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Tag: Anna Maria Island cities

Residents consider initiating consolidation referendum

Residents consider initiating consolidation referendum

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Island residents are working to find ways to fight back against a loss of home rule and the potential consolidation or elimination of the three Island cities, and are considering whether or not initiating a voter referendum is the best way to go.

At an April 23 Holmes Beach Commission meeting, resident Debra Hall said that she’s spoken with the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office and is looking at the possibility of putting a referendum on the ballot to get voters’ opinions on whether or not to consolidate, eliminate or leave the three Island cities as they are. While she said she’s received the steps needed to get a referendum on the November general election ballot, she added that she’s not sure it’s the right thing to do.

According to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections and Florida Division of Elections websites, to have a referendum on the ballot, 10% of registered voters – in this case, 10% of voters from each Island city – would need to sign a petition in favor of the referendum. Those petitions would be presented to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office where each signature would need to be verified at a cost of 50 cents each. The wording on the petition would have to match the wording of the referendum as it would appear on the ballot. If the referendum reaches the required number of signatures, it’s placed on the ballot for the next general election. The deadline for the November ballot is Aug. 18.

While Commissioner Terry Schaefer said he appreciates the efforts of the residents, the city cannot be involved in a resident-initiated ballot referendum.

“Politics is such an ugly thing,” Commissioner Greg Kerchner said. “We really have to be on our best behavior and cannot get involved.”

Resident Daria Gramento said that she wants to get the information out to the general public about the threat to the Island cities to alert other coastal cities that the same government overreach could happen to them.

Barbara Ehren, one of the Save Florida Home Rule organizers, said that a goal of the group is to get the results of the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability study currently being conducted by the state released to the public. She said her group is currently debating whether or not initiating a ballot referendum is the best strategic move to make at this point.

“These are the biggest challenges we’ve faced as a community and it’s a significant affront to home rule,” Schaefer said. “Everyone in our city government is very resolute in our mission – to tell the truth. It’s difficult to offset the misinformation being disseminated. We’re trying very hard to not do that with anger but with research and facts. I believe that the facts will ultimately prevail.”

He said he hopes to have good dialogue with state representatives in the future and that the combined efforts of the cities and the residents will turn back the threats against the cities.

“Don’t lose faith, folks. This is far from over,” he said, reassuring the public that if the worst happens and state leaders decide to dissolve the cities, that Holmes Beach leaders are ready to fight back, though city leaders declined to say what their efforts would entail at this time.

Letter to the Editor: Message to state representatives

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Letter to the Editor, Opinion.

I strongly oppose your efforts to do away with home rule on Anna Maria Island. The three cities are unique, which adds to the appeal of the Island, and they deserve to rule themselves according to their specific needs.

In addition, your proposal to override local parking restrictions to build a parking garage will do nothing to solve the “parking” problem and will do much to worsen the actual problem, traffic. There is a finite amount of space on the Island, and allowing more cars to park will only worsen the conditions for everyone. Any long-term solution should maintain the character of the Island and involve off-site parking with shuttles. There will never be enough parking for every resident of Manatee County, nor should there be.

It is highly suspicious of your true motives that you failed to consult with Island officials before acting on your proposals. How ironic and sad (and infuriating) it would be if your changes eliminated the very things that make the Island appealing.

I have already witnessed the gradual worsening of conditions on the Island in the nine years we have been coming here. The first year we were here, I was struck by the pristine condition of the beach. It felt “holy” to me, like a very special place; I never saw a single piece of trash. With the increase in “day trippers,” I now see trash on the beach constantly. There seems to be a lack of a sense of “ownership” when people are here for just a few hours. It would benefit the Island to maintain the combination of renters, owners and visitors and not turn the place over to those who seek to make money above all else.

I am a property owner and part-year resident of Holmes Beach. I did not buy property as an investment or to be a landlord. I own property here because of the Is- land’s unique, old Florida character and combination of residents, part-time residents and vacationers. Your proposals would lay waste to what makes AMI special. I beseech you: Do not submit these as part of a bill in the forthcoming legislative session.

