I was saddened to hear that Mayor Dan Murphy had decided not to run for reelection. But only for a minute, because I quickly realized how fortunate Anna Maria has been to have him as mayor for the past 10 years. He has not only been honest but also strong in his attempt to keep Anna Maria, Anna Maria in the face of powerful forces. His accomplishments are many but none greater than the rebuilding of the City Pier. With his vision and hard work, it should be in place for the world to enjoy for many decades to come.
I have witnessed Anna Maria mayors for the last 50 years and it is not a stretch to say he has been the best I’ve seen. So, I thank Dan and his wife, Barbara, for what they have given the city. Enjoy your well-deserved retirement.
ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy is growing increasingly confident that the Florida Legislature’s latest attempt to preempt vacation rental regulation to the state will once again fail.
Proposed and supported by the Florida Legislature earlier this year, Senate Bill 280 and its matching companion bill, House Bill 1537, seek to take short-term vacation rental regulation and the regulation of short-term rental advertising away from Florida cities and counties and place that authority solely with the state.
Sen Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton) and State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. (R-Bradenton) are among the many state legislators who voted in favor of the proposed legislation.
To become new state law, the proposed legislation must be transmitted to Gov. Ron DeSantis. If the governor supports the legislation, he can sign it into new state law effective July 1 or allow it to become new state law without his signature of support. He can also kill the proposed legislation by vetoing it.
“The bill has not been placed on the governor’s desk,” Murphy told the Anna Maria City Commission on May 23.
Murphy said he and the city’s contracted lobbyist have no idea if or when the proposed vacation rental regulation will ever be transmitted to the Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The good news is the governor’s staff has a multitude of concerns about the bill itself, starting with some of the input we gave them,” Murphy said.
The proposed state legislation would eliminate Anna Maria’s existing short-term vacation rental occupancy limits and replace them with more generous occupancy limits that would be virtually impossible for the city to enforce.
The city input the mayor referenced pertains to Anna Maria’s vacation rental guest population quickly increasing by an estimated 32% if the city’s occupancy limits are eliminated, which the mayor said would further strain the city’s already-strained infrastructure systems.
Murphy said DeSantis’ staff also has political concerns about the legislation, including a carve-out exemption for Flagler County, the home of Speaker of the House Paul Renner. The proposed carve-out would create a grandfathering exemption for Flagler County’s current vacation rental regulations.
“They’ve got a list of concerns. When I get the word that it’s headed to the governor’s desk – and we should get at least a day or two of advance notice – we’ll crank up HomeRuleFl.com to bombard letters to the governor for a veto,” Murphy said.
“We’re in a very good spot. That’s what our lobbyist said, but it’ll be back next year. It’s not going to go away. This is going to be a continual struggle,” Murphy cautioned.
When asked, the mayor and city attorney said they didn’t know when the deadline is to transmit bills to the governor.
ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy has proposed a block-by-block approach to installing permeable brick paver sidewalks along Pine Avenue where meandering unpaved paths currently exist.
New crosswalks would also be installed across Pine Avenue in a similar block-by-block fashion as part of the long-desired Reimagining Pine Avenue safety improvement project.
The existing concrete sidewalks along Pine Avenue will remain in place for now and potentially be replaced with brick paver sidewalks later.
When initiated, the sidewalk and crosswalk improvements will be funded by a state appropriation previously approved by the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
New streetlights will be installed later using different, non-state funding sources.
In recent years, the commission, at the mayor’s recommendation, has rejected four previous project-related bids received from the Sarasota-based C-Squared construction company.
C-Squared’s most recent bid was $1.38 million to install a one-block Reimagining Pine Avenue prototype area between Gulf Drive and North Shore Drive. The prototype would have included new brick paver sidewalks along both sides of Pine Avenue and new crosswalks. The bid did not include street lighting.
On May 23, the mayor proposed a new approach to securing a local contractor or contractors to do the work in a more piecemeal fashion. Murphy said he engaged in preliminary discussion with the project engineer as to how to go about the piecemeal approach to installing the brick paver sidewalks one block at a time, beginning with the stretch of Pine Avenue between Gulf Drive and North Shore Drive. Murphy said three local contractors have expressed interest in the project.
“That’s a good sign,” he said. “One contractor told me, ‘You finally have an approach that makes sense and I want to bid on it.’ ”
Murphy said the city’s public works department may be able to assist with the crosswalk installations.
Murphy said once the brick paver sidewalks are installed in the unpaved paths, the concrete sidewalks will be replaced by brick paver sidewalks, to be followed by new street lighting.
Murphy said with the commission’s support he’d work with the project engineer and the Florida Department of Transportation – the state agency controlling the expenditure of the state funds – and figure out how to move forward with the solicitation of bids.
The city commission expressed preliminary support for the block-by-block, one-step-at-a-time project approach and now awaits additional information from the mayor.
ANNA MARIA – The city commission has adopted a resolution providing the sales and registration requirements allowing existing CBD and hemp sellers to continue those sales by acquiring city-approved grandfathering status.
City Attorney Becky Vose presented Resolution 24-796 to the city commission on May 23 and the commission unanimously adopted the resolution on first and final reading. Vose plans to present the accompanying grandfathering registration form on June 13.
