Government’s ‘Secret’ Land-Use Restriction Threatens Florida Couple’s Seafood Restaurant

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—For Robert and Anita Breinig, the Flash Beach Grille is more than a building.

To them, the seafood restaurant and catering business in Hobe Sound, Fla., is the culmination of years of hard work and represents their slice of the American dream.

“We started as a mobile caterer. We used garages as kitchens for home parties,” Robert Breinig said.

But after 17 years of sweat in the food-service industry, the couple’s dream has taken a nightmarish turn.

The owners of Flash Beach Grille are locked in a land dispute with Martin County public officials over a seemingly insignificant 40-by-70 foot area behind the restaurant.

In 2011, the small business entrepreneurs moved from a nearby storefront rental space—once a defunct pizzeria adjacent to a liquor store—to their current location at 9126 S.E. Bridge Road.

Inspired after a successful string of Monday night menu tastings, the couple decided to expand into the restaurant business. They moved into a larger stand-alone building and were excited to buy it, rather than lease.

After more than a year at the new spot, the Breinigs applied for a liquor license. As required, a county investigator performed a site inspection.

Several days later, the couple received a surprise.

“Property not in compliance with the approved development order,” stated a notice of violation from county’s Growth Management Department, Environmental Division.

“I was flabbergasted,” said Breinig.

In 1990, the county placed a conservation easement, or environmentally protected area, on the property. But the county never recorded it, and no one ever told the Breinigs.

“Within 30 days from receipt of this notice the white refrigeration unit, the blue storage container, and the large white [catering] trailer are to be removed from the preserve area and bring the preserve area into compliance with the approved planting plan,” states the first of two separate notices of violation.

A dumpster and two other trailers were also cited for removal. A code enforcement officer determined the items were within a 25-foot “landscape buffer” to the easement.

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