Sincerely,

 

Debra Pysno

Holmes Beach

Merger or dissolution could erase local city regulations

Merger or dissolution could erase local city regulations

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News, Featured.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The recent proposal by Manatee County’s state legislative delegation to fund a study to determine the feasibility of combining or eliminating the three Anna Maria Island cities has far-reaching ramifications.

The Florida Legislature has the power to merge or dissolve cities, although it has only dissolved three cities in the past 50 years.

The 1973 ratification of the Home Rule Powers Act allows dissolution or consolidation by a special act of the Florida Legislature or by a referendum vote of the voters in the municipality, according to the Florida League of Cities.

Since then, only 11 municipalities have been dissolved and only three were by a special act of the Legislature: Hacienda Village was merged into the town of Davie in 1984, Golfview was sold to an airport in Palm Beach County for a new runway in 1998 and Islandia was dissolved in 2012 because the population dwindled to less than five and no elections had been held since 1990.

In 2005, voters in Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach voted in favor of a non-binding resolution to study the feasibility of consolidation, but Anna Maria city commissioners opted to not put the question to voters in that city, so nothing came of the proposal.

If the state Legislature consolidates the three Island cities into one new municipality, the new city would lose its existing ordinances, including length of stay for vacation rentals, height restrictions, parking restrictions, occupancy requirements and vacation rental regulations. Some regulations would lose their grandfathered status as they would be pre-empted by subsequent state law, according to the league.

Deconstructing cities

According to Florida Statute 165.061, not only can a municipality be dissolved by a special act of the state Legislature, but multiple municipalities also can be merged together.

The statutory requirements for a municipality to be dissolved include that the municipality not be substantially surrounded by other municipalities. The county or another neighboring municipality also must prove the ability and willingness to provide necessary services to the dissolved municipality and be able to absorb the financial responsibilities of the dissolved municipality. In addition, a financial or job placement arrangement must be made for employees of the dissolved municipality.

To create a new municipality by merging existing municipalities, the area under consideration must be compact, contiguous and susceptible to urban services, honor existing solid waste contracts, provide financial compensation or job placement for employees and meet the prerequisites to annexation listed in Florida Statute 171.042. Some of those prerequisites include the creation of a new boundary map, creating plans for the running and governing of the new municipality and holding public hearings for all residents and property owners.

Mayors on Anna Maria Island have expressed their opposition to the dissolution or consolidation of the cities and met on Jan. 30 with delegation members Rep. Will Robinson Jr. and Rep. Jim Boyd to discuss the proposed study and a proposed bill to circum- vent Holmes Beach regulations to build a four-story parking garage at the county-owned property at Manatee Beach. A joint statement on the two topics is expected to be issued after press time for The Sun. 

Island officials unite to preserve home rule

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Island’s elected officials are uniting to preserve home rule in the face of recent attempts by state legislators to circumvent local parking ordinances and fund a study to determine if the Island’s three cities should be dissolved.

Not only the central city on the Island, but also the one central to a debate at the state level, Holmes Beach has a prohibition against parking garages that state legislators have threatened to overturn. City leaders took a few moments during a Jan. 24 city commission meeting to address that issue and that of dissolving the Island cities.

It was standing room only in city hall chambers as residents, property owners and other stakeholders came out to show their support to Mayor Judy Titsworth and city commissioners. More joined the meeting online through Zoom.

Titsworth thanked everyone in attendance for their “outpouring of support” and vowed to do everything possible to fight back against the state’s encroachment into home rule of the Island, the ability of local governments to govern themselves.

While she said she and the two mayors from Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria would be meeting on Jan. 30 to discuss options and strategy, she wouldn’t be discussing those things publicly so as to not give state legislators the upper hand.

During a January legislative delegation meeting, Rep. Will Robinson Jr. proposed putting a bill forth in the upcoming state legislative session to install a four-story parking garage at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach. Installation of a parking garage would undermine city ordinances that prohibit parking garages in the city and would break the city’s three-story building height limitation, which is written into the municipality’s charter. While parking garages were never an approved use in Holmes Beach, the ordinance officially stating that was not passed until 2022, after a meeting with Manatee County commissioners to discuss beach parking issues.

