ANNA MARIA – The first order of business at last week’s Anna Maria City Commission meeting was a popular one – presenting Margaret Jenkins with the city’s 2015 Citizen of the Year award.

After Commission Chair Doug Copeland called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Dan Murphy stepped forward and said, “It’s a great privilege for me to introduce Margaret Jenkins. I think we would all agree that Margaret typifies the type of person we all should aspire to be. She’s completely involved in our community, and I couldn’t begin to even begin to list the contributions Margaret has made to this city.”

He then called upon former mayor and last year’s award winner, Fran Barford, to assist him.

Barford said it was an honor to serve on the selection committee that included Lou Ann Collins, Mary Seine and Charlie Daniels. She then read the nomination letter the committee received.

“Margaret and her family have been lifelong residents of the city of Anna Maria, and Margaret has served on virtually every board and committee in the city over the years. Most notably, Margaret has served many terms on the Planning and Zoning Board during critical changes in the city, and that’s important.

“She was an outspoken voice during the updating of the comprehensive plan and attended the many meetings the process required. Margaret attends every city council meeting, every work session and every planning session, listening intently and voicing her opinion when necessary.

“Margaret loves the city and attends all motivational and special events to support the upbeat spirit of the city,” the letter concluded.

Barford brought a smile to Jenkins face when she then presented her with a handmade wooden cane that had her name engraved in it

“Did you lose a cane?” Barford said.

“Yes I did,” Jenkins replied, referencing a cane that she recently lost.

Murphy then presented Jenkins with her award.

“It says: Margaret Jenkins, in recognition to your outstanding contributions to our community,” he said.

Barford then asked Jenkins son, Walt, to join them as they presented his mother with a bouquet of roses.

“I’m deeply honored. I love this city. I’ve been here 50 years and I just really hope that it can keep going,” Jenkins said.

“With people like you, it will,” said Barford.

A popular choice

Before the ceremony began, friends and family members shared their thoughts on the award recipient.

“It’s too much,” said Marion Hall

“She’s a wonderful, kind-hearted person. She’s the most thoughtful and hard working person I’ve ever met. She’s totally deserving of this award,” said Janet Gesten.

“Greatest mom in the world,” Walt Jenkins said. “She’s does a lot of stuff for the city, and I didn’t know how much it was appreciated.”

Margaret’s daughter, Chris Jenkins, said, “My mom has done so much volunteer work and so many things for so many other people for so long. She really deserves it.”

Jan Schneider said, “My friend Margaret is wonderful. You ask her to do anything at all and she says yes, and usually before you even tell her what it is.”

Church of Annunciation Pastor Rev. Dee Ann deMontmollin said, “Margaret is a wonderful spiritual person and her love of God shines through to others. Everything she does is rooted with the love of God, I firmly believe that.”

Citizen Jenkins

Jenkins spent her first day as Citizen of the Year helping the Anna Maria Island Garden Club set up for their sale taking place the following day. Speaking by phone Friday evening, she discussed her award.

“I was overwhelmed when they told me. I really appreciate it, and I hope I can live up to it.”

When discussing her busy life, Jenkins said “I also belong to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the Confederacy, and I’m active in my church group. I’ve got something going all the time.”

In regard to attending city meetings, she said, “On the zoning board we can only recommend what the commission should do, so I go to see if they are going to do that or something else. I would really like to see more people come to the meetings because sometimes Jim Conoly and I are the only people there. If you don’t go down and see what’s going on, how do you know how you want to vote?”

When asked why she does what she does, Jenkins said, “I love it. When I was working I couldn’t do any of the things I wanted to do because I had an eight-to-five job as a cancer technologist. When I retired, I just got into everything.”

ANNA MARIA – City commissioners have adopted a new and significantly different vacation rental ordinance that is scheduled to take effect April 1. The new ordinance replaces the ordinance adopted in September.

Although many of the previous vacation rental specific regulations have been removed, the new ordinance still limits occupancy, while providing new enforcement mechanisms and a stringent definition of a bedroom.

