HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners discussed whether their vacation rental ordinance sufficiently addresses owners or rental agents who advertise more occupancy than allowed.

Chair Judy Titsworth said commissioners agreed to consider the issue after Anna Maria city commissioners approved an ordinance addressing misleading advertising relating to lodging establishments.

"The chief said there is a good chance our vacation rental ordinance as written has penalties that address the illegal advertising," she said.

"The provisions in the city's ordinance are bare bones," City Attorney Steve Dye explained. "They could probably be looked at and strengthened a little bit.'

He said Anna Maria's ordinance is particularly stringent and even attempts to regulate condos and homeowners' organizations. He said commissioners must determine if their violations are sufficient, and could strengthen them if they see abuse.

Commissioner Jean Peelen pointed to Section 4.14 in the ordinance that states, "All advertising for vacation rental units must contain information concerning the occupancy limit of the vacation rental unit … "

And Police Chief Bill Tokajer cited Section 4.17, which states, "All advertising must be compliant for occupancy limits no later than May 1, 2016."

Enforcement

Titsworth said it is very difficult to enforce occupancy on site, but "if it's advertised, you can see the number. Do our violations and penalties address that?"

"If anybody's using their property more intensely than allowed and advertising that, you can use the advertising against them," Dye said. "You can penalize them for use, and the ad itself would be a separate violation."

Commissioner Carol Soustek said the sentence from Section 4.17 cited above is buried in the section, and it should be separate with its own penalty. Peelen suggested that they moved it to Section 4.14.

Dye said he could draft a section on misleading and false advertising.

Peelen said they should wait until they are enforcing the ordinance, and they should make it clear to people that they could lose their rental certificate for false advertising.

Commissioner Marvin Grossman pointed to an ad by a "well known rental company stating they have eight bedrooms and seven and a half bathrooms and they sleep 20 people. It's not true. That's false advertising.

"We need to make it clear that there's a fine and something's going to happen. Why can't we just go ahead and fine them?"

Peelen stressed, "They're all saying it. We have never enforced the two bedroom rule or informed Realtors that we will enforce it."

"Carol and Marvin and I want to make sure misleading advertising can be handled effectively by the chief," Titsworth said and asked Dye to draft changes to the ordinance for further discussion.

ANNA MARIA – City Attorney Becky Vose presented city commissioners with five more proposed Bert Harris claim settlement offers during the Thursday, Aug. 25, meeting.

She also provided an update on the 24 proposed settlements the commission authorized in late July.

Similar to the previous offers, the latest offers would provide the owners of the vacation rental properties in question with permanent occupancy limits of two persons per bedrooms, plus two additional persons.

The vacation rental ordinance the city of Anna Maria enacted earlier this year allows a maximum occupancy of eight persons per rental property. Properties granted the grandfathering provision are allowed two persons per bedroom for the next five years, but are then subject to the eight-person limit in 2021.

"I believe these recommendations are very reasonable, and I urge you to approve them," Vose told the commission.

"We now have a total of 64 Bert Harris claims. I'm going to be bringing back more of these to you," she said. The city has 150 days to respond to each complaint. Failure to do so results in an automatic win for the claimant.

Vose said the attorneys from the Najmy/Thompson firm and attorney Scott Rudacille were receptive to the previous settlement offers, but attorney Kevin Hennessy has made additional demands.

"I drafted a form of the settlement agreement and two attorneys made reasonable tweaks. That format has been approved by the Najmy law firm and by Mr. Rudacille. Unfortunately, Mr. Hennessy has not approved the format of the agreement. He's insisting on being paid his attorney fees, which at this point in the litigation is not required in the statute," Vose said.

"I recommend that you not cave on that because there's no reason to pay him attorney's fees. The two law firms that are involved in the vast majority of claims have not made that request. Whether or not Mr. Hennessy is going to approve these settlement agreements on behalf of his clients is unknown at this time. He had a number of little changes that were just gratuitous and slaps to the city," she added.

"Not only is it a reasonable offer, it's what they asked for," Commission Chair Doug Copeland said of the previous offers.

"The offers you approved so far have been exactly what he asked for," Vose said.

"These eight properties could be closed and settled and the owners could have exactly what they asked for, but now they're not going to get that until it goes through litigation," Murphy said in regard to Hennessy's additional demands.

"That is how it appears," Vose said.

"Bert Harris is really just about a loss of money, so any extraneous language is not part of any claim. They're only entitled to attorney's fees if we reject a reasonable offer from them or don't give them a reasonable offer," Commissioner Chuck Webb said.

"If he ends up filing suit on these, there's a potential that his clients would have to pay the city's attorney fees," Vose said.