Titsworth said that Robinson, Rep. Jim Boyd and Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge were informed prior to the discussion that parking garages were not an allowable use in the city but that they could submit for a change of use. She said no one from the county, which owns the Manatee Beach property, ever did.

“There’s lots of misinformation from the county,” she said. “I’m over this. We’re not trying to privatize the Island. We’re a far cry from a private island.”

Robinson also proposed having a state-funded agency do a feasibility study to determine if the three Island city governments should be dissolved, putting the Island under the control of Manatee County commissioners. Consolidation of the three cities also has been discussed.

Florida Statutes 165.061(3)(b) requires that if a municipal government is dissolved by a special act of the state Legislature, a neighboring municipality would have to demonstrate that it is willing and able, including financially, to “provide necessary services to the municipal area proposed for dissolution.” Other statutory requirements prohibit the municipality to be dissolved from being “substantially surrounded by other municipalities.”

Data from the Florida League of Cities shows that only 11 municipalities have been dissolved since 1977 and only two of those were by special act of the state Legislature.

Commissioner Terry Schaefer, who attended the legislative delegation meeting, said that no one in the three Island city governments received prior notification about the parking garage proposal or the state-funded study.

“I think it showed a great deal of disrespect to everyone who lives on and loves this Island,” he said, noting that the dissolution study is “a stark warning to every community in Florida.”

“It’ll be really sad if there comes a time when all of our little coastal cities are gone,” Titsworth said.

“We’re not going to get into a fight,” Commissioner Carol Soustek said. “We want to move forward carefully and legally.”

Though the city’s elected officials committed to doing everything they can to halt both the parking garage and the attempt to dissolve the Island cities, they also encouraged all residents, property owners, visitors and stakeholders to lend their voices to the fight by reaching out to local and state representatives with their opinions on the two issues.

Schaefer also appeared on Jan. 26 at a ManaSota League of Cities meeting in Longboat Key on behalf of Holmes Beach. He was joined by Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie and representatives from several other local municipalities. The group agreed to draft and send a letter to the state Legislature and local delegation in support of the three Anna Maria Island cities remaining as-is and decrying the state’s potential intrusion into home rule.

Letter to the Editor: Open letter to AMI representatives

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Letter to the Editor, Opinion.

This is a copy of the letter I have sent to:

Rep. Will Robinson Jr.
Rep. Mike Beltran
Rep. Tommy Gregory

Sen. Jim Boyd
Sen. Joe Gruter
Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge

It has taken me several days to compose my anger at you and ALL of the other members of the local state legislative delegation. Who do you think you are and how dare you make an attempt to subvert our three local governments? I can’t tell you how disgusted and terrified I am with every one of you. I have always been under the impression that Republicans believed in as little government intervention as possible. It seems as though that has changed with you. Our democracy is now being taken over by a dictatorship!

I discovered early on that Commissioner Van Ostenbridge, who supposedly represents Anna Maria Island, does not support his constituents, apparently, unless they are investors, realtors or wealthy folks who can line his political pockets. He does not think or care about the residents of our three cities. He certainly appears to be another self-centered politician who is only interested in his own well-being. Now, unfortunately, it has become apparent that ALL of you legislative delegates are only interested in your own political futures. Why don’t you come out to the beach two to three times a month, especially during the summer months, and observe that there is no room for one chair, let alone for a group. The overcrowded beaches are becoming unsafe for all of us. But NO!! We have to continue to advertise all over the world and bring more and more tourists here. And then you complain that there is inadequate parking for the thousands of off-island beachgoers and then threaten us with a four-story parking garage.

I have lived here for 30 years and my parents for 20 years before that, so 50 years of being high taxpaying residents while watching AMI lose its quiet charm, especially in the last 10 years. Do you see what is happening to local residents who are leaving in droves? Do you even really care? No, because you receive more money and support from investors, etc.

Now I wonder if we need to warn residents from Sarasota, Pinellas, Hillsborough and other counties with small coastal communities that they may be next? Why don’t you take over Mar-a-Lago???

Please contact the delegates and voice your dissent before it is too late.

May God help us.

Ruth Cawein

Anna Maria