Increased enforcement

The new ordinance calls for increased enforcement of existing ordinances that pertain to noise, parking and other regulations that apply equally to residents and visitors alike.

When the ordinance takes effect next spring, it will allow for multiple parties to be cited and fined for a single violation. City Attorney Becky Vose told commissioners that a verified noise complaint about a vacation rental would result in citations being issued to the offending guest and the property owner and also to the rental agent, if one is employed.

Those who violate city building codes and regulations will also be fined, and if the violation remain unresolved, the violator will be summoned to appear before a special magistrate. The magistrate can levy additional code enforcement fines that start at $250 for a first offense and climb to $500 for second and subsequent offenses. These fines would be assessed daily until the violation is resolved. These types of violations would include non-permitted renovations and non-compliant ground level bedrooms located below an elevated home.

Vose said ongoing parking infractions that constitute a public nuisance also could be addressed in a similar fashion.

If special magistrate-imposed fines are not paid within three months, the city can place a lien on the property and foreclose on it, as long as the property is not homesteaded.

Regulations removed

Vacation rental property owners and agents will not have to respond to a complaint within a certain timeframe, but must be available by phone 24/7 to respond to police, fire or emergency personnel requests, which would include a police officer dealing with a noise complaint.

Owners and agents must also make themselves available to other regulatory personnel, including code enforcement, Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Failure to fulfill these obligations would violate the vacation rental ordinance and be punishable by a fine.

A previous stipulation requiring the owner or agent to ensure that guests are not registered sex offenders has been removed, as has the required posting of all adult occupants.

Bedrooms defined

According to the new ordinance, “A bedroom means any room in a vacation rental which has a bed or other place for sleeping and a separate closet that is an integral part of the permanent construction within the bedroom or on-suite bathroom.”

Public input provided by resident Tom Aposporos helped further clarify the final definition in a manner that prevents any interpretation that the required closet can be located elsewhere in the house.

Any existing room that has been added, converted or altered without a building permit will not be considered a bedroom.

The new ordinance mandates a minimum bedroom size of 70 square feet; and when calculating occupancy, a bedroom that is less than 100 square feet would only allow for one occupant.

Maximum occupancy would be limited to the number allowed by the bedroom calculations, plus two additional guests; or a total of eight occupants, whichever is less.

A house with two 100 square foot bedrooms and one smaller bedroom would be allowed five occupants, plus two additional guests, for a total of seven.

Residential structures built or permitted before the ordinance was adopted on Nov. 19 will be granted a five-year grandfathering period that allows two people per bedroom, but no additional guests. A five-bedroom house will be allowed 10 occupants and a six-bedroom house will be allowed 12, but as of Nov. 19, 2020, all vacation rentals in Anna Maria will be limited to eight occupants.

Exceeding maximum occupancy limits will be considered a violation of the new ordinance and punishable by a fine.

The $750 first-year registration fee assessed to approximately 600 short-term vacation rentals will generate approximately $450,000 in additional revenues. The money will be used to significantly expand a Code Enforcement Department that will also be asked to conduct mandatory annual inspections of vacation rentals.

When asked if he feels this ordinance will produce the desired results, Mayor Dan Murphy said, “I’m totally confident this approach will work, but we are still under an injunction, and we need that clarified and/or lifted so we can start the implementation process.”

Two recent mediation sessions have led to some progress in regard to resolving one of two pending lawsuits, but neither suit has been dropped or dismissed.

HOLMES BEACH – With neither side willing to give up on its parking plan, the City Commission will now be called upon to make a decision on whether to implement a resident permit program, a one-side-of-the-street plan or some combination of the two.

The Island Congestion Committee, meeting for the past two years, has advocated a permit program to be implemented in a Phase I test area where parking on the rights of way would be banned except for residents with permits.

The Phase I test area is between Manatee Avenue and 52nd Street west of Gulf Drive, Manatee Avenue north to 43rd Street east of Gulf Drive, 74th to 81st Street west of Gulf Drive, 77th Street between Gulf Drive and Palm Avenue and Aqua Lane.

