SAFETY RISK OR 'WITCH HUNT'? Destin asks court to shut down popular Baby J's restaurant (PHOTOS)

Baby J’s on Destin harbor isn’t following the building code’s life/safety rules and needs to be closed, the City Council says.

“We have sent the restaurant owner ... a cease and desist order,” Land Use Attorney Scott Shirley said at Monday’s council meeting. “That has been ignored entirely.”

The council voted to have Shirley file in circuit court for an injunction to close the restaurant, which operates on a large, two-story boat. Shirley said the boat meets the legal definition of a “structure,” which means it has to comply with the city codes like any other business.

Baby J’s attorney Dana Matthews said neither he nor his clients had been told this would be discussed Monday, and that the city had agreed to wait until the Department of Environmental Protection reviewed the case.

“They’re doing a 180,” Matthews told The Log. “You never know from one day to the next, what their position is going to be ... We will vigorously defend against the witch hunt that’s going on.”

_______

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Leave a comment at the bottom of this story. The Log will publish the best opinions in its upcoming Overheard on The Web feature

_______

Baby J’s shares its harbor spot with a Baby J’s liquor store and Aloha Pontoon Rentals. Kisela said Monday that last year, the owners said Baby J’s would be an “accessory use” offering sandwiches and picnic baskets to pontooners, then “the next thing you know, this structure shows up. There’s been an ongoing battle for 10 months.”

Councilor Dewey Destin asked what made Baby J’s different from other dinner and party cruise boats. Shirley said the difference was, it didn’t cruise, and a boat that operates like a building is legally a “structure.”

“It’s not taking holiday parties out into the bay. It has not moved, it’s parked,” Shirley said. “It’s operating exactly like a restaurant.”

A November 2008 DEP report reached the same conclusion. It also said that Davis Companies LLC violated its submerged-lands lease by constructing a dock without authorization; taking up more space than its lease allows; and neither Baby J’s nor the landside businesses are listed in the lease.

Shirley said DEP’s decision isn’t final until the administrative appeals are over, and Destin’s Fire Marshall and Building Department say the safety hazards — Baby J’s needs a kitchen hood, a working sprinkler system and a second exit/entrance off the upper floor — are too hazardous to wait.

“We believe if they were serious about moving forward with a remedy they would have done so,” Kisela said. “We’re now 30 days into it and we haven’t seen the necessary action we’d like to see.”

Mayor Craig Barker said staff had never asked for council approval in a case like this, but Shirley said that’s because filing a cease and desist order is usually enough to produce cooperation. Shirley said that the city notified the restaurant 10 days ago that it planned to go to court, and nothing had changed.

Councilor Dewey Destin asked about the liability if the city shut Baby J’s down, then the DEP decided it was a boat. And could Baby J’s defend itself on the grounds that the same barge hosted functions on the harbor for several years?

Shirley said the city wasn’t basing its decision on the DEP’s ruling but on state statutes defining the authority of city building officials. Also, a “special functions venue” was legally different from a restaurant open every day.

Several residents have told The Log they love Baby J’s; Councilor Sam Seevers said Monday that she hates the idea of closing a popular and successful business. However, she said, life/safety issues are more important.

“Regardless of the good food or good service or whatever,” Councilor Tom Weidenhamer said, “by allowing someone to operate outside our laws, we allow them to have an advantage over anyone else with a similar operation in the city.”

“Tom’s exactly hit the nail on the head,” Councilor Kelly Windes said. “All the other establishments up and down the beach have to comply with very rigid standards. I’ve watched people beat the system over and over again — in this case they’re not just doing that, they’re putting people’s safety at risk while they do it.”

Matthews said the council’s decision was “rather reprehensible conduct” when both the city and the Fire Department had agreed to wait on the DEP. He said that if Baby J’s prevailed in the hearings, all the work and attorneys’ fees the city spent would have been wasted. As for Shirley’s claim of other statutory authority, “maybe they’ve got some new theory they’ve come up with in the last week or two.

“Baby J’s — all they want to do is be treated like everybody else. If you go up and down that harbor and go in all those buildings, see if all those buildings are being held to the same standard.”

Matthews said it was unbelievable that the city would shut down a business doing exactly what the council wants, drawing customers to Destin harbor.

The council voted 6-1 to file for an injunction, with Dewey Destin voting no. Shirley said that if the injunction was issued, Baby J’s would probably strike a deal and “we can come off a hardline stance.”