- March 10, 2026
Uncertainty remains with business owners in European Village in the wake of a recent license disagreement with the Dunes Community Development District.
“[There’s been] a lot of questions, really a lot of uncertainty,” Turtle Shack owner Danny Niday said. “No one really knew what the hell was going on.”
The issue began several months ago in October, according to Dunes CDD meeting minutes. The Dunes CDD owns the land directly underneath the Hammock Dunes toll bridge, including the overflow parking lot for European Village.
For years, the Dunes CDD has leased the use of the parking lot to European Village. Over the last several years, the Dunes CDD increased the annual rental amount from $20,000 to $35,000, said Scott Campion, a member of European Village Commercial Home Owner’s Association.
Campion said the HOA sent a partial payment to Dunes CDD asking for documentation and reasoning behind the increase. But, he said, the Dunes CDD did not send any information over. Instead, according to the Dunes CDD minutes, the CDD rejected the payment and placed first temporary, then permanent, gates at the entrances to its parking lot.
Without that parking lot, European Village customers can only use a limited number of spots surrounding the buildings or the public parking available across the street, at St. Joe Walkway Trailhead.
European Village made the payment in full before a February deadline set by the CDD, and the gates were opened. Mezzaluna Pizzeria Store Manager Lisa DiBitetto said they noticed an impact to business while the gates closed that lingers with the installation of the new gates.
The lack of parking especially impacted the guests who are elderly, she said — many of them can’t walk the extra distance from the other available public parking spaces.
“I think it scared a lot of people away,” DiBitetto said.
The new permanent gates, she said, also make people nervous that their cars will be locked in. But, she said, her understanding is that the gates will only be locked if the European Village’s HOA does not continue to pay rent.
“It's there as a warning to the HOA, basically, but it's scaring our patrons away,” DiBitetto said. “They’re nervous. It’s definitely a deterrent.”
Most of Mezzaluna’s customers are regulars, but, DiBitetto said, now that they’ve entered the busy season, she hopes people will quickly get used to the new gates.
Niday said the appearance of the gates has impacted their business at the Turtle Shack, too, though it's hard to tell by how much. He’s had a lot of questions from customers about what is going on, but Niday said not a lot of information has been passed on to the businesses inside European Village.
The whole issue, he said, seemed “pretty greedy and selfish” to him.
With the way everyone is getting squeezed by the current economic situation, he said, the scary part is there’s no way to know whether the rate will increase again. He’s worried that could mean an increase to the HOA fees he pays.
“What’s to stop them [Dunes CDD] from saying $100,000, $200,000, $300,000,“ he said. “There’s a lot of uncertainties.”