In July, city commissioners agreed in consensus that City Attorney Patricia Petruff would draft an ordinance to implement the congestion committee’s plan, which would be brought back to the commission for discussion. In September, congestion committee members reviewed the draft ordinance, but it never came back to the City Commission.

Staff plan

In October, Police Chief Bill Tokajer presented staff’s plan to city commissioners, which would allow parking on one side of the street on weekends and holidays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with public notice that the holiday parking plan is in effect. City commissioners then asked the two groups to meet and see if they could find a compromise.

Mayor Bob Johnson said staff had modified its plan, which would allow parking on one side of most streets in the area between Manatee Avenue and 52nd Street west of Gulf Drive and be in effect from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Johnson presented data including parking surveys of the area taken during spring break/Easter weekend, post spring break/early summer, Memorial Day weekend and early summer/ AMI schools out at four times of the day – 10 a.m., noon and 2 and 4 p.m.

“If you look at it as a neighborhood as whole, we never hit 50 percent, even at the max, because there’s too darn many parking places there,” Johnson pointed out.

“What’s frustrating in the neighborhood, because of its layout and where it is, there are some very high intensity blocks. We’re up to 100 percent use on weekends and holidays.”

He said staff’s recommendation addresses the intensity issue, provides relief for residents, and is simple, inexpensive and easy to enforce.

Committee members object

“We spent two years identifying the problem, and its more than just disbursing parking in the residential areas,” Congestion Committee Chair Jayne Christensen stressed. “It’s making our neighborhoods safer, allowing residents to continue to park in front of their homes and providing safety for pedestrian and bicyclists.

“You’re presenting a whole new proposal that we didn’t agree on. We would like to see you align with us rather than us to accept what you want to do. I would like to use our plan as the foundation because it was accepted twice by the commission.”

Committee member Rene Ferguson spoke about the thousands of new homes planned for west Bradenton and said, “They’re coming to the beach. If we don’t do something now we’ll be inundated. We need to be proactive.”

Committee member Pam Leckie agreed, and committee member Richard Brown added, “Its 24/7 in my neighborhood. The problem is the growing amount of traffic and what it brings – bad behavior.”

However Police Chief Bill Tokajer pointed out, “We have a parking problem, and we enforce the laws. We do not get an abundance of calls about bad behavior in any area of the city.

“We do get calls about parking, and we handle it. We have a very good track record of parking enforcement and (addressing) bad behavior.”

Christensen said other issues include public urination, trash, vandalism, damage to lawns and sprinklers and people using residents’ showers. Ferguson said their plan is what residents want.

Give and take

“We live in a shared Island community,” Johnson said. “What can we do to reduce the intensity without not allowing people to park on the Island because that is the road you’re going down.”

“Not in our neighborhoods; not where we live,” Christensen stressed. “Go where there is accessible public parking that is marked and in areas with public parking like Coquina and Manatee beaches.”

Johnson said the committee’s plan is only Phase I, and other phases are planned and added, “You want a gated community. You’re taking about ‘not in my back yard.’”

Tokajer said he talked to the parking manager at St. Pete Beach, which committee members had used as a model, and “he called permit parking a monster. He said don’t do it and do one side of the street parking.

“We believe our plan will take care of the problem. It addresses all your concerns. It’s the simplest way for you to get relief before we go to a full-blown permit plan.”

“What you propose is simple and more cost effective, but we don’t always want easy and cheap,” Christensen said.

“Your plan is half a plan. People can still park on the other side and still urinate in my yard and walk through my bushes with my kids around.”

However, Tokajer pointed out, “I’ve never seen you park in front of your house. You keep saying that people walk through your bushes, use your pool, use your sprinkler, but I’ve never seen a car parked in front of your house.”

“We don’t have sprinkler or pool problem, but we represent the neighborhood,” Christensen responded. “We don’t park in front of our home, but we’d like that option.

