GREENLEAF ACCUSED OF VIOLATING PUBLIC-ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AT TIERRA VERDE MARINA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Tierra Verde Next

Melanie Coleman Simon, tierraverdenext@gmail.com, 727-458-8864

Raphael Perrino, astronomer49@yahoo.com, 703-307-5309

GREENLEAF ACCUSED OF VIOLATING PUBLIC-ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AT TIERRA VERDE MARINA

The Tierra Verde community has asked the State of Florida to pause all pending development applications by Greenleaf Capital until existing violations are fully investigated, corrected, and independently verified; the public access guaranteed by the sovereign submerged lands lease is fully restored; and the State and the public are made whole through recovery of all unpaid lease fees, interest, penalties, and other amounts lawfully due.

TIERRA VERDE, FLORIDA — August 3, 2026 — Tierra Verde Next has formally asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to investigate several apparent ongoing violations of the submerged land lease governing Tierra Verde Marina.

The land under the docks at any marina is not considered private property under state law. “Submerged land" is held by the State of Florida in trust for the people and to protect the environment. Tierra Verde Marina's owner, TV Investment Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Greenleaf Capital, is permitted to use those underwater lands only under specific lease conditions designated by the state.

The lease for the use of the Tierra Verde Marina clearly and specifically requires open use by the public. This and other requirements appear to have been violated routinely and deliberately. Tierra Verde Next has called upon the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to investigate and pause all pending applications for expansion by Greenleaf Capital until every existing violation has been corrected. In May, the City of St. Petersburg approved a site plan calling for two 72-foot-tall open-rack boat storage towers.

According to the existing submerged-land lease, at least 90 percent of the marina’s wet slips must be available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. The lease authorizes an 89-slip docking facility, meaning approximately 80 wet slips should be available for public rental.  According to marina staff, there are zero available to the public.

 “These waterways belong to the people of Florida,”  Tierra Verde Next spokesperson Melanie Coleman Simon said. “Greenleaf was given the privilege of using publicly owned submerged lands on the express condition that public access would be preserved. Instead, the public appears to have been pushed out while Greenleaf uses those same public waters to support private boat clubs, rental operations and other commercial users.”

The issue is simple, she said. “Greenleaf does not own the submerged lands beneath Tierra Verde Marina. The people of Florida do.”

Currently, not one wet slip is being advertised or made available to the general public. Slips that were formerly available to the public are now reportedly being leased to businesses including Freedom Boat Club, Suntime Boat Club, Tierra Verde Boat Rental and possibly the Tampa Bay Pilots Association.

The lease also requires permanent signs facing the water and at the land entrances to the marina informing the public that the slips are available on a first-come, first-served basis. No required public-access signs are being displayed.

Greenleaf appears to be following the same restrictive access plan in the future, since it has also committed under oath to the City of St. Petersburg 29 wet slips exclusively for Greenleaf’s restaurant and pool customers, in exchange for 29 automobile parking space credits.

“This is not a minor paperwork issue,” Tierra Verde Next Chair Raphael Perrino said. “The promise of public access was a central condition of Greenleaf’s right to occupy and profit from publicly owned submerged lands. Greenleaf cannot accept the benefit of a state lease while blatantly disregarding the obligations that come with it.”

Commercial income from public submerged lands

Tierra Verde Next has also asked DEP to determine whether Greenleaf Capital has improperly reported income derived directly or indirectly from the use of the state-owned submerged lands.

The large pilot vessels alone may purchase approximately 1,500 gallons of fuel per day.

Tierra Verde Next is asking the state to determine whether all income associated with these commercial activities has been fully and accurately included in the marina’s required lease-income certifications.  If it has not been properly reported, we request the DEP collect all back fees, interest, and penalties.

Greenleaf cannot privatize a public resource

Greenleaf is seeking governmental approval for a major redevelopment of the marina, proposing a substantially intensified private commercial operation on and adjacent to publicly owned submerged land.

Before Greenleaf is allowed to expand, the State must first determine whether it is complying with the lease it already has.

 “A company that appears unwilling to honor the existing conditions protecting public access should not be rewarded with permission to intensify its use of the same public resource,” Perrino said. “Let's be honest. This is not a marina in the sense that most people view a marina. This is a 72-foot industrial-scale open boat storage facility, not a marina. Greenleaf is being disingenuous, at best, by claiming that this monstrosity is a marina.”  

Tierra Verde Next is formally requesting the DEP:

1.       Conduct an immediate site inspection;

2.       Verify the number of wet slips genuinely available to the public;

3.       Determine whether the required public-access signs are present;

4.       Confirm whether an operational sewage pumpout facility exists;

5.       Audit whether all commercial and club income associated with the submerged lands has been properly reported and seek owed revenue, interest, and penalties;

6.       Issue a formal notice to correct any confirmed violations; and

7.       Consider all available enforcement remedies under the lease, including termination if violations are not corrected within the 20-day correction period.

The complaint concerns Greenleaf’s compliance with its existing lease and is separate from additional complaints regarding the pending redevelopment applications before state and federal agencies.

  Click here for the full DEP Letter.