ANNA MARIA – The “No Swimming, Dangerous Currents” signs recently installed at Bean Point have been replaced by new signs that say, “Warning. Dangerous Currents. Swim at Your Own Risk. No Lifeguards.”
The new signs coincide with Anna Maria city officials discontinuing their recent efforts to establish and enforce a “no swim” zone at Bean Point.
Public works department personnel installed the new “Swim At Your Own Risk” signs along the Bean Point shoreline on Sept. 25 and the following day installed similar signs at four beach access entry points along North Shore Drive.
The new signs were ordered after Mayor Mark Short, on Sept. 15, vetoed an emergency ordinance adopted by city commissioners on Sept. 11. The short-lived emergency ordinance formalized the previously enacted Bean Point “no swim” zone that extended eastward from the Fern Street beach access to the beach access between 831 and 833 North Shore Drive.
The emergency ordinance allowed some Bean Point property owners to continue swimming near their beachfront properties.
The ordinance included the following enforcement language requested by commissioners in response to input provided by potentially impacted Bean Point beachfront property owners: “Owners, and their guests, of homes that are not vacation rentals with riparian rights in this specific area are exempt from these penalties.”
The day after he vetoed the emergency ordinance, Short sent The Sun an email that said, “I vetoed Emergency Ordinance 25-951, which was passed by the commission last Thursday regarding no swimming at the Bean Point area of the beach. The ordinance, as approved by the commission, provided for inconsistent enforcement and would be impractical to enforce by the MCSO (Manatee County Sheriff’s Office) and city code enforcement personnel.”
During their Sept. 25 meeting, all five city commissioners expressed their unanimous support for the mayor’s decision and they declined the opportunity to vote on overriding his veto.
When explaining his decision, Short said, “The challenge with that ordinance was that it was basically impossible to enforce.”
Short said he hopes the new signs make it very clear that there are risks associated with swimming at Bean Point.
“If they choose to swim there that’s fine, but they can’t say they weren’t warned,” Short said.
Short noted the new signs would be installed at four beach access entrances along North Shore Drive and along those corresponding portions of the Bean Point shoreline.
Short held up one of the new signs for the commissioners to see and said, “If you walk up there from the beach, you’re going to see these signs from any direction.”
Commissioner Chris Arendt said placing new “Swim At Your Own Risk” signs at the head of the beach access paths in addition to placing them on the beach was the right approach to take.
Commissioner Gary McMullen said the mayor’s decision allows Bean Point homeowners (and others) to continue swimming at Bean Point while also making them aware of the risks.
“They can swim there, but they take all responsibility,” McMullen said.
During public comment, My Beach Concierge owner Peery Heldreth said his company and some of the other beach cabana rental companies already warn visitors about the risks of swimming at Bean Point and try to steer them to safer nearby locations.
After discussing the establishment of a ‘no swim’ zone city commissions at two city commission meetings in August – after multiple swimmers were rescued from the Bean Point waters – Short enacted the ‘no swim’ zone on Sept. 2 in response to a fatal drowning there on Aug. 31.