“We’re at an impasse. Give it back to the city commission.”

The others agreed, and Johnson said the issue would be placed on the Dec. 10 city commission work session.

“There is no wrong or right solution. Don’t get so stuck on your position that you will fight for it no matter what,” City Commissioner Jean Peelen advised.

LONGBOAT KEY – Foodies rejoice!

The Longboat Key Kiwanis Club’s Fifth Annual Gourmet Lawn Party will take place at the Resort at Longboat Key Club, 220 Sands Point Road, on Saturday, Dec. 5, from noon until 2 p.m.

Tickets are going fast and some big changes are in store for the once-a-year food tasting extravaganza.

This year’s party will feature a record-setting 36 participating restaurants dispensing culinary creations that represent the menu items offered at their locations on Anna Maria Island and in Cortez, Bradenton, St. Armand’s Circle, Sarasota, and Longboat Key

Representing the Island again this year will be Island Time Bar & Grill, Bridge Street Bistro and the Bridge Tender Inn, joined by their Cortez neighbor Tyler’s Gourmet Ice Cream.

The Chart House, Columbia, Euphemia Haye and Lazy Lobster, of Longboat Key, and the Resort at Longboat Key Club will be among the other returning favorites, joined by 12 restaurants participating for the first time, including the Blue Rooster, Ginza, Queen of Sheba and Antoine’s.

Kacey’s Seafood & More and Lazy Lobster owner Michael Garey is serving as the event chair this year.

Last year he served as restaurant co-chair with Island Time owner Bill Herlihy, and this year Garey’s assistant general manager, Michelle Waldron, has taken on the restaurant chair position.

“I’d like to thank Michelle. She’s the person responsible for getting 36 restaurants to participate,” Garey said.

“I’m excited; we’re going to have a great flavor component to this year’s event,” he added.

Garey said ticket prices have increased slightly this year, but there’s an exciting new upside to the $50 admission fee – this year’s ticket holders will automatically receive one free raffle ticket for the legendary annual big cash drawing that offers a top prize of $20,000 in cash. The five coveted “consolation” prizes are a Universal Orlando VIP experience; a Clearwater Beach getaway; A Year of Delicious Dining and a Lobster, Love and Limo package.

In previous years, raffle tickets sold for $100 each. This year the raffle tickets can be purchased for $25 each or five for $100. They can be purchased in advance at www.lbklawnparty.org, the Lazy Lobster in Longboat Key and the Sun Trust branch office in Longboat Key. You do not have to be present to win the raffle prizes, and if there’s any tickets left they will also be on sale the day of the party.

Also new this year is a silent auction that will offer an additional slew of prizes as exquisite as the gourmet food being sampled, and covered seating that will allow all 1,200 anticipated guests to enjoy their food, wine, beer and soft drinks in the shade, while doubling as a protection from inclement weather. In past years, covered seating was reserved for VIP ticket holders only.

On Friday, Garey said more than 850 advance admission tickets had already been sold, and he strongly suggests purchasing tickets in advance, as they are going to be scarce by the time Dec. 5 rolls around. The $50 admission tickets can be purchased at the same locations as the raffle tickets, and a table for 10 can be purchased for $450.

The money raised from the sale of admission tickets, raffle tickets, the silent auction and the support provided by event’s many sponsors will assist the Longboat Key Kiwanis Club in its annual efforts to assist youth organizations, while also providing educational scholarships and grants.

Last year’s Gourmet Lawn Party was the best yet in terms of fundraising, bringing in more than $68,000 dollars to be distributed to more than a dozen youth charities and more than 40 scholarship recipients.

Featuring town of Longboat Key Project Manager James Linkogle and many other great musicians, Blues Pig will again grace the main stage, while previous year Kiwanis Club scholarship recipient Nick Karpathy will perform with his band near the main entrance. The Tampa Bay Lightning girls also will be on hand.

 

With a plan that could curtail the annual winter practice of discarding mullet in area waters after the roe is removed, Healthy Earth Gulf Coast has won $400,000 in the Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s inaugural Gulf Coast Innovation Challenge.