The adopted resolution and the still-pending registration form will work in unison with a recently amended city ordinance prohibiting the sale, processing or manufacturing of any product derived from cannabis (marijuana) plants – including medicinal marijuana, CBD and hemp products – while creating grandfathering exceptions for businesses that already sold limited amounts of CBD and/or hemp products as of April 1.
There are currently no full-blown CBD stores in Anna Maria and the commission’s goal is to prevent that from happening. The grandfathering provision cannot be obtained by an existing business or a new business after July 1.
The recently-adopted grandfathering provision, the newly-adopted city resolution and the soon-to-be-approved registration form satisfy the mayor and commission’s regulatory concerns while still allowing those few existing businesses to continue selling the CBD and hemp products that few realized were illegal in Anna Maria until earlier this year.
CBD and hemp products are legal statewide but Anna Maria is an exception to that rule, similar to a dry city or county that doesn’t allow alcohol sales. State-compliant CBD sales are allowed in the neighboring city of Holmes Beach, throughout Bradenton and in unincorporated Manatee County.
RESOLUTION PRESENTED
When presenting the resolution to the city commission on May 23, Vose said, “As you recall, we did change our marijuana ordinance having to do with businesses that have a fixed physical location, not to include mobile sales, in the city of Anna Maria and sell products that would otherwise be prohibited in the ordinance. This would allow them to continue.”
The resolution states all grandfathering applications must be submitted to the city by July 1 on forms to be provided by the city.
“In addition to information about the grandfather applicant and location, the grandfather applications must include a listing of relevant products sold by the business and the quantity of such products that were purchased/sold from March 1-31 and photographs of then-current supplies of relevant products,” the resolution states.
The resolution also states, “Grandfather applications must be submitted under oath and notarized.”
Vose noted the resolution gives the mayor the authority to oversee and tweak the registration and enforcement processes as needed.
COMMISSION INSIGHTS
Commissioner Gary McMullen questioned the need for the grandfathered businesses to list and photograph their CBD and/or hemp product inventory and whether that might be burdensome for the business owners.
“It’s in the very recent past and they should be able to give us that information,” Vose responded. “Then they’d give us photographs of then-current supplies of the product so we have some kind of feel for the product they have.”
Vose said there’s a finite number of hemp and CBD products already being offered for sale in Anna Maria and those business owners already have a pretty good idea of what they have and how much they’re selling.
“I don’t think this will be terribly burdensome, but if it ends up being terribly burdensome, there is the authority for the mayor to tweak this,” Vose said. “We don’t want a gift shop that happens to sell some CBD products to all of the sudden turn into a head shop where 95% of what they sell are these products.”
Cool Beans AMI sells a limited amount of CBD products. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Commissioner Charlie Salem said, “I think the intent is to make sure we’re not going beyond the grandfathering. Let’s let them continue what they’ve been doing but you don’t want them to be exclusive dealers of a much broader set of these products. I think this is a way to make sure there’s something on record so we all can rest easy that they’re going to comply with what they get through the grandfathering.”
“This resolution effectively is putting a stake in the ground,” Commissioner Mark Short said, noting the resolution states that grandfathered businesses can’t increase their CBD or hemp product offerings. “It’s limiting them to where they were at as of April 1st.”
Short noted the city is aware of three Anna Maria businesses currently selling CBD or hemp products, but there might be more.
The North Shore Café offers food and drink items made with hemp powder that contains trace amounts of THC. The Cool Beans AMI coffee shop sells CBD items in addition to its coffee, food, beverage and other offerings. AMI Beach & Dog Supply sells canine-grade CBD products among its many other offerings.
Mayor Dan Murphy said the plan is to contact every business that operates in Anna Maria and ask them if they’re carrying any CBD or hemp products. If so, they have until July 1 to register for the grandfathering provision. Murphy said the business owners will be given a copy of the resolution so they know what’s expected of them.
“I’m not going to make it burdensome,” Murphy pledged.
The city’s efforts to regulate CBD sales come at a time when additional CBD restrictions proposed by the Florida Legislature are still awaiting a final decision by Gov. Ron DeSantis. If the state decreases the allowed potency and THC content of CBD products, Anna Maria’s CBD grandfathered sellers must comply with the new state law.
ANNA MARIA – The Planning and Zoning Board is reviewing city regulations pertaining to fences located in street corner intersection visibility triangles and driveway intersection visibility triangles.
City Planner Ashley Austin and Building Department General Manager Dean Jones are assisting with these efforts.
VISIBILITY TRIANGLES
Section 90-2 of the city’s existing code of ordinances establishes street corner visibility triangles with the following language: “On a corner lot there shall be no parking or loading spaces, structure or planting, including trees, but not to include tree trunks where the tree branches are higher than 7 feet above the surrounding grade, which materially obstructs the vision of vehicular traffic within 20 feet of the two intersecting street right-of-way lines measured from the intersecting corner of the rights-of-way involved.”
Anna Maria city code includes this visibility triangle illustration. – City of Anna Maria | Submitted
Section 114-423 of the city code specifically addresses walls and fences, and the planning board recommends adding a text amendment to that section of city code that would allow solid fences up to 3 feet high, or 50% open, or transparent, fences 3-6 feet high, in visibility triangles. Transparent and partially transparent fences included rope and bollards, picket fences and split-rail fences.
This is one example of a partially transparent fence. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Regarding street corner plantings, city code says plant masses or structures below 3 feet in height, and structures or tree foliage, not including tree trunks, 8 feet in height are not considered obstructions.
