HOLMES BEACH – Mayor Judy Titsworth is concerned about beach cabana rental signage and cabanas being placed in prime beach locations before they’re rented.
Titsworth shared these concerns during the June 24 Holmes Beach City Commission meeting. She said it was brought to the city’s attention that company logos and website references appeared on rented beach cabanas.
“You’re not allowed to have signs on the beaches and it’s advertising for businesses. There’s not supposed to be commercial use on preservation (zoned) land,” she said.
According to Holmes Beach city code: “Any sign to be located on property designated as preservation shall require the approval of the city commission prior to the issuance of a permit with the fee for such sign to be set by the city commission.”
“It was an eyesore, so we asked them to remove all of their advertisements and signage off their cabanas,” Titsworth said.
Cabana rental companies were given until June 27 to remove the signage and advertising from their cabanas before police officers and code compliance officers began issuing citations.
Titsworth noted that federal law prohibits the city from regulating what the signs say but the city can regulate their placement, size and style.
Staking a claim
Titsworth said that eliminating cabana signage addresses one concern but the city also received complaints about cabana rental companies staking out prime beach locations by placing cabanas and chairs in those locations before they are reserved and rented.
“Some of these companies are actually going out first thing in the morning and putting out a lot of their cabanas in a lot of really great spots and they’re claiming them before other people can get to them and they’re not rented,” Titsworth said.
She said some non-reserved cabanas have QR codes on them that allow someone to rent them after they’ve been placed on the beach without a reservation.
“They’re making money off of it and this is public land. How do we allow them to commercialize and make money on public sand when we don’t allow other people?” Titsworth said of the cabana rentals in general.
“We’re looking at these different types of things that could potentially move in there. My goal is that our beaches don’t become the causeway,” Titsworth said in reference to the Palma Sola Causeway along Manatee Avenue in west Bradenton. In recent years, the east end of causeway has become heavily saturated with commercial activities that include horseback rides, personal watercraft rentals and more.
Titsworth said city code prohibits commercial transactions in public spaces but most of those transactions are now conducted through company websites or online payment services like Venmo and Zelle.
Titsworth said she, City Attorney Erica Augello, Development Services Director Chad Minor and Code Compliance Chief James Thomas are researching what more can be done to regulate commercial activities on the beaches and how other coastal communities address these concerns.
“It gets harder and harder to enforce. Everybody’s trying to make money and they’re doing it now on public land and we’ve got to reel it in,” Titsworth said. “And there’s more things people are going to be coming up with in order to profit off the beaches. What would prevent someone from dropping off 25 kayaks and a QR code and pick them up at the end of the day?”
Commissioner Carol Whitmore questioned whether the use of state and federal funds to renourish the beaches might limit the city’s ability to regulate commercial beach activities, asking whether a city-issued occupational license is required.
Titsworth said occupational licenses pertain to ‘brick and mortar’ businesses that have actual physical locations but some cabana companies don’t have a primary physical location in Holmes Beach.
Commissioner Dan Diggins asked whether Manatee County has any regulations that address commercial activities at the county-owned Manatee Beach. Titsworth said she’s not aware of anything other than the county sign restrictions.
According to county code, “Private vendors, concessionaires providing concession services or activities in county parks may only do so by obtaining a concessionaire permit for such activity, or a franchise license agreement, and paying a franchise license fee.”
Manatee County uses the same contracted beach concessionaires at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach and at Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach.
Commissioner Terry Schafer asked whether the city’s goal is to prohibit beach cabana rentals. Titsworth said that wasn’t the intent, but she questions how the city can allow beach cabana rentals on preservation-zoned public land when other commercial activities are not allowed.
“It’s a fine line. We’ve got to do some more work,” Titsworth said.
A visit to the 68th Street beach access at 10 a.m. on June 26 (a Thursday) revealed beach cabanas lining the shoreline in both directions and occupying much of the area closest to the water. Some cabanas were occupied, some were not and it was not clear which cabanas were rentals and which were not.