The Healthy Earth team, which includes Anna Maria Island restaurateur Ed Chiles, of the Chiles Group, aims to build a processing facility in Cortez that will produce several other sustainable seafood products from grey striped mullet besides roe. The products include fish fillets, omega-3 fish oil, fishmeal for farm-raised freshwater sturgeon, saltwater red drum and saltwater pompano, probiotics, livestock feed and fertilizer.

The fishmeal will be tested at Mote Marine Laboratory’s Aquaculture Park in Sarasota County, where the Healthy Earth brand of team member Southeast Venture Holdings (Seven Holdings) is operating a sturgeon caviar business initiated by Mote researchers and licensed to Seven Holdings last year.

The plan also calls for the Cortez fishery to be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, to support marketing local mullet products internationally.

New jobs

The project will improve public health and quality of life, create jobs and improve the environment by increasing Florida sustainable seafood production while preserving Florida's fishing heritage, according to the submission of Healthy Earth, a group of 15 people from several private and not-for-profit organizations.

“Healthy Earth and our partners are committed to conserving Sarasota Bay fisheries, preventing the underutilization of mullet, and building a billion-dollar sustainable seafood industry here on the Gulf Coast,” said Chris Cogan, CEO of Healthy Earth and leader of the winning team, in a press release.

The team focused on “…how we create economic development around our marine environment and our natural resources in a sustainable way, provide jobs to our community, address the tremendous imbalances that we have with the importation of seafood and how we put great quality seafood protein in the center of our plates,” said Chiles in a promotional video. The Chiles Group features seafood at the Sandbar, BeachHouse and Mar Vista Dockside restaurants on Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key.

The U.S. imports 90 percent of its seafood, according to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.

Team member Mote led or partnered in four of the five finalist projects, which will continue to be developed, including Antibiotics from the Sea, Cancer Therapies from Sharks and Advanced Solar-powered Filtration Technology.

“Each of the four finalist projects in which Mote played such a significant role has helped transform exciting marine science into ‘shovel-ready’ opportunities for investors, whether they’re interested in developing new medicines from the sea, preserving dwindling freshwater resources, or transforming seafood production to help feed the world,” Mote President Dr. Michael Crosby said in a press release.

The challenge, launched in February, was designed to encourage and help fund innovations that will grow marine science and technology businesses in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties.

The winning team was selected from 30 applications, which were reviewed by a panel including Ping Faulhaber, executive director of the Suncoast Science Center; Janis Fawn, Gulf Coast board member and retired telecom executive; Jeff Hazelton, president and CTO of BioLucid; Rod Hershberger, CEO of PGT Industries; Dennis McGillicuddy, philanthropist and retired cable TV executive; Jeff McGrath, owner of business-advisory firm DRTM Ventures; and Keith Monda, philanthropist and retired president and COO of Coach, Inc.

Gulf Coast Community is a public charity created in 1995 through the sale of Venice Hospital. Since then, more than 600 families have joined to invest more than $200 million in grants in health and human services, civic and economic development, education, arts and culture, and the environment.

Who is Healthy Earth?

Thomas Biddinger: vice president, Southeast Venture Holdings LLC (Seven Holdings)

Ed Chiles: the Chiles Group

Chris Cogan: co-managing member of Southeast Venture Holdings LLC, (Seven Holdings), CEO of Southeast Venture Acquisitions

Michael Crosby: former Mote senior vice president for research

Sandy Gilbert: chairman, Solutions to Avoid Red Tide (START)

Charles Groat: founding president/CEO, Water Institute

Katherine Harris: former Florida Secretary of State

Curt Hemmell: owner/founder, Bay Shellfish Company

Darryl Jory: adjunct professor of aquaculture at the Rosenstiel Graduate School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami

Dr. Ken Leber: associate vice president of Mote’s Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture

Dr. Kevan Main: senior scientist, Mote’s Aquaculture Research Program

Carole L. Neidig: Mote staff scientist in the Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture

Dr. David Randle: director, Sustainable Tourism concentration for the USF College of Global Sustainability

Jeff Sedacca: president of the Shrimp and Aquaculture division of National Fish and Seafood Inc.