"I think we should stick to our guns," Copeland said.

Commissioners Carol Carter and Dale Woodland joined Copeland in supporting the newly-proposed settlement offers. As they did in July, Webb and Commissioner Nancy Yetter opposed the settlement offers.

The 64 claims Vose mentioned list $21.6 million in total assessed lost property value that could be pursued in court on a case-by-case basis if non-monetary settlements cannot be reached.

A 65th claim was filed by Hennessey on Friday for a vacation rental at 520 Bayview Place owned by Gregory Sutherland, from Colorado. The claim lists a $345,000 loss in value for a structure that has five bedrooms and listed a 14-person, pre-vacation rental ordinance occupancy.

To date, Hennessy has filed 18 claims. The Najmy/Thompson firm has filed 38 and Rudacille has filed nine. The claims can be viewed by clicking on the "residents" tab at www.cityofannamaria.com.

HOLMES BEACH – Property owners in the R-1 zoning district continue to weigh in on a change in rental restrictions that is set to take effect in 2017.

In a 2007 ordinance, the city commission changed rental restrictions in the district from weekly to 30 days. Rental owners who could prove they were renting at the time were allowed to continue to rent for anther 10 years. However, at the end of 10 years, they would have to comply with the 30-day minimum.

The city recently received two e-mails – one pro and one con regarding the change.

One from Jeffrey Connor said, "I live full time on White Avenue (an R-1 zoned neighborhood) and expect to have what R-1 single family R-1 neighborhoods offer, which is stability in its surroundings.

"I am opposed to extending the grandfathered weekly rentals in the R-1 zoning and transient nature of weekly rental. I have written the city leaders before on this issue and would like to have the qualities of the city code adhered to."

Other views

Another from Kathleen Robuck took the opposite view. She rents her property at the corner of White Avenue and Neptune Lane and said the change would be "devastating. New homes have been built on Neptune Lane and will be allowed to rent weekly. Can I change my front entrance to Neptune and rent weekly?

"The new homes on Neptune are by the large investors and of a large style with possible parking and overcrowding issues. It's impossible for me to understand the allowance of weekly rentals in these homes and not mine in the same neighborhood."

She asked if "anything can be done to help me maintain my current weekly rentals and the value of my property?"

In March, a group of property owners in the district asked to meet with city commissioners because they felt the change would cause them to suffer substantial financial hardship as well as a loss in the value of their property.

In May, another property owner in the district asked the city to reconsider its position, pointing out the difficulty of "finding somebody who is willing to rent the house for 30 days during the summer."

In June, the city sent letters to property owners informing them of the provisions of Ordinance 07-04. Commissioners have not yet addressed residents'' requests.

As of Tuesday, Tropical, Depression Nine was entering the Gulf of Mexico from the south and and was expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Hermine.
The storm is forecast to go north and then east, crossing the state of Florida north of Tampa Bay.

That would mean heavy rainfall for the Island and some strong winds. Homes in areas prone to flooding would be affected and all three cities are offering sand bags to residents to fill and use.

The National Weather Service has not issued any warnings or alerts as of press time, but residents should keep in touch via television, radio or social media.

 

HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners authorized Mayor Bob Johnson to enter into a contract with Tampa Contracting Services (TCS) to construct the boardwalks at Grassy Point Preserve.

"I have worked with them in the past, and they are extremely qualified," City Engineer Lynn Burnett said.

TCS bid $72,695 for Phase I and $108,531 for Phase II. Phase I will begin where the current trail ends and proceed to a circular upland area. Phase II will be a path from the circular area to the water and the site of the future observation deck.

Burnett said the Southwest Water Management District has no objection to the company doing both phases at once, which would allow one mobilization. She said construction would begin Sept. 1.

"The work will start at the water side and go backwards toward shell path," she said. "The whole thing will be done by Dec. 31."

Burnett said the preserve would be closed during construction work, and the work does not include the observation deck, which is a future phase.

Commissioner Jean Peelen asked when the city would receive the $100,000 grant from the Manatee County Tourist Development Council for the work.

Johnson replied, "After we pay a bill."

The 32-acre environmental preserve is located along the east side of Gulf Drive across from Publix and the Anna Maria Island Center. It is accessed via Avenue C and is open only during daylight hours.

It includes a 1,000-foot nature trail around the upland portion, three picnic tables, an informational kiosk, a bicycle rack and four parking spaces.

BRADENTON BEACH – Mayor Bill Shearon's hopes of creating a managed mooring field suffered another setback last week.

During the Tuesday, Aug. 23, workshop, Shearon presented the City Commission with his Bradenton Beach Bay Water Project Plan, which included a managed mooring field. The proposed plan called for the mayor and the Pier Team to take the lead on multiple pier and anchorage-related projects and combine them into a single all-encompassing plan.

