HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Island was the place to be for good food, great music and a most colorful parade to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Sham Rockin’ the Island was well attended Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, according to organizer Cindy Thompson. The festival raised money for the Anna Maria Island Community Center and Center Director Dawn Stiles was kept busy selling tickets for a raffle in the upcoming Affaire to Remember next month.

As Kettle of Fish prepared to perform on stage, cars and trucks, some with trailers and almost all covered in green, gathered in the side street between Holmes Beach City Hall and the festival to prepare for the parade. A huge tractor-trailer pulled in, carrying three stars of the parade – Cora the elephant and two camels.

“It was a little slow earlier, but more people came this afternoon,” said Thompson. “We expect to lose a lot of people after the parade, which is why we did not plan on going much later than that.”

As the starting time neared, people dressed in all shades of green stood around eating, drinking, listening to music and waiting.

“This is the first time we have taken the golf cart in the parade,” said Jamie Adams, who was sporting a pink pig with wings hat on his hat, contrasting with is mostly green attire. “We used to ride bikes, but we decided to decorate the golf cart.”

Ami Brush wore a green blouse with a yellow skirt and her two-year-old son, Jace, wore a kilt of the same colors. They hail from Sarasota and came for the parade.

Out on the side street by the field, Kandi Kerekes, an agent for Duncan Real Estate, stood on the company float with Denise Crown, from New Jersey, who recently took a position with Duncan as an agent. She said she was amazed at the crowd and looked forward to living and working here.

The parade started a little after 4 p.m., and the street from the fire station’s parking lot looked like it could be New York City or Boston. People lined the streets along the parade route, some sitting in chairs and others waving and catching beads and candy from the paraders.

The parade had some interesting floats. One was a small electric car with two small children driving and an adult marching behind with the sign, “The Wee People.”

Sally Sale, of the Laundromat in Holmes Beach, rode in a decorated golf cart making huge bubbles as it drove along.

The two camels marched with each other, but Cora the elephant shared the stage with nobody, marching in front of the crowd whose faces she remembers from previous parades, if the stories about an elephant’s memory are true.

After the parade passed, the crowd broke up, but instead of going home, many returned to Sham Rockin’ the Island to finish their celebration, while others found a watering hole on the Island to contemplate the joys of being Irish.

 

The Anna Maria Island Community Chorus and Orchestra (AMICCO) will perform selections from Mozart and Haydn on Sunday, March 23, at 2 p.m. at CrossPointe Fellowship, 8605 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach. The concert will include Mozart’s Symphony #6 and Haydn excerpts from “The Creation.”

The soloists for this concert will be:

• Daniel A. Hoffman, a baritone who has a bachelor’s degree in music from Indiana School of Music. He created the role of Man in the world premiere performance of the musical production “The Three Queens” in New York and recently sang the principal role of Danilo in “The Merry Widow” at the Golden Apple Dinner Theater.
• David Kesler, tenor, who sand with the Robert Page Singers and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus before moving to Florida. He sang under the batons of George Szell, Lorin Maazel and Robert Shaw.
• Joy Leitner, soprano, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Louisville with graduate studies in opera and vocal performance in England at the Royal Northern College of Music and receiving a master’s degree from the University of York.
• Felice Magendanz Farrell, cello, who received her early musical training on the piano, violin and cello with her parents and then continued her musical studies in Rome, Italy, with her older sister, Donna. She is a graduate of Indiana University, attaining a BA, MA and performer’s certificate while under the tutorship of Janos Starker.

Tickets are available at www.amicco.org, 941-896-3899 or the Anna Maria Island Chamber at 5313 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach and, if still available, at the door.

HOLMES BEACH – During an acceptance of the 2013 audit, Commissioner David Zaccagino claimed that the city budget was overinflated and expenses underinflated.

“When we budget something very, very high and then spend less, it looks like we did great and didn’t spend as much as we budgeted, but our taxes were up 6.89 percent,” he said.