Board member Dusty Crane said the combination of vehicles parked within 20 feet of the intersection, foliage and fences at the corner of North Bay and Poinsettia make it difficult to pull onto North Bay.
“We’ve had an issue with that before. We’ve had to put up some bollards to try to mitigate that,” Jones said, noting that additional ropes and bollards could be installed where needed.
PASS-THROUGH LOTS
The board discussed fence heights on some of the ‘pass-through lots’ located along North Bay Boulevard. Pass-through lots, also known as through lots, are non-corner lots in which a property’s front and rear lot lines both abut streets.
Several pass-through lots exist between North Bay Boulevard and North Shore Drive. – Google Maps | Submitted
Between Bayfront Park and the Rod & Reel Pier, 10 pass-through lots abut both North Bay Boulevard and North Shore Drive. Some of those homes have front entrances and front yards facing North Bay and others face North Shore. Austin said pass-through lots are not prevalent in Anna Maria, but there are some others elsewhere in the city.
Pass-through lots are allowed four-foot-high fences in their front and back yards. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Crane noted at least one pass-through lot fence along North Bay Boulevard appears to be 6 feet high and she asked if that’s allowed. Board member Doug Copeland noted that 6-foot-high fences are allowed in the back yards, but Austin said the height limit is 4 feet on both the front and back yards for pass-through lots. Austin said she would look into that matter.
DRIVEWAY INTERSECTIONS
The board reviewed the existing code that addresses driveway intersections and says, “At the intersection of a driveway with a street right-of-way line, there shall be no structure or planting, including trees, which materially obstructs the vision of vehicular traffic within 10 feet of the intersecting street right-of-way line and the driveway pavement edge measured from both intersecting corners of the right-of-way and driveway involved.
Similar to corner lot landscaping, the code also says, “For purposes of this section, planting masses or structures below 3 feet in height, and structures or tree foliage, not to include tree trunks, 8 feet in height are not considered obstructions.”
Jones, who recently returned as a city employee, acknowledged he hasn’t studied that section of the city code in a couple of years but he believes street-side parking is prohibited within 10 feet of a driveway, and that would be a code enforcement issue.
Copeland said visitors and residents need to be made aware of the 10-foot parking prohibition because most people who visit Anna Maria don’t know about it. Jones said there are already approximately 798 signs in Anna Maria and the city doesn’t want to significantly increase that number by erecting additional signs that address the 10-foot parking rule. Jones said a sign could be placed at the entrance to the city and Copeland suggested ropes and bollards as a potential alternative to more signs.
Parked vehicles, fences and foliage can impact intersection visibility. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
When the discussion ended, Austin said she would incorporate the board’s fence height and transparency suggestions in a proposed text amendment to be discussed at the board’s June 26 meeting.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The candidate qualifying periods will soon begin for those seeking election or reelection during the 2024 election cycle.
Anna Maria provides a two-week qualifying period. Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Manatee County provide one-week qualifying periods. All city commission and mayoral terms on the Island are two-year terms.
Pre-qualifying
State law also provides pre-qualifying periods for candidates. According to Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office Chief Deputy Sharon Stief, “The pre-qualifying process is set forth in Florida Statute 99.061(8): A qualifying office may accept and hold qualifying papers submitted not earlier than 14 days prior to the beginning of the qualifying period, to be processed and filed during the qualifying period. This is not new. Municipalities that piggyback onto the general election are able to pre-qualify. When the municipality has elections in off years, that provision is not in their charter.”
Form 6
Because of a new state law that took effect on Jan.1, municipal candidates seeking election or reelection to a mayoral or city commission office must, for the first time, file a Form 6 financial disclosure form that lists the candidate’s net worth, all income sources, all debts (except credit cards) and all tangible assets valued at more than $1,000. County commission candidates were already subjected to the Form 6 filing requirements. Learn more about the Form 6 requirements at the Florida Commission on Ethics website.
Anna Maria
The two-week qualifying period in Anna Maria begins on Monday, June 3 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon. The mayor’s seat currently held by Dan Murphy and the city commission seats currently held by Gary McMullen and Mark Short are up for election in November.
Anna Maria City Clerk LeAnne Addy said during the May 9 city commission meeting that the pre-qualifying period begins on May 27. Qualifying packets will be accepted at that time, but Anna Maria candidates will not be considered qualified until the qualifying period opens on June 3.
Bradenton Beach
The one-week qualifying period in Bradenton Beach begins on Monday, June 10 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon.
The Ward 2 commission seat currently held by Marilyn Maro and the Ward 3 commission seat currently held by Ralph Cole are up for election this fall.
Maro has not attended a commission meeting in person in over a year but has attended several meetings by phone.
Holmes Beach
The one-week qualifying period in Bradenton Beach begins on Monday, June 10 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon. The mayor’s seat currently held by Judy Titsworth and the city commission seats currently held by Dan Diggins and Greg Kerchner are up for election.
Manatee County
The one-week qualifying period for county candidates begins on Monday, June 10 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon. County offices up for election this fall include the District 1, 3 and 5 county commission seats, the at-large District 7 county commission seat, the offices of the supervisor of elections, the county clerk, the property appraiser, the tax collector and the sheriff, the District 1 and 3 school board seats and West Manatee Fire Rescue board seats 1 and 5.
Registration, party affiliation
Preceded by early voting and mail voting, the Manatee County primary election will conclude on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The deadline to register to vote in the primary, or to change party affiliation for the party-specific primary elections, is Monday, July 22.