Shearon's plan included:

• Replacing the existing day dock;

• Expanding the existing day dock;

• Adding new docks to the north side of the pier;

• Adding finger docks as needed;

• Creating space for water taxis and/or ferries;

• Expanding the current Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) district boundaries to include the anchorage;

• Obtaining a new or modified submerged land lease;

• Pursuing a mooring field as a public-private partnership.

"Instead of trying to do one thing at a time – because a lot of these things can be interrelated – it really takes a plan to pull it together," Shearon said.

He said a single-plan approach might help secure additional funding resources outside of the tax revenues generated within the city's CRA district. He mentioned Tourist Development Council funds and excess beach concession revenues as potential county funding sources. He also mentioned grants that provide matching funds for waterborne projects.

The four other commission members supported the mayor's pursuit of additional funds but expressed no support for a single-plan approach headed by the mayor.

Commissioner Jake Spooner said many of the projects listed in Shearon's plan are already being pursued by the commission and/or the commission acting as the CRA committee, with assistance provided by city staff and commission-approved consultants.

Spooner said the mooring field was among the only elements in Shearon's plan that is not already being worked on, and Shearon received no support to pursue a submerged land lease that would be required in order to create a managed mooring field capable of housing approximately 18 boats. There are currently more than 30 boats anchored south of the pier, some of which are sunken.

As was the case during a previous mooring field discussion in June, some commission members expressed concerns that forcing boaters to pay for anchorage would drive some of them further south toward the residential area or north of the Cortez Bridge.

Commissioner Jan Vosburgh expressed concerns about displaced live-aboard boaters using the street-end docks south of the pier rather than the public dinghy dock in the business district. She fears this would create additional problems for residents.

Police Chief Sam Speciale said he doesn't have much control over boats located outside the city's existing jurisdictional boundaries that extend 1,500 feet from shore, from Eighth Street South to Cortez Road, on the bay side only.

Spooner produced photographs that showed six boats already moored south of these jurisdictional boundaries.

Commissioner Ralph Cole said he was only aware of four municipal mooring fields in Florida. Rather than incur the costs of a managed mooring field, he supports the continued pursuit of expanded CRA boundaries that would include the portion of the anchorage already under the city's jurisdiction.

He suggested providing the city's police boat with a boatlift at the pier rather than keeping it on a trailer next to the police station. He said giving the police department easier access to the water would lead to more frequent patrols of the anchorage. Spooner said a greater police presence would discourage non-law-abiding boaters from living there.

Speciale said the department's proposed 2016-17 budget does not include funding for a marine officer, but he wondered if including the anchorage in the CRA boundaries would allow CRA funds to be used for additional enforcement.

Vice Mayor Ed Straight supported this approach. He said the police department should first try to enforce the new non-compliant vessel regulations adopted by state lawmakers before further consideration is given to a managed mooring field. He said a mooring field could still be revisited at a later date if needed.

Last week, the Anna Maria City Commission held its first formal reading on a recently proposed ordinance that would prevent marijuana dispensaries, grow houses and other marijuana-related industries from doing business in the city if medicinal marijuana is legalized by Florida voters in November.

A provision originally contained in the draft ordinance that would have provided lesser penalties for anyone caught in possession 20 grams of pot without a prescription was removed from the ordinance read at the Aug. 25 meeting.

"We didn't want to encourage people to come to Anna Maria and smoke pot, thinking they'd only get a ticket," said Commission Chair Doug Copeland.

The second and final reading of Ordinance 16-820 will take place in September. The city of Holmes Beach already has a similar ordinance on the books.

BRADENTON – There is one pastime that compels Island residents to leave their homes for the mainland in the middle of summer – bowling.

It's time for the LaPensee Plumbing and Pools Bowling Tournament, sponsored in part by the Anna Maria Island Sun, to raise money for The Center of AMI, and this year the action takes place on Saturday, Sept. 10. The cost is $30 per person, and it includes shoes and three games of bowling at AMF Bradenton Lanes, 4208 Cortez Road W., Bradenton.

There will be snacks and refreshments available. After the tournament, the high and low game and series bowlers will get their awards at the bowling alley. There will also be raffle drawings.

The Center is looking for lane sponsors for the event. If you are interested in sponsoring, have questions about the tournament or would like to register, contact The Center by calling 941-778-1908 or by e-mail at events@centerami.org, You also can register at Duffy's Tavern, 5808 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach.

Make sure to bring socks because the alley doesn't rent to barefooted bowlers or bowlers wearing flip-flops.