Nan Summers: Helped develop the Epcot Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney Co.

HOLMES BEACH – Spring Lake, the spring-fed lake at 68th Street and Palm and Clark drives, is slowly healing after being polluted by spills of sewage and pool chemicals.

The incidents began on Oct. 29 when Code Enforcement Officer John Thomas said he received calls from neighbors about something dead in the lake.

“I went there, but it was dark, and I couldn’t see, but it smelled bad,” he said. “I went back the next day and saw the pool company draining hydrochloric acid and pool water into the lake. I stopped them, secured the property and called the police department.

“I walked around the lake and saw dead fish and called the FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission) and the DEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection). They both sent inspectors, and DEP tested the soil, the lake and the pool.”

Thomas said he then learned about the sewage spill that occurred on Oct. 27 when a wastewater force main broke, releasing 22,000 gallons of wastewater into the lake. Manatee County Public Utilities Department responded, posted warning signs around the lake and repaired the break.

Taking action

“We made repairs as quickly as possible,” said Andre Rachmainoff, wastewater compliance superintendent for the county. “Our protocol is to let nature attenuate the amount. Ultraviolet radiation does a good job.

“We posted signs and took samples, and when they showed the bacteria levels were down, we removed the signs.”

Rachmainoff said the county worked closely with the Florida Department of Health on the sample results.

Thomas said he issued a ticket for pumping and discharging pollutant chemicals and pool water into the lake to American Beauty Pools with a fine of $200. The FWC has forwarded its report on the pool company to the State Attorney’s Office for possible charges.

Thomas said he is developing a new fee schedule to address irreversible changes to the environment resulting in a fish kill or similar damage.

“They were subcontractors for the pool company that did it,” he said. “The owner was very sorry about the situation and said he would educate the subcontractors.

“It’s about better practices and education,” Thomas explained. “Since this happened, the pool company is doing a better job because they know we’re paying attention. We want to protect the environment and the citizens and enforce the code.”

Commissioner makes proposal

At the Nov. 10 City Commission meeting, Commissioner Marvin Grossman said he had proposed naming the city pocket park at 6807 Homes Blvd. Spring Lake Park because it borders on the lake.

“It’s an Island treasure and should be treated as such,” he said. “It’s spring fed, and it had fish.

“It’s not a drainage pond as some people think. It was meant to be a lake. If we could give it some importance, maybe people would start treating it better.”

ANNA MARIA – Mark Swift, of Holmes Beach, addressed the Center’s board of directors last Monday about how the change in the membership fees is affecting the long time tennis group that plays there.

“One of my interests in The Center is the senior tennis group we used to have, but don’t any more,” he told the board. “It concerns me that the group we had is no longer here.

“I say that with a heavy heart; tennis is our love. It’s a camaraderie of great folks we have come to know over the years.”

He said The Center was the gathering place for the group, which cleaned and policed the courts and had potluck dinners there.

Treasurer Jim Froeschle asked what was the last time the group met, and Swift said in February.

Board member Patty McBean said she spoke to one member of the group that is no longer at The Center and observed, “It is a shame that group is no longer here.”

Board chair Bill Shuman asked if the new membership fee is at fault, and Swift said, “It’s had a pretty spiked increase.”

Get them back

“I have talked to many other folks as well, and the pickleballers are another group (with the same issue),” Lessig said. Board member Rex Hagen, a tennis player himself, said he would meet with the tennis group and work on a compromise to bring back to the board.

“We need to bring them back and do the same with the pickleball,” Hagen said.

Froeschle thanked Scott for coming to the board and said, “These are the kinds of issues we want to hear. The new board is killing itself to turn the Center around, but we’re not perfect. Please don’t give up on us.”

