BRADENTON BEACH – The city commission considered an ordinance that would regulate beach cabana rental companies while discussing other recent violations on city beaches.
“I’ve had some constituents send me photographs, and in particular a specific cabana company, that recently advertised for a wine experience on the beach, complete with wine glasses,” Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce said during the Aug. 20 city commission meeting. “This goes completely against the no alcohol rule on the beach.”
She also cited photos of cabana equipment left unsecured on the sand during a recent storm, warning that the tents could become hazards.
“It’s dangerous,” Scaccianoce said. “I get that the enforcement is difficult, but I don’t want our beaches to end up like the Causeway (Palma Sola Causeway). We have food boats coming onto the beach. We have ordinances that say they can’t come within so many feet, but they’re ignoring that.”
She noted that people are also bringing dogs to the beach, which is also prohibited.
“Once people start saying ‘oh they have their dog on the beach’ and then we’ll start getting more dogs on the beach and we’re going to start losing control,” Scaccianoce said. “These are all concerns that I think we’re going to have to start thinking about and addressing, because it’s not going to get better.”
Commissioners had previously agreed to hold off on regulating cabana operations to see how neighboring cities handled the issue, but several commission members indicated during the meeting that the problem is worsening.
“We had decided we weren’t going to do anything at this point and see what happens with the other cities,” Mayor John Chappie said. “Is it getting to the time where we really need to look at this and come up with something? Would we like Erica (City Attorney Erica Augello) to start formulating some type of ordinance for cabanas?”
The city of Anna Maria recently approved revisions to its beach cabana ordinance. Those revisions, which are scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, include the city entering into franchise agreements with only three beach cabana rental vendors.
Augello said a company setting up an unbranded tent for a renter, with no advertising or transactions occurring on the beach itself, may not qualify as “commerce on the beach” under the city’s existing rules, even though a company advertising an alcohol package likely would be a violation.
The gap in city enforcement staff dominated much of the discussion.
“There’s the enforcement mechanism,” Augello said. “If you regulate it, you have to have somebody to enforce it.”
Commissioner Robert Talham telephoned into the meeting and said by increasing police staff, resulting citations and fines would more than pay for itself in revenue. He suggested the city purchase a small four-wheel-drive truck for police officers to use for beach patrols.
“So, if we just paid for a new four-wheel-drive truck, you could just get somebody out there and writing tickets for stuff that’s already on our books,” Talham said. “Hire more police officers.”
Police Chief John Cosby said his department has just eight officers and only one is typically assigned to the beach at a time. He said Holmes Beach has five code enforcement employees and 16 active police officers.
“Holmes Beach has five code enforcement employees,” Cosby said. “Three are actually code enforcement officers. They have a paralegal that processes and sends out the notices for violation.”
Bradenton Beach has one code enforcement officer, Evan Harbus.
Cosby said the commission was discussing new rules without discussing funding for enforcement.
“I don’t know what you want me to do,” he said. “When you sit up there and have this discussion, and some of you have come into my office and say, ‘Do whatever you need to do,’ but you’re not going to raise taxes.”
He said the same discussion has been going on for years.
“I’m told I should beg the county and other resources for money,” Cosby said. “That’s not my job. That’s your job. You’re going to talk about making all these new beach regulations, but you’re not going to give any funding to help take care of it. It can’t work that way.”
“That’s why we need to have this discussion,” Chappie said.
Scaccianoce agreed the city lacks the enforcement capacity to act immediately. She said a new ordinance would make more sense once the city can budget for the dedicated staff needed to enforce it.
“Once we get to the point where we’re in a position that we can hire someone that can specifically be assigned, that’s when we have a conversation about an ordinance,” she said.
She noted that currently, citations issued for alcohol violations would be issued to individual beachgoers rather than the rental companies that provided the wine packages.
No vote was taken on drafting a cabana ordinance. The commission plans to revisit the issue, along with staffing and funding options, during future meetings.
