvement with the property or its development, Croteau referred all questions back to fair organizers, who did not respond for comment.

Shaw said she didn’t care that Croteau is the Sarasota County building official, and in fact, that made it worse because she should know better.

“She should not be coming into our county and doing things that are not right,” Shaw said. “I got up from my desk and walked into my chief’s office, but my chief (Jeff Bowman) directed me to call Mr. Ireland and say there are no violations. I said I’m not comfortable with that and he directed me to close my case.”

Shaw refused. Wooten then gave the case to Chet Brown, who closed the case, Shaw said. Brown was subsequently promoted to supervisor within days of the closure.

Code enforcement officer stays on the case

From January through the beginning of March, Shaw continued to work behind the scenes with the Ireland and Grosse families despite the case being closed. When, after a light rain in early March, she received photographs of flooding from Ireland, Shaw tried again to convince her supervisors to investigate the case, without success.

On March 17, Shaw wrote to Wooten and Brown about still waiting for a response to Ireland’s photos showing that rain water was no longer making its way from the construction site into Olgeby Creek as designed.

In an email the same day, Brown reminded Shaw that the case was no longer hers to investigate and that he would personally handle the investigation.

Shaw said she was told to stand down, but she requested in a March 17 email that any stand-down order be delivered in writing. She noted she would continue to do her job as a code enforcement officer in assisting residents.

“Their (Ireland and Grosse) properties and lives have been directly affected by these property owners and their disregard for doing things in our County properly due to Kathy Croteau’s position and personal/professional relationships within our County. They have impacted wetlands and the floodplain along with the laundry list of other violations.”

“Although you told me ‘there are no wetlands or floodplain’ I disagree with you as does our Storm Water division and (the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud),” Shaw went on to write “You had the choice to do the right thing as I told you at the end of the day OUR names are written on these cases we are told to close or are closed out for us. You chose wrong.”

Wooten responded by reminding Shaw that the case now belonged to Brown. “There is no need for you to do anything else regarding this case.”

More complaints, more cases closed

Two additional complaints from neighbors were filed after Brown closed the original case in January. Shaw said those two cases were closed shortly after they were opened.

“It was never re-investigated,” Shaw said. “I was now talking with Chet Brown and he told me I didn’t have to worry about it and that it was going to be closed and there are some questions about who closed it again. I’m tired of the favoritism and professional courtesies shown in cases like this one.”

By early March it became clear that other county departments that would be part of project like this were not involved. According to a March 10 email from Darin Rushnell, from the county’s stormwater division, the department, “was unaware of any development activity.”

Shaw said she has now been told to stop communicating with Swiftmud and the Florida Department of Transportation, which began looking into the case due to concerns about festival traffic on State Road 70.

FDOT officials did not return a call for an update of their review.

“At the end of the day, I’m not lying or going down for anybody. They are lying,” Shaw said. “They left that area vacant when they made me switch zones so nobody would be out there and that’s how it is today.”

Wooten assigned Shaw to a different “zone,” or area of responsibility and also switched her from Brown’s supervision to his, according to emails this month. Shaw said there is currently no assigned code enforcement officer to the Myakka City area.

Ireland has hired an attorney who has made an official public records request for all of the associated documents and emails regarding this case.

“The project continues to be developed,” Ireland said. “You can’t bring in 200 yards of fill without a permit and at this point, it’s been well over 2,000 yards.”

The emails between county staff and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection confirms a steady stream of dump trucks bringing in fill.

“They told me they would make them fix this but they are very nonchalant about it,” Ireland said. “They were advertising the fair before they ever developed the property, but they never submitted a site plan.”

Barnott said his code enforcement staff continues to be denied access to the site, but Ireland said he sees a Manatee County truck on the site at least once a week.

“I thought they were being more diligent, but basically everything that has come back to me from the county says the case is closed,” Ireland said. “It blows my mind. I called FDOT about the entrance way and he walked around and looked at it. He was upset and told me they lied to him.”

Ireland said construction has escalated in the past three weeks to 24 hours a day. His farm manager’s house is only a few dozen feet away from the property line and Ireland said his manager’s children can’t sleep.

“It’s absurd that they would allow this to be developed. It’s silly,” Ireland said. “Anybody that looks at this property, you can see it’s more than what they are saying. Now there is a bulldozer preparing to blacktop it. Nobody does anything.”

What is being built on property?

Shaw, as well as the Ireland and Grosse families, say they were initially told that construction crews were renovating an old nursery on the property. Ireland said Jeremy Croteau then told him after construction intensified that it would also be a wedding venue. He ultimately revealed the intent to host the Medieval Fair.

In the fair’s announcement, it doesn’t list an exact address but the directions listed pinpoint the location back to the property. They also announced that the fair’s new home would be called The Woods of Mallarany, the same name as the corporation listed as the owner of the property.

Other state agencies are now involved and the property owners have been warned that development of an entertainment venue does not qualify for the ag exemption currently in place.

In emails obtained by the Bradenton Herald, Jeff Whealton, of the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s resource permit bureau, issued the first warning on March 9. Swiftmud became involved when the agency learned of neighbors’ complaints that the development was altering water flow onto their properties.

“There have been claims made that this won’t JUST be a nursery in the future, but rather an entertainment venue,” Whealton wrote on March 9 in communications with the county. “I’ve warned the owners that if they veer outside what would be ag exempt, then they will be in in an ERP mode,” meaning they would need an environmental resource permit.

The next day, Mark Luchte, agricultural regulation program manager for Swiftmud, wrote to Shaw, noting he agreed with her assessment that the ag exemption was being violated. The exemption does not allow for the removal of dirt or doing any construction that would alter water flow.

“I’m in 100% agreement with you,” Luchte wrote to Shaw. “In my opinion, this is not preparation for future production agriculture and gives true agriculturists a bad reputation. I think the landowner has been very misleading to our helpful SWFWMD staff and my recommendation is to now send this case to our Office of General Counsel (OGC) for construction/site prep without an ERP. I’ve voiced my opinion but once it’s beyond ag, others here take the lead.”

Code officer pushes for investigation

Shaw continued to email her supervisors about the case over the past three weeks. As she continued to press the issue, construction escalated.

“They first started doing some clearing at the entrance way off of 70,” Ireland said. “We didn’t think too much of it because it used to be a dump site so we were happy to see some cleaning happening. Then they started doing a lot more clearing and all of a sudden there was huge heavy equipment on the property knocking trees down by October.”

Ireland became concerned about how the construction would affect water flow at that time and called the county, which confirmed that there had been no permits filed for the property. Ireland was put in touch with Shaw in November. By January, communication from Shaw had stopped so he gave her a call.

“She said sorry, she was told to stand down,” Ireland said. “She did what she could for us in trying to advise us to call the county commissioners and I did. I spoke to an administrative assistant for Commissioner (Vanessa) Baugh and two hours later I got a short email saying the case is closed.”

Shaw, in the meantime, was still battling with her supervisors, according to the emails, refusing to let the case go. She demanded answers as to why her case was closed without her knowledge and why her supervisors refused to adequately investigate the development.

Shaw provided her supervisors with proof regarding the fair’s announcement, multiple photos of construction, other structures that require permits and photos showing the flooding issues the development was creating for the neighbors. The photos show areas of the properties that have never flooded, now underwater, even after a light rain late last week, according to Ireland.

Barnott acknowledged that the emails are “concerning” to him. He said he hopes to have some resolution to this upon the completion of his own investigation. Barnott initially said he might have it resolved by Friday, but he has taken time off and won’t be back until Monday for further update.

This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 3:12 PM.