Coming to an agreement

On Friday, Recreation Director Will Schenerlein said tennis and pickleball play would be under his direction, and Center officials had come to an agreement with players about membership fees for the two sports. Membership for either will be $35 per month or $420 per year.

In addition, Schenerlein said, “If you had a prior membership, you will be credited a dollar amount of what’s left on the membership plus a $75 credit. If you pay up front in full, you will receive a 10 percent discount.”

Center official also developed a Snowbird Special to address concerns of people who are here for the winter months.

“It starts in January, and if you have a rental agreement for on month or more, you get resident prices,” Schenerlein explained. “The price month to month is $100 for adults, $60 for seniors, $50 for youth and $250 for a family. It includes unlimited group fitness and wellness classes and team sports, tennis and pickleball and use of the fitness center.

Financial report

In his financial report, Froeschle told the board, “The first three months were wonderful. We were $84,000 better than planned, but October was an ugly month. We are now $34,000 worse than planned.

“It was one of those perfect storm months. After high levels of donations for the first three months (of the fiscal year beginning in July), the matching gifts and all those things ended.”

He said there was a big surge in membership renewals in the first three months, but it has subsided. He said they should hold a membership drive.

“We have to find a way to revive donations,” he continued. “We cannot hope to break even when we have months like this. We need $10,000 to $20,000 a month.

“We need to get people back to The Center – memberships, donations, program participation. We need to make every effort to just keep things going.”

Hagen said he would give a donation of $15,000 if the other directors would match it by Dec. 1.

ANNA MARIA – Noise ordinance violators may soon be digging deeper into their pockets if ticketed for a noise violation after failing to heed a deputy’s preliminary warning.

During the Thursday, Nov. 19, City Commission meeting, City Attorney Becky Vose presented an amended noise ordinance that if adopted would raise the cost of a noise ordinance violation citation to $500 for each and every cited offense.

The existing ordinance calls for $100 fines for a first offense, $250 for a second offense that occurs within a one year period, and $500 per offense for a third or additional violation that occurs during that same one year timeframe.

The commission expressed unanimous supported for the amendments. Final reading and adoption is scheduled for the Thursday. Dec. 10, meeting.

Presented to commissioners on the same night they approved a new vacation rental ordinance, the steeper fines and escalated enforcement methods are part of the city’s ongoing efforts to crack down on problematic vacation rental operators and non-compliant developers and contractors.

If adopted, the amended ordinance could result in multiple tickets being issued for a single violation.

New language contained in the amended ordinance states: “The owner, tenant, occupant, guest, property manager and agent of the property at which the violation occurs shall each be separately liable for any noise disturbance cause by tenants, occupants, and/or guests, and such owner, tenant, occupant, property manager and agent shall be deemed violators hereunder.”

When discussing the proposed amendment, Commissioner Dale Woodland asked Vose to read some pre-existing language that caught his eye.

Vose complied and said, “Three or more violations occurring at the same premises within a 12-month period shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the premises is a public nuisance and subject to being temporarily and/or permanently enjoined pursuant to subsection above.”

The subsection Vose referred to says, “As an additional remedy, any noise disturbance shall be deemed and is declared to be a public nuisance and may be subject to abatement summarily by proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction for injunction, both temporary and permanent.”

FreeLegalDictionary.com defines abatement as a measure taken to do away with a problem, such as a public or private nuisance or a structure built contrary to public policy.

A violation pertaining to excessive noise created by the use of a swimming pool, hot tub or spa between 10 a.m. and 7 a.m. would also subject violators, whether they are visitors or residents, to the new $500 fines.

The existing noise ordinance also stipulates that the use of lawn and power tools is allowed daily from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. The usual noise associated with commercial construction and the operation of construction equipment is allowed from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday; and not at all on Sundays or federal holidays designated by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

The issuance of a noise ordinance citation in the city of Anna Maria is supposed to always be preceded by a warning, and those who wish to appeal a noise violation can do so in court, but may be accessed additional court charges if the appeal is unsuccessful.