However, Mayor Carmel Mont pointed out, “The only area we were over budgeted and didn’t spend was the building department and public works because all the projects didn’t get put through in time. We’re only over in a couple line items. One major one is legal fees.

“There’s a process where Lori (City Treasurer Lori Hill) meets with each one of us individually. I don’t understand why there’s a concern here.”

Commissioner Jean Peelen confirmed that and said, “I met with Lori and asked her every question, and she was able to explain every single on to me. In my opinion, this is much ado about nothing.”

Monti said the city’s taxes are the lowest in the area, and the increase in taxes was due to an increase in property values.

The budget is off in a couple of areas,” Monti explained. “They’re explainable. No one is going to be 100 percent accurate.

“Overall every department is in budget, and the whole city was under budget. I come from the old school – if you don’t have a reason to spend it, you don’t spend it.”

Chair Judy Titsworth advised Zaccagnino to meet with Hill to compare the 2013 budget with the 2012 budget.

Commissioners approved the audit report unanimously.

ANNA MARIA – Business owners packed city hall on Thursday, March 13, as commissioners discussed its ban of sandwich A-frame signs that have proliferated along Gulf Drive and Pine Avenue recently.

Mayor SueLynn started the conversation at the work session, talking about her meetings with some of the business owners following the emergency meeting a week earlier where they extended the deadline for businesses to remove their A-frame signs. She said she gave some thought about why the signage problem had arisen.

“When I came here 18 years ago, there was no PAR (Pine Avenue Restoration),” she said. “We didn’t have nearly the businesses that we have now and I think what brought this on was the sign pollution.”

Commissioner Dale Woodland said he also met with business owners.

“They asked what was the reason for banning the sandwich signs, and I didn’t have an answer,” he said. “We’ve got to know where we’re all coming from. Is it visual? In some cases, they are very dependant on the signs.”

“When things come around, it proliferates and some of the businesses have signs all over,” said Commissioner Carol Carter. “How can one more sign make a difference?”

“We heard from the residents and they wanted to get rid of them,” said Commissioner Nancy Yetter. “After outlawing them, I walked out and more businesses had them out. It was kind of like, ‘in your face.’”

SueLynn said she spoke with Deborah Webster, owner of Artspace on the second floor of Bayview Plaza above the post office onPine Avenue.

Webster attended the meeting and also left a letter with the city clerk that was passed out to the commissioners explaining her problem. With most of the foot traffic on the ground floor, she needs to get people to look up. SueLynn said she could possibly put a sign at the end of the building.

City Planner Alan Garrett suggested they paint their name on the door, but there was doubt that would solve her problem.

Garrett said when business owners first came in for permits for the sandwich signs, they wanted them to display restaurant menus and daily specials.

Commission Chair Chuck Webb said he felt the sandwich board signs are hard to see from an automobile.

“As for pedestrian traffic, what’s the difference between a sign by the road or on the building,” he asked “There were too many signs at the old post office plaza.”

Commissioner Doug Copeland asked why the businesses at the Green Village on Pine Avenue had their own signs, and Garrett said that’s because they added sign space to their site plan. Copeland said the signs are all attractive and among the most effective he had seen.

SueLynn pointed out the sign code allows businesses to have a sign near the door measuring up to four feet, but owners cannot put their store name on it.

Webb said Sanibel’s sign code is too restrictive, but Anna Maria is being bombarded with the A-frame signs and it’s becoming a problem. He suggested allowing businesses that think they need a sandwich sign due to their location be able to get a special exception. They also discussed directory signs with individual business able to have a sign on their businesses.

Commissioners have one more meeting where they can vote on changes to the sign code before the ban on sandwich signs goes into effect. They decided to discuss it at that meeting on Thursday, March 27, at 6 p.m.

Webster said after the meeting she is hopeful the commission will come up with a solution, especially for her problem at Artspace.

“I was impressed with the range of ideas the commissioners discussed,” she said. “I also liked the fact the commissioners were looking at the big picture over the long range.”

