BRADENTON BEACH – Following city commissioners’ discussion on July 10 about commercial beach cabana companies doing business on public beaches, commissioners
asked City Attorney Ricinda Perry to look at legal options and possible modifications to regulations.
“I looked at our existing code and in Article 2 – conduct in public parks – ‘park’ is defined as the beach, and there is an enforcement provision,” Perry said. “When you get down to
Section 46-37, it says no person in a park shall construct or erect any building or structure whether of permanent or temporary character.”
She noted another section, 46-44, which states that no person in a park shall erect, maintain, use or occupy on or in any beach any tents, shelter or structure of any kind without a special written permit.
“What that says to me is there can be no tents of any kind or sun shelter on any part of the beaches because they are covered under that code,” she said.
Commissioner Deborah Scaccianoce said her concern would not be to prevent beachgoers from using personal shelters to stay out of the sun, but was opposed to having private cabana companies using the public beach for financial gain.
“The concern is those concierge companies that don’t have a brick and mortar building, they just have a storage unit with a bunch of cabanas in it and they pull out their cabanas and chairs and set them up,” Scaccianoce said. “The bigger issue is concierge companies lining up 20 cabanas on prime spots on the beach. Nobody’s in them and they’re taking up space on the beach, in the hope that somebody is going to rent them.”
She noted that Holmes Beach has also recently expressed concern about private businesses advertising for financial gain on the beach.
“Holmes Beach is addressing it in a way that has code enforcement going out and watching these cabanas,” Scaccianoce said. “These cabana companies are advertising with their name, phone number, QR codes, and setting up empty tents with chairs that are not rented. If they’re set up in the morning and in the afternoon if they’re still empty they (Holmes Beach) are doing code enforcement.”
Commissioner Ralph Cole noted that resorts put out umbrellas for their guests.
“However that’s worded needs to be fixed so we can protect the businesses that were here for years and years,” Cole said. “The last thing we want to do is ruin our resorts and make people not want to come here because they have to sit on the beach with no umbrella.”
Cole compared the private cabana rental companies to many other businesses on the Palma Sola Causeway.
“I have a problem with someone just showing up on a public beach and starting to rent out Jet Skis,” Cole said. “When I see people up on the causeway, they’ve got banners out and they pay no rent. That’s just what the cabanas are doing. It’s getting out of hand.”
Scaccianoce said she does not support taking opportunity away from resorts or from families coming to the beach with sun shades.
“The issue I’m talking about here is that I think we should be able to police the businesses,” she said.
Mayor John Chappie suggested directing Perry to look at the city’s legal options with the possibility of making modifications to the current code. A motion to that effect passed unanimously.
“I believe all of us want to try to address this and have some type of regulation,” Chappie said.
The Thursday, July 17 city commission meeting agenda includes an update on commercial activity on public property.
