ANNA MARIA – City officials are receiving pushback from some city residents and property owners regarding city’s recently-enacted beach cabana rental regulations.
Several Anna Maria residents expressed their concerns during the general public input portion of the April 9 city commission meeting.
Some who spoke that day addressed the unintended consequences of allowing rented beach cabanas, tents and umbrellas only in a specific area, from Magnolia Avenue and Oak Avenue, while not allowing similar commercial activities in the city’s coastal conservation-zoned public beach areas.
The new regulations for commercial cabana, tent and umbrellas rentals took effect March 15 and they are set forth in the amended parks and recreational ordinance city commissioners further clarified and adopted on March 26.
The enacted city regulations restrict the commercial delivery, set up and removal of “temporary shade structures” that include cabanas, tents and umbrellas to the recreaetion open space-zoned area known as Gulf Front Park.
City regulations allow commercially rented temporary shade structures to be placed on privately-owned beachfront property located in the coastal conservation zone, with the property owner’s permission. City regulations also allow non-commercially-rented temporary shade structures to be placed in a coastal conservation zone.
PUBLIC CONCERNS
Palm Avenue resident Polly Ruggles was the first to address the commission during the April 9 meeting and she said she was also representing several other property owners on Palm Avenue, Magnolia Avenue, Gulf Boulevard and Palmetto Avenue.
Ruggles said she could not outline all her concerns in the three minutes allotted during public comment and she asked the city commission to revisit the restrictions that are now impacting residents and property owners on and near her block
“Palm to Magnolia has become what the commission didn’t want to occur. And that is, we have become the Palma Sola Causeway,” she said in reference to the highly commercialized beach areas along Manatee Avenue in west Bradenton.
Ruggles said she’d like the commission to revisit the ordinance that limits temporary shade structure rentals to one specific beachfront area.
She said she wants the city to address “the disparate treatment between our neighbors to the north and our particular section of the beach.”
She then said, “I can’t do that in three minutes, so I am requesting a meeting with the mayor and any particular city officials so that I can outline those concerns and request action to help us. We need it. The conditions have become intolerable. I have video evidence which I am happy to share with you – the amount and sheer number of tents on our block alone. In the last month, there have been 15 tents, two rows deep, sometimes three rows deep,” she said.
Ruggles said the cabana companies are complying with the regulation that states no more than two commercial rental areas containing temporary shade structures may be placed within 50 linear feet of each other.
“While they are complying with the 50-foot regulation, there’s nowhere for us to enjoy,” she said as her three minutes expired.
Speaking next, My Beach Concierge owner Peery Heldreth said he completely agreed with Ruggles’ comments.
He said his company accepted 34 cabana rental reservations prior to the new regulations taking effect from folks planning to visit Anna Maria. Heldreth said those with pending reservations were told they had two choices: relocate their cabana rental to an area within the allowed commercial activity zone or cancel their reservation with a full refund.
He said the majority of those clients revised their reservations, but most wanted to be as close to Magnolia Avenue as possible because of easier access to the paid parking lots at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Gulf Drive; with additional paid parking available further away, along Spring Avenue.
Peery said his clients also wanted to know how far the walk would be from their cabana rental area to the Sandbar restaurant at the end of Spring Avenue.
COMMISSIONER SPEAKS
After a few more residents shared their concerns, joined by CabanUp co-owner Kevin Crump, City Commissioner Chris Arendt said the comments being given that afternoon dovetailed perfectly into his agenda item request to discuss allowing some limited commercial activity in the coastal conservation-zoned public beach areas from Spring Avenue northwest to Coconut Avenue
“I had a sneaky suspicion this would happen,” Arendt said in regard to allowing cabana rentals in the recreation open space-zoned area but not in the nearby coastal conservation-zoned areas.
He said people have historically been allowed to set up commercially rented cabanas and tents in those areas and they want to continue doing so because of the available parking and the close proximity to the Sandbar.
“That general vicinity lends itself to people wanting to be there,” he said.
“I understand our intent is to try and make it not like the causeway. I feel that if we do allow a limited amount of cabanas in the coastal conservation zones, that would spread it out more,” he said, noting the regulations could possibly be stricter in the coastal conservation zones than in the recreation open space zone.
“I think to ban it carte blanche is close-minded. I think it’s really doing us a disservice. A lot of people want to be in those areas and they do have the right to be safe from the sun,” Arendt said.
Arendt said he is “perfectly good” with continuing to ban every other commercial activity in the coastal conservation zones.
In response to a question from Arendt, City Attorney Becky Vose said a portion of the coastal conservation zone could be rezoned to recreation open space, which would then allow commercial cabana rental activities in the rezoned area.
Commissioner John Lynch didn’t lend his support to allowing commercial cabana rentals in the coastal conservation zone that he feels should continue to be protected as such.
Commissioner Gary McMullen said he would not have an issue extending the recreation open space zone to Elm or Coconut, but he wonders if the Sandbar restaurant owners want commercial cabana rentals taking place on the public beach area between the restaurant and the Gulf.
Commissioner Kathy Morgan Johnson said there should be a limit on how many cabana and tent rental companies are allowed to operate in the permitted commercial activity areas.
Palm Avenue resident Mary Helen Dean said, “We are in crisis.”
Former commissioner Doug Copeland said, “In case you haven’t noticed, our beaches are overcrowded. I think it’s somewhat crazy to open up more space when we have too many already. The conservation area is what it says: Conservation.”
Anna Maria resident and North Shore Café owner Colleen Geller said the commercial activity taking place on the public beaches is taking away the beach experience for people who live here –and for people who can’t afford to rent a cabana.
She said it’s reaching the point where people are essentially buying a spot on the beach.
Several other people also spoke before the discussion ended. The commission took no formal action on these matters and the commercial beach activity discussions are expected to continue during future meetings.