HOLMES BEACH – A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday after police say he attacked his two roommates at their home at 306B Clark Drive with a knife.

Andrew Helderman was arrested on charges of attempted second degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bond was set at $7,500.

The incident began around 9:30 p.m., when Helderman, Nicole Sobr and Michael Fitzpatrick got into a discussion about her “hooking up” with Fitzpatrick, although she had been involved with Helderman.

Fitzpatrick said everything seemed fine with Helderman, so he went outside to smoke a cigarette. When he returned, he saw Helderman attacking Sobr with a knife in the bathroom. Fitzpatrick tried to stop Helderman and even recorded part of the attack with his phone to try to get him to stop, but to no avail. He then tried to beat Helderman with a shower curtain rod, but that didn’t work either, so he called 911.

When police arrived, they heard Sobr calling for help behind the closed bathroom door. After they forced the door open, they saw Helderman straddling Sobr in the tub and covered with blood. They ordered Helderman at gunpoint to stand up and they placed him under arrest.

Sobr was found in the bathtub with a medium sized pocketknife protruding from the right side of her neck. She also had other cut wounds. EMS treated all of the parties and Helderman and Sobr were taken to Blake Hospital for treatment.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – This week marks the height of tourist season and spring break on Anna Maria Island, but March madness is a little different this year.

The beach is bigger – much bigger – than in past years. There’s sand where the Gulf of Mexico used to be, and the walk to the water’s edge with chairs and umbrellas and coolers is a real workout instead of, well, a day at the beach.

Where the beach renourishment pipe remains in place, in part of Holmes Beach and all of Bradenton Beach, there’s an additional workout – climbing up and over the pipe on the sand walkovers.

Some beachgoers said last week that they have complained to rental agents about the rusty pipe obstructing their access to the Gulf and their views of the Gulf, and the occasional shaking of the earth when heavy equipment rumbles past or pipes are dropped on the beach. Some have been soaked when the pipes accidentally burst at the seams and water sprays several yards up into the air.

Others say they find the process fascinating, walking to the end of the pipe daily to see the sandy water spewing up into the air and the progress made from the day before.

Most are understanding when they learn about the timing – the project couldn’t be done during sea turtle nesting season, May 1 to Oct. 31, or during hurricane season, June 1 to Nov. 30, and it began in December and is taking this long to travel most of the Island.

But pipes or no pipes, everyone interviewed on the beach last week – from the Baker and Melanson families of Canada building a sandcastle, to a group of football players from Hillsborough County, to Aidan and Gavin Schultes with their iconic plastic bucket and shovel, to Anna Anderson of Indianapolis digging a hole to China – agrees that the beach is the place to be during March and spring break, particularly with the record cold up north this winter.

In a word, “It’s a nice day,” said Cassandra Riley.

Broken records

It’s a good thing the renourishment project built a bigger beach, because more people are coming to the Island than ever before, according to statistics from the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office, which collects the five percent resort tax paid to accommodations owners by people who visit the county for six months or less. One fifth of the 5 percent resort tax helps pay for beach renourishment.

Here’s how county resort tax collections have climbed over the past four years in March, which is the height of the Anna Maria Island tourist season.

• $1.07 million in March 2010

• $1.13 million in March 2011

• $1.34 million in March 2012

• $1.49 million in March 2013

March statistics for 2014 aren’t available yet, but January – the most recent month for which statistics are available – already has broken a significant record; county resort tax collections topped the million dollar mark at $1.02 million, a first in January, elevating the month to March’s class, and leading to predictions that this March will be the biggest ever.

One repeat visitor on the beach last week said that she would have to start limiting her visits to every other year instead of every year because of rising rates and the tax on her beachfront rental condo – the 5 percent resort tax plus the 6.5 percent sales tax.

But cost is less of an obstacle to the increasingly higher-income tourists targeted by the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

The median annual household income of Manatee County’s visitors increased from $100,985 in 2011 to $104,829 in 2012, according to CVB statistics. In June 2013, it reached $113,097.