Preceded by early and mail voting, the general election will conclude on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is Monday, Oct. 7 and party affiliation doesn’t matter in a general election.
For additional qualifying information regarding city and county races, contact the Supervisor of Elections office or the applicable city clerk’s office.
ANNA MARIA – Anyone who regularly attends performances by the Island Players is used to lighthearted comedies that have the audience in hysterics for a great deal of the time they are in their seats.
With performances of “Later Life,” “Farce of Nature,” “The Mousetrap” and “Communicating Doors,” the Players’ historic 75th season has offered plenty of what audiences are used to, until now.
The play that closed the season was definitely not a comedy, and was actually scary at times.
When telling ghost stories, Arthur Kipps’ (Tom Horton) children ask him to tell one of his own. Pushing him by saying, “Everybody knows at least one ghost story,” Kipps knows if he shares the tale he has to offer, it won’t be a story they want to hear, and he has no desire to share it at the time.
What Kipps does decide to do is share his horrific encounter with the supernatural with his friends and family on a theater stage, so he hires a professional actor to help him. While Kipps isn’t much of an actor in the beginning, the Actor (Mark Lennox) convinces him to play all of the characters besides himself in the story, while the Actor plays Kipps.
The play was adapted by Stephen Mattatratt from a novel by Susan Hill and directed by veteran director Kelly Wynn Woodland, who has well over 100 plays under her belt. While it wouldn’t fall under the horror genre, “The Woman in Black” is a fantastic ghost story that takes place in a creepy English manner that is only accessible at low tide due to its remote location just outside a small town, whose residents won’t go anywhere near it. Add in plenty of fog, deadly quicksand, some strange characters and a terrifying ghost (Tahlia Chinault) who manages to make the audience jump despite not having a single line of dialogue in the entire play, the audience was much quieter than at a typical Island Players production.
The show started almost lighthearted, but as it progressed, it became obvious things were turning darker by the minute, eventually leading to an ending that left the entire audience literally speechless. Even as the audience filed out of the final performance, the lobby was much more quiet than the average Players’ play, as guests were still processing what had just happened moments earlier.
There’s still time to catch one of the last shows of the season. “The Woman in Black” runs through May 12 with nightly performances at 7:30 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Both online and box office ticket sales are available at www.theislandplayers.org and 941-778-5755. Box office hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and one hour before curtain on Sundays for will call tickets only.
ANNA MARIA – The city is one step closer to adopting a new ordinance that will grant grandfathering status for businesses that already sold CBD and/or hemp products as of April 1.
On April 25, a previously discussed city ordinance, Ordinance 24-923, was presented to the city commission on first reading. The second reading and final adoption of the ordinance is expected on May 9.
The ordinance amends Section 34-2 of the city’s code of ordinances, which currently prohibits the growth, distribution, or sale of marijuana, medical marijuana, or any product derived from the cannabis plant, including hemp and CBD.
According to the proposed amended ordinance, “The growing, processing, distributing and sale of marijuana within the city limits of Anna Maria is hereby prohibited. Marijuana shall be defined for purposes of this section to include all parts of any plant of the genus cannabis, whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin ex-tracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant or its seeds or resin, including but not limited to ‘low-THC cannabis,’ as defined in Florida Statute 381.986.”
However, the proposed ordinance includes new language that will provide grandfathering status for Anna Maria businesses that already sell CBD or hemp products.
According to the proposed ordinance, “Businesses with a business location in the city of Anna Maria – not to include mobile sales – that, as of April 1, 2024, regularly sold product that would otherwise have been prohibited shall be eligible to receive grandfather status to continue such sales, but not to increase the volume of such sales, in accordance with procedures set forth in a resolution to be adopted by the city commission.”
Anna Maria businesses that did not sell CBD or hemp products prior to April 1 will not be eligible for the grandfathering status.
The yet-to-be-presented city resolution referenced in the proposed ordinance will establish the specific procedures to be followed by those seeking the grandfathering status, including a registration process.
During the April 25 meeting, Mayor Dan Murphy said the city is currently aware of three Anna Maria businesses that sell hemp and/or CBD products. The North Shore Café sells food and drink items that include hemp powder with miniscule amounts of THC. The Cool Beans AMI coffee shop sells CBD products in addition to coffee, food items and other non-CBD products. AMI Beach & Dog Supply sells canine-grade CBD products.
Murphy said any additional businesses that sold CBD and/or hemp products as of April 1 and want to continue doing so must notify the city soon and be able to prove those pre-April 1 sales.
The proposed ordinance notes, “Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to allow the sale of any product, the sale of which is otherwise prohibited by Florida law as then applicable.”
City Attorney Becky Vose said this provision addresses the possibility that Gov. Ron DeSantis may soon sign into state law proposed state legislation that would further restrict CBD sales and the potency of CBD products legally sold in Florida. Vose said there’s a strong possibility that many currently legal CBD/THC products would be made illegal by the proposed state legislation.
As of April 27, the proposed CBD legislation created by Senate Bill 1698 and House Bill 1613 had not yet been transmitted to DeSantis to veto, sign into new state law, or allow to become new state law without his signature.
ANNA MARIA – A large kapok tree now graces a residential construction site along the 700 block of North Shore Drive.
