ANNA MARIA – The 60-day emergency building moratorium enacted on March 4 will expire on Wednesday, May 6.
The Anna Maria City Commission reached this decision with a 3-2 vote during the commission meeting conducted telephonically on Thursday, April 23.
Commissioners Joe Muscatello, Mark Short and Amy Tripp opposed extending the emergency moratorium for another 60 days. Commissioners Carol Carter and Jon Crane supported the extension.
After Crane’s first motion to extend was voted down, he made a second motion proposing a 30-day emergency moratorium instead, which failed by the same 3-2 vote.
The commission currently has no plans to implement a previously discussed six-month moratorium.
Why the moratorium?
Adopted before the coronavirus pandemic impacted Florida, the emergency temporary building moratorium was enacted to slow what was then perceived as a boom in the construction of single-family residences, including vacation rental homes.
The moratorium was enacted to provide the building department time to conduct a comprehensive review of the city’s building codes, and to suggest code revisions and new codes to better address drainage and flooding, construction staging and parking and more.
During Thursday’s meeting, City Planner Chad Minor said he and Building Official Luke Curtis have made significant progress in reviewing those codes.
During a previous commission meeting, Mayor Dan Murphy said he did not expect the building boom to continue due to the financial impact the pandemic would have on those who invest in vacation rental homes.
The emergency moratorium also provided Murphy time to research the implementation of a new impact fee program to be applied to the construction of new single-family residences.
During Thursday’s meeting, Murphy said he expects to have that program in place as early as August. He said impact fees will help pay for stormwater and drainage improvements, street and road improvements, recreational improvements and improvements that address sea-level rise.
After lifting the moratorium, the commission unanimously authorized Murphy to enter into a $39,100 professional services agreement with Raftelis Financial Consultants. That firm will assist in the creation and implementation of an impact fees program. Murphy said the consulting fees can be recovered through that program.
Commission comments
“It seems like we’ve got a good handle on this. I am for not continuing it,” Tripp said regarding the moratorium.
Muscatello asked Murphy if he was satisfied with the progress made.
“We’re a lot further ahead than what I thought we would be,” Murphy said.
Crane mentioned the continued volatility that surrounds the pandemic and the pending recovery process.
“It seems to me, with the governor and the county commission relaxing social distancing and other coronavirus communication measures, we may well go back into if not a boom, a quasi-boom,” Crane said regarding the potential demand for new construction.
“If we let the permitting go forward without impact fees, we’re missing out on the impact fees. We’ve been missing out on impact fees for years and it hurts us. There’s potholes everywhere you turn and there’s flooded streets everywhere you turn. I would like to see the moratorium continue – not just for the rest of the work that Chad’s doing, but also until the impact fees that we decide upon are in effect as well,” Crane said.
“I don’t disagree with what Commissioner Crane said regarding the impact that construction is having on the infrastructure of the Island, but I don’t believe there is a need to continue any type of moratorium with respect to new construction,” Short said.
Carter said she wanted to continue the moratorium for another 60 days because she agreed with Crane’s comments and she wants the building department to have more time to catch up on its backlog of work.
“I would imagine as soon as we stop any sort of moratorium, we will have a great flood of additional applications that would be made,” Carter said.
Public comments
Mason Martin Builders’ owner Frank Agnelli and Duncan Real Estate owner Darcie Duncan implored the commission to end the moratorium.
“Clearly we’ve had an issue with this pandemic. Our phones have stopped ringing. Therefore, we are still working on what we’ve already had going,” Agnelli said.
He noted the efforts to “jump-start the economy” would start soon and extending the moratorium would add confusion and uncertainty to that process.
“We’re already on our knees. We’re at the point where we are going to be running out of work. People aren’t jumping to buy or build or do any kind of renovations. There’s a lot of people out of work and I don’t think this is going to help. Half the houses on the Island were taken off the market because everybody knows nobody’s buying. I think this would really hurt us to push this thing another 60 days,” Agnelli said.
“From the real estate sales side of things there is no business going on whatsoever – and being on our knees is an understatement,” Duncan said.
“Regardless of what the governor is going to do, we see no one coming back. I think extending the 60 days does nothing except almost put a bullet in our heads. Our businesses are completely stalled. To think the faucet is just going to turn on with a flood of business is absurd. I just can’t stress enough how devasting this would be to extend it,” Duncan said of the moratorium.
