TO: The Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
THROUGH: Jennifer W. Shuler, County Attorney
FROM: Susan J. Prado, Deputy County Attorney
DATE: April 7, 2025
SUBJECT: Calcutta Docks License Agreements
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BACKGROUND
An agenda item was brought to the Board back on November 19, 2024, to seek guidance on how to proceed with addressing issues that were discovered upon implementation of the license agreements that were adopted in 2022 for the Calcutta Docks. The directive to staff at the end of that meeting was the following:
· Have addresses issued to each dock
· The building department is in charge of all inspections dealing with the docks
· No person may have more than one dock license agreement
· The County Attorney’s office was to update the license agreement to reflect those changes including an inspection fee for the building department.
The question also came up on whether the dock license agreements can be revoked and I advised that I would research the subject further. I have done that research and conclude that the Calcutta Dock License agreements may be revoked. The use of the docks are exclusive and therefore this is a lease and not a license agreement. Due to the lack of term laid out in the license agreements this lease is a tenancy at will. A lease without a term becomes a tenancy at will pursuant to Florida Statute Section 83.02. When a tenancy at will exists then the tenancy may be terminated by either party giving notice pursuant to the time frames laid out in Florida Statute Section 83.03. Because the rent on the docks is collected on an annual basis the tenancy at will would be deemed to be an annual tenancy. See Fla. Stat. §83.02. An annual tenancy may be terminated by giving not less than three (3) months’ notice prior to the end of any annual period. See Fla. Stat. §83.03(1). There is also case law on point on th...
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