The new beachfront home is being built by Ross Built Custom Homes with Max Gazzo serving as project manager, Jake Ross serving as superintendent and Michael Gilkey serving as the landscape architect and landscape contractor.
Gilkey owns the Sarasota-based Michael A. Gilkey Inc. landscape architect and contracting firm that has clients on Anna Maria Island and other barrier Islands from Boca Grande to St. Petersburg.
Michael A. Gilkey Inc. serves as the landscape architect for the ongoing residential construction project. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Gilkey said the kapok tree now standing along North Shore Drive is 60 to 80 years old. It came from Pahokee, Florida, on the southeast rim of Lake Okeechobee, and is approximately 57 feet tall – as tall as it can be for transportation purposes.
The transplanted kapok tree stands more than 57 feet tall. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Extensive preparations preceded the tree’s recent relocation to Anna Maria.
“The tree has been being prepared for about three years for the move, with extensive preparations happening over the last six months,” Gilkey said. “Initial pruning started three years ago. Initial root pruning started three years ago. In the last six months, getting ready for transport, the majority of the heavy pruning took place. The day before the move, they cut the buttress roots, or the flared roots, off the tree and labeled and numbered them to the corresponding parts on the tree. The tree came on a separate truck from the roots. We got it on-site and pinned it all back together using large stainless-steel screws.”
The kapok tree and its buttress roots were reconnected after arriving in Anna Maria. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Gilkey said transporting the massive tree required permits from the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Highway Patrol, with escort vehicles accompanying the trucks transporting the tree and the tree’s root system.
“A crane and about 20 people were involved on-site with the planting and logistics to get it in. It was a massive effort,” Gilkey said.
Relocating the kapok tree was just the start of a lengthy and ongoing process.
“It’ll take about five years to get the canopy looking normal. We won’t trim it for the first year. The tree’s going to be using its leaves and branches for its health and nutrients, but after the first year we’ll start reducing the number of sprouts for the purpose of making strong connections,” Gilkey said, noting he’ll remain involved in that process.
“The tree will have an arborist overseeing its pruning twice a year for five years. Over time, you want to thin those new branches down from the 20 branches that may sprout to the most viable branches to make those strong connections,” Gilkey said.
When asked if kapok trees are common in this area, Gilkey said, “I wouldn’t say they’re common, but they’re out there. Selby Gardens (in Sarasota) has a real beautiful one people are probably familiar with and there’s a big one on the bayfront in St. Pete as well.”
Gilkey said transplanting this kapok tree was the result of the homeowners wanting to have some large established trees on their property.
A mature kapok tree provides an extensive shade canopy. – Wikipedia | Submitted
“Over the years, I’ve planted several trees this size or bigger and we were able to accommodate them,” Gilkey said. “With new construction, a lot of times it’s hard to save existing trees on a site; and sometimes it takes five, 10, 15 years to get appropriate scale to a new house, especially a two-or-three story house. It’s cool to be able to plant trees that give you an immediate sense of scale. We’re able to give this house scale and context of landscape.”
According to Wikipedia, a kapok tree’s flowers provide nectar for bees and bats and an oil can be pressed from its seeds. The kapok tree is considered a sacred symbol in Mayan mythology and is considered a sacred tree in some religions.
Kapok trees are among the most majestic tree species. – Submitted
Greg and Lee Ross own Ross Built Custom Homes. The couple have long been fixtures in the Anna Maria Island construction community and the Island community as a whole.
After noting the homeowners wish to remain anonymous, Lee Ross said, “She is in love with the home and the tree is his baby.”
Regarding Gilkey’s work, she added, “He is one of our go-to landscape designers. He’s very professional and always a pleasure to work with. The moving of this giant tree was as smooth as you could possibly expect it to be.”
ANNA MARIA – Businesses in the city that currently sell CBD and hemp products will be allowed to continue doing so with a soon-to-be-adopted grandfathering exception.
A city ordinance adopted in 2015 to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries also prohibits the sale of any product made from the cannabis plant, including CBD and hemp products – even though Florida law allows CBD and hemp sales.
Anna Maria leaders want to allow limited CBD and hemp sales without allowing full-blown CBD stores like those legally operated in Holmes Beach and many other Florida cities.
Anna Maria City Attorney Becky Vose crafted the proposed grandfathering ordinance. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
On April 11, City Attorney Becky Vose presented newly-proposed Ordinance 24-293, which contains the following language: “Businesses with a business location in the city of Anna Maria – not to include mobile sales – that, as of April 1, 2024, regularly sold product that would otherwise have been prohibited shall be eligible to receive grandfather status to continue such sales, but not to increase the volume of such sales, in accordance with procedures outlined in a resolution to be adopted by the city commission.”
To receive grandfathered status, businesses that currently sell CBD and/or hemp products will have to register those business activities with the city.
The city’s efforts to revise its CBD and hemp prohibitions began in February after Holmes Beach-based CBD vendor Mel Wendell was told she couldn’t participate in an arts and crafts fair taking place in Anna Maria.
The North Shore Café can continue using non-CBD hemp products. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
The North Shore Café owners then received a notice of violation for selling food and drink products made with a legal hemp powder containing trace amounts of THC. The Cool Beans AMI coffee shop owners received a notice of violation for selling CBD products. Those two businesses will be eligible for city commission-approved grandfathering exemptions.