Average room rates on the Island in January, the last month for which statistics are available, were $142 a night, up 4.9 percent from the previous year.

January visitation up

January 2014 tourism was up 7.9 percent over January 2013, with 63,100 visitors to Manatee County, according to Research Data Services, the county’s Tampa-based tourism consultant.

Direct expenditures were up 12.4 percent over the previous January, totaling $61.4 million for the month.

Countywide occupancy was 65.6 percent in January, up 5.6 percent from the previous year, and room rates averaged $138 a night, up 5.4 percent from the previous year.

On Anna Maria Island, occupancy was 58.8 percent, up 2.1 percent from the previous year. Room rates averaged $142 a night, up 4.9 percent from the previous year.

Visitors from the Midwest were most numerous, followed closely by Northeasterners with Floridians coming in a distant third.

HOLMES BEACH – The public is invited to comment at the 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, Charter Review Commission meeting, where members plan to discuss term limits, terms of office and whether to add height and density limits to the charter.

At their meeting last week, members reviewed the changes they have proposed to the charter and finalized some language they had not yet completed.

One of these was what to do if there is no candidate for mayor, as happened in Anna Maria in 2012. Chair Bob Johnson offered two options – hold a special election or fill it by appointment from a list of applicants.

In the current charter, the office is filled by the chair of the commission, and the vice chair becomes the chair. The vacancy that is created is filled by appointment.

Member David Cheshire asked how long it would take to hold a special election, and City Clerk Stacy Johnston said two months, and it would cost $6,000.

Cheshire said, “If no one is willing to be commission chair, which makes them mayor, then our fallback option is the application process.”

This prompted member Jim Plath to ask, “Why would one be willing to be an applicant, but not be a candidate?”

Johnson said leaving it the way it is “forces a game of musical chairs. While I like the idea of appointment, it removes the voters from the decision.

“My suggestion is to hold a special election. If you don’t get any candidates, you go through it again. The chair is the acting mayor until the special election.”

The group agreed on the special election option.

City manager form of government

Mayor Carmel Monti told the group, “When I took this position, I never realized how much time it would take. The reason I may or may not run is strictly economic. I’m the lowest paid person here.

“Is that what you want or do you want a professional? We could have the same problem as Anna Maria. Who would step up to the plate to take on the responsibility and abuse that you get in this role?”

City Attorney Patricia Petruff said many cities have changed to a city manager form of government.

“I think we should do that,” member Pam Leckie said. “There’s continuity, and things are so complex that you need someone who knows what they are doing.”

Chair Bob Johnson stressed, “A city manager is a whole other discussion based on facts, not opinions and wishes. Let’s get through what we’re doing now, and then we can discuss that another day.”

A second issue was rewriting the process for gathering and filing petitions for initiative and referendum. Petruff provided new language that puts the responsibility on the petitioner’s committee to file the petition form.

It also doubles the time to file referendum petitions from 30 to 60 days and allows for notification by e-mail or hand delivery in addition to registered mail.

HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners agreed to allow up to eight seats without requiring additional parking and amplified music for outdoor dining.

At a previous meeting, commissioners said they planned to require the same number of parking spaces, which is based on the number of seats, for outdoor dining as for indoor dining.

However, Planner Bill Brisson pointed out, “I have suggested allowing up to eight outdoor dining seats without the need to provide additional parking.

“This provision was in the code before we updated it in 2007, and to my knowledge, this level of outdoor seating, without having to provide additional parking, has not been a cause for concern in the past.”

Regarding amplified music, Brisson added language to the ordinance allowing it between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Other revisions to the ordinance included:

• Expanding the definition of outdoor dining seats;
• Adding a definition of unenclosed area and portable seating;
• Adding a provision that if a restaurant is non-coforming to its current parking requirement, it may only add outdoor seats if the additional off-street parking for those seats is provided;
• Allowing umbrellas with advertising on them;
• Adding a section that allows the city to suspend or revoke the outdoor dining permit.