Cool Beans AMI will be allowed to continue selling CBD products. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
When offering public input during the April 11 meeting, AMI Beach & Dog Supply owner Janalee Gallagher informed city officials that canine-grade CBD products are currently sold at her Anna Maria business. Gallagher was told she would also be eligible for the grandfathering exception.
The proposed ordinance has not been formally adopted yet and the accompanying city resolution that establishes the specific grandfathering rules and requirements is expected to be presented soon.
The commission previously rejected a proposed ordinance that would have limited CBD and hemp offerings to no more than 10% of a retail establishment’s total inventory. The commission felt the 10% threshold would be nearly impossible to enforce and would require an audit of the retailer’s entire inventory.
STATE LEGISLATION
Anna Maria’s efforts to amend its CBD regulations occur at a time when stricter CBD regulations proposed by the Florida Legislature await transmittal to Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto, sign into new state law or allow to become state law without his signature.
On April 9, Vose sent the mayor and commissioners a copy of SB 1698 and a brief summary of the proposed state law that said: “It basically prohibits the sale of hemp-based products that create euphoric effects on people by putting caps on the amount of THC concentration in hemp-based products that can be sold. The publicity surrounding the bill seems to indicate that it will prohibit a large percentage of the products sold in CBD stores.”
The ordinance Vose presented on April 11 says, “Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to allow the sale of any product which is otherwise prohibited by Florida law.”
On April 11, Vose also noted legalizing recreational marijuana statewide will be on the general election ballot this fall.
ANNA MARIA – Construction is well underway on Fedora Campbell’s new beachfront home at 105 Elm Ave.
Campell’s new home is being built in front of and seaward of the neighboring home at 107 Elm Ave. formerly owned by Wendy and Robert Jordan’s North Carolina-based WAJ Rustic Vacations LLC.
In April 2021, the Jordans purchased the $4 million beachfront home and property at 107 Elm that at the time offered a mostly unobstructed view of the beach and the Gulf of Mexico.
The home at 107 Elm Ave. used to have an unobstructed view of the Gulf. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
A few months later, after learning of Campbell’s plans to build a new beachfront home in front of their home, the Jordans launched a much-publicized, but ultimately unsuccessful, Preserve AMI opposition campaign that included a website and an online petition drive. The website and petition drive opposed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) ruling that allowed for Campbell’s new home to be built seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line, on a property that currently had no direct street access to Elm Avenue because the street ended at 107 Elm.
The Preserve AMI campaign also included signs placed along the beach walkway that encouraged Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy to “do the right thing,” even though the mayor had no legal grounds to overrule the FDEP permitting decision unsuccessfully challenged by a group of neighboring property owners, who were later joined by the Jordans in the dispute.
In June 2022, Campbell and her attorney, Kevin Hennessy, addressed the Anna Maria City Commission while seeking a right-of-way use permit that would allow Elm Avenue to be extended to connect to Campbell’s property at Campbell’s expense. Hennessey noted Campbell’s property was platted in 1912 and purchased by her father in 1925. Campbell, a Bradenton resident, said she began visiting Anna Maria and that family’s vacant beachfront property when she was about 2 years old.
The following month, after further review by FDEP, the city commission approved the right-of-way use permit that later allowed for the issuance of the other city-issued building permits needed to construct the new beachfront home.
Around that same time, the Jordans put their house and property on the market. In December 2022, the Ohio-based Depalma Corporation Inc. bought the 107 Elm home and property for $4.15 million and it’s now being rented as a short-term vacation rental.
ANNA MARIA – Revising the city of Anna Maria’s CBD and hemp prohibitions is proving to be challenging for city officials.
Anna Maria’s code of ordinances currently prohibits the sale of any product derived from the cannabis plant, including medical marijuana and CBD and hemp products. The current ordinance was adopted shortly before Florida voters legalized medical marijuana and medical marijuana dispensaries in 2016.
After debating proposed revisions to the existing city ordinance on March 14 and March 28, city commissioners remain divided and undecided as to how to allow Anna Maria businesses to sell limited amounts of CBD and hemp products while still prohibiting medical marijuana sales and discouraging retail operations focused primarily on CBD sales.
The city’s regulatory quagmire began in late February when Holmes Beach-based CBD vendor Mel Wendell was told she couldn’t sell CBD products at an arts and crafts fair being held in Anna Maria. In response, Wendell told the mayor and commissioner there were other businesses currently selling CBD products in Anna Maria.
The attention created by Wendell’s public statement resulted in the North Shore Café owners receiving a notice of violation for selling food and drink products made with a hemp powder containing a miniscule amount of THC. The Cool Beans AMI coffee shop owners received a similar notice for selling some of the same CBD products sold legally at their Live Naturally store in Holmes Beach.
CBD sales are legal in Holmes Beach and Live Naturally is one of two CBD-prevalent stores in that city. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
On March 14, City Attorney Becky Vose presented an ordinance that proposed limiting CBD and hemp sales to no more than 10% of a retail outlet’s total inventory. The commission agreed that provision would be virtually impossible to enforce and would require an audit of a businesses’ total inventory.
On March 28, the commission reached preliminary consensus on two key points proposed in the ordinance but remained puzzled as to how to regulate CBD sales at brick-and-mortar retail locations and the signage associated with such sales. Federal law prohibits the regulation of sign content.
Anna Maria commissioners are concerned about the signage associated with CBD stores in general. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
The commission agrees CBD and hemp sales should be allowed at craft fairs, markets and other special events taking place with a city commission-approved special event permit, as long as the number of CBD/hemp vendors doesn’t exceed more than 10% of the total vendor roster.
The commission agrees that mobile CBD sales not related to special events should remain prohibited in order to prevent CBD being sold from trucks, trailers, tents and other mobile operations.
The commission also agrees that the fine amounts associated with CBD or hemp sales violations should be established in a separate city resolution.
Commissioner Gary McMullen noted CBD sales are allowed statewide and take place in Holmes Beach and many other Florida cities. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Commissioner Gary McMullen questioned why the city wants to continue outlawing CBD and hemp products that are legal statewide and legally sold in Holmes Beach and many other Florida cities.
Along those same lines, Commissioner Jon Crane said, “I’ve got nothing against medical marijuana and I support it.”
Commissioner Kathy Morgan expressed support for the current CBD prohibitions.
Commissioner Charlie Salem asked Vose to research how other Florida cities are regulating CBD sales.
After noting CBD sales are prevalent in most Florida cities, Vose said the commissioners are essentially dealing with a cut-and-dried decision to either allow or continue prohibiting CBD and hemp sales and CBD stores in Anna Maria.
These matters will be discussed again at the Thursday, April 11 meeting. In lieu of the ongoing regulatory efforts, Mayor Dan Murphy is giving the North Shore Café and Cool Beans AMI owners an additional 30 days to comply with their notices of violation.
ANNA MARIA – The city of Anna Maria is trying to revise its current marijuana prohibitions in a manner that would allow CBD and hemp products to be legally sold in the city.
The city’s code of ordinances currently prohibits the sale of any product derived from cannabis plants, including medical marijuana and over-the-counter CBD and hemp products.
On March 14, City Attorney Becky Vose presented the mayor and city commission with the first reading of proposed Ordinance 24-923, an ordinance that would repeal and replace the city’s existing marijuana prohibitions.
City officials are revisiting the existing city ordinance enacted many years ago that prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries in Anna Maria – an action taken shortly before Florida voters approved the legal sale of medical marijuana.
The current ordinance came into question when Holmes Beach-based CBD vendor Mel Wendel was denied participation in an arts and crafts show taking place in Anna Maria. A short time later, the owners of the North Shore Café and the owners of the Cool Beans AMI coffee shop received notices of violation for selling hemp products and/or CBD products, including a hemp powder that contains microscopically low levels of THC.
PROPOSED ORDINANCE
The new ordinance Vose proposed would still prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries but would allow retail establishments to sell CBD and hemp products as long as those products didn’t equate to more than 10% of the retail establishment’s inventory.
The ordinance proposed prohibiting the mobile sales of any products made from cannabis plants unless such sales are pursuant to a city commission-approved special event at which no more than 10% of the event’s total inventory could consist of CBD and/or hemp products.
The commission questioned how a 10% inventory threshold could possibly be enforced. Mayor Dan Murphy acknowledged that would require an audit of the establishment’s entire inventory, which is not something the city intends to do.
Commissioner Jon Crane opposed the proposed $500 fine for a first-time offense. He feels that’s too high and not consistent with other fines levied in Anna Maria.
Murphy said the city needs to establish a fine amount that’s reasonable but high enough to deter business owners from considering the daily fine to simply be the cost of doing business in Anna Maria.
Vose suggested an initial $50 per day fine that would escalate to $500 per day after five days’ notice.
Vose said the proposed Anna Maria ordinance is not modeled after the Holmes Beach ordinance that allows CBD stores and CBD sales, and as currently written, would not allow CBD stores in Anna Maria.
Commissioner Mark Short said the proposed ordinance doesn’t address the potency of the CBD products sold and he’d like that addressed in the ordinance. Short said he would like the city’s potency allowance to be as low as possible. Vose said the state already regulates the potency and labeling of CBD products and the city isn’t going to purchase CBD products and send them to a lab to be tested.
Commissioner Charlie Salem asked Vose if the city can prohibit the sale of CBD products allowed by the state.
“Yes, we can. We can regulate them,” Vose said.
Vose noted the Florida Legislature recently sent proposed legislation to Gov. Ron DeSantis that would further restrict CBD sales in Florida. If supported by the governor, the revised state regulations could impact the city’s efforts to revise its local regulations.
When asked if the city can regulate CBD and THC references on business signs, Vose said federal law prohibits the regulation of sign content.
As the discussion came to a close, Murphy said more research and commission discussion is needed regarding inventory thresholds, potency levels, fine amounts and other factors. The commission took no formal action on the proposed ordinance and the regulatory efforts remain a work in progress.
ANNA MARIA – The city of Anna Maria has responded to a March 5 request for information from OPPAGA regarding the potential consolidation and annexation of the city into Manatee County.
The cities of Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach received similar requests from the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability that conducts research for the Florida Legislature.
Last year, OPPAGA initiated a consolidation study at the request of Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. (R-Bradenton) and the other state legislators who are members of the Manatee County Legislative Delegation.
OPPAGA’s Island consolidation study originally included three possible options: Consolidating the three Island cities into one new city, consolidating and annexing all three cities into the city of Bradenton or not consolidating the cities but consolidating similar services provided by each Island city.
In November, the three cities submitted separate written responses to OPPAGA that addressed the benefits and challenges of each consolidation scenario.
On March 15, the city of Anna Maria submitted a written response to OPPAGA that addresses the additional option of consolidating Anna Maria into Manatee County and placing it under the control of the county and the Manatee County Commission.
BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
Regarding the benefits of the county consolidation option, the city response notes the city property taxes currently levied at a 2.05 millage rate would be eliminated. County consolidation would also eliminate the need for city-funded public works departments, building departments and law enforcement agencies.
Regarding the challenges posed by county consolidation, the Anna Maria response notes there would be an increased financial and administrative placed burden on the county, which last year only provided the city with $15,000 as part of the city’s $11.4 million annual budget.
County consolidation would result in the county assuming ownership and responsibility for the roads, the stormwater and drainage system and other infrastructure elements currently funded by the city and its taxpayers. The county would assume ownership and maintenance responsibilities associated with the city-owned City Pier and the city-owned property that provides rent-free space for The Center of Anna Maria Island.
The Anna Maria response claims county consolidation would result in the loss of existing environmental safeguards and the loss of the diversity and atmosphere the three distinctly different Island cities currently provide.
“This is what makes Anna Maria Island unique from any other barrier island in the state of Florida,” the response notes.
The response also notes the county consolidation option would result in the elimination of each of the three cities’ city charters and comprehensive plans – documents that currently limit building heights to three stories Island-wide.
“Loss of these plans has the potential to create a huge negative impact on the entire Island community,” the response notes.
The city response also notes consolidation would result in job losses for those currently employed by the city.
The response states many Anna Maria property owners, annual visitors, tourists and elected officials oppose consolidation and forced consolidation would be likely be met with strong and costly legal opposition.
ANNA MARIA – The city is increasing its occupancy-based annual vacation rental registration fee from $84.17 to $93.92 per occupant allowed by the local vacation rental ordinance.
The annual registration fee is established each year by the adoption of a city commission-approved resolution. The increased fees were established on March 14 with the adoption of city resolution 24-793.
The state of Florida defines a short-term vacation rental as any unit, group of units, dwelling, building, or group of buildings within a single complex of buildings that is rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests.
According to Anna Maria’s latest fee schedule, the owner or operator of a short-term vacation rental with a maximum allowed occupancy of four guests will now pay a $375.68 registration fee (4 x $93.92).
An owner/operator allowed eight guests will pay $751.36. An owner/ operator allowed 12 occupants will pay $1,127.04 and an owner/operator allowed 16 occupants will pay $1,502.72.
During Thursday’s meeting, Mayor Dan Murphy said he believed the highest occupancy allowed in Anna Maria is 22 occupants. This would result in a $2,066.24 registration fee (22 x $93.92).
This fee schedule lists the vacation rental registration fees for the 2024-25 season.
City Clerk and Treasurer LeAnne Addy noted the annual registry fees are due on April 1 of each year.
“This is not a moneymaker for the city,” Addy told the commission. “It only covers the expenses we spend on vacation rentals, such as software, equipment, vehicles, enforcement, the Home Rule Florida website, the lobbyist, legal fees, inspection of the vacation rentals and administration fees.”
The city uses its Home Rule Florida website, www.homerulefl.com, to generate opposition email campaigns targeting state legislators and now the governor regarding the Florida Legislature’s ongoing efforts to preempt vacation rental regulation to the state and lessen the regulatory authority of local and county governments.
“It’s about a 9% increase over last year and the primary driver of that increase is the code rewrite we used for HomeFlorida.com,” Addy said regarding the increase.
Commissioner Charlie Salem said, “If we don’t collect this money from these vacation rentals we would have to get it from the taxpayers. This is an appropriate way for us to make sure that we’re not shifting the costs to residents. I’m glad we still have the ability to do this.”
The commission voted 5-0 in support of the fee increase.
STATE LEGISLATION
Anna Maria’s adoption of its annual vacation rental registration fees comes at a time when city officials are still waiting to see if Gov. Ron DeSantis will sign into law or veto legislation that would preempt the regulation of vacation rentals and vacation rental advertising to the state via the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
On Feb. 1, the Florida Senate adopted Senate Bill 280, as it was then written, by a 27-13 vote. On March 6, the Florida House of Representatives voted 60-51 in favor of a House-amended version of SB 280 that served as the House replacement for House Bill 1537.
On March 7, the Senate members voted 23-16 in favor of adopting the House-amended version of SB 280. The identically-matching legislation adopted by the House and Senate was then sent to DeSantis for his consideration.
House Bill 1537 originally proposed a $150 fee limit on first-time vacation rental registrations and a $50 per year cap after that. That fee cap language never appeared in SB 280 and it does not appear in the enrolled version of SB 280 sent to the governor. The enrolled final bill simply says local governments would be allowed to charge “reasonable” fees, without defining “reasonable.”
On March 14, Murphy told the city commission he planned to travel to Tallahassee this week to meet personally with DeSantis in hopes of encouraging him to veto the proposed state preemption.
“There are several things in that bill that could prove to be very impactful on our city. This bill allows for virtually an unenforceable amount of occupancy in vacation rentals. It’s two per bedroom, plus two (additional occupants), plus x-amount (of additional guests) if you have a certain amount of common area,” Murphy said when expressing some of his many concerns with the proposed state preemption.
When contacted Sunday afternoon, Murphy said he still expected to meet with DeSantis this week, but he didn’t yet have an exact day and time for that anticipated meeting.
