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Tag: Chiles Hospitality

Sandbar party big fun for kids

Sandbar party big fun for kids

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Entertainment, Holiday.

ANNA MARIA – Chiles Hospitality hosted the 28th Annual Lawton Chiles Christmas for Kids Party on Dec. 14 at the Grand Pavilion of the Sandbar restaurant, 100 Spring Ave.

Every year, Chiles Hospitality staff plans and executes the event, buying and wrapping gifts for around 80 pre-kindergarten students from RCMA, a non-profit childcare organization, as well as kids from Children First Head Start and Early Head Start.

The annual tradition, started by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and his wife, Rhea, provides underserved youth with a holiday celebration thanks to the help of private and corporate sponsors.

“We continue to honor the Chiles legacy with this beloved holiday party and our staff looks forward to it each year,” said Chuck Wolfe, CEO of Chiles Hospitality. “With their help and the contribution from local sponsors, it guarantees a happy and memorable day for these students. We are thankful to all those who help us preserve this tradition.”

Parents also showed their appreciation for the effort put into making this event possible once again this year.

“It’s amazing what these people put together. My daughter is going to be exhausted after all the excitement and running around with all these kids,” Donatta Holly said. “The food is amazing and the staff has treated us like royalty. They’re good people.”

In addition to receiving a present, each child in attendance received a new pair of shoes and a new outfit. Of course, Santa was excited to be in attendance and children also got to meet characters from the Frozen film, took a spin in a castle bounce house, and enjoyed a snow machine, music, crafts and other activities, in addition to lunch provided by Sandbar restaurant for the whole family.

Chiles Hospitality loses a dear friend

Chiles Hospitality loses a dear friend

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Featured, Obituaries.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Retired Chiles Group Chief Financial Officer Martha Wright passed away on Oct. 20.

Martha retired a few years ago and in recent years experienced some lingering health issues. During her time with the Chiles Group (now known as Chiles Hospitality), she played a pivotal role in the success of the Sandbar restaurant in Anna Maria, the BeachHouse restaurant in Bradenton Beach and the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub in Longboat Key.

“I had the privilege to work with Martha Wright for 33 years,” Chiles Hospitality founder Ed Chiles said. “If I had to pick one person who was the most responsible for the success we have had for over four decades in this business, it would be Martha. Generations of locals and guests to our area have enjoyed our unique locations and Martha’s passion, dedication and professionalism were instrumental in making that possible.”

Former Chiles Group Marketing Director Caryn Hodge said, “Martha and I worked together for many years at the Chiles Group. She championed me for the position of marketing director. We were not just colleagues, but true friends. We bonded over our shared love and passion for helping homeless pets. We became even closer after she retired, keeping in touch with each other up until her passing. To me, she was a mentor – someone who was a great listener and advice-giver with such patience and love. She was a loyal friend and confidant, and I will miss her so much. The one thing that gives me solace is knowing she is now with her beloved dog and soul mate, Ringo.”

Former Chiles Group Office Manager Lynda Bailey said, “Martha always made me want to do better at work and as a person. I will miss her a lot.”

“Martha’s door was always open,” former Chiles Group IT Manager Lisa Castro said. “She was kind and generous. I’m grateful for her friendship and the time we spent together, and I will miss her dearly.”

Cheryl Wade runs the Gulf Shore Animal League, which Wright was heavily involved in.

“Martha gave generously of her time to volunteer as Gulf Shore Animal League’s treasurer for the past 16 years,” Wade said. “Martha was a compassionate soul and she had a deep love of animals, especially cats. She never looked the other way when there was an animal in need. We are grateful for her enduring friendship, lifelong advocacy for animals and tireless dedication to support our mission to reduce the population of homeless cats in Manatee County through our Trap-Neuter-Return program. Martha’s generous heart and spirit of kindness will stay with us always.”

A celebration of life will be held at The Pavilion at the Sandbar in Anna Maria on Friday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.

Bradenton Beach’s paid parking efforts continue

Bradenton Beach’s paid parking efforts continue

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – The city is moving forward with its plan to implement a paid parking program as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) plans to issue an RFP seeking bids from interested paid parking program equipment providers and operators.

On May 3, CRA members directed City Attorney Ricinda Perry to draft the paid parking RFP based in part on input previously provided by Mayor John Chappie, Public Works Director Tom Woodard, Police Chief John Cosby and the city commission.

Bradenton Beach’s paid parking efforts continue
The city-owned portion of the parking lot behind the BridgeWalk resort will be included in the paid parking RFP. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Paid parking is expected to include the city-owned portion of the public parking lot off First Street North (behind the BridgeWalk resort), the public parking spaces near the cell tower, the police department headquarters and Lou Barolo park and the city hall parking lot after regular city business hours.

Paid parking is not expected to include the city-owned parking spaces alongside Bridge Street, the privately owned parking spaces along Bridge Street or the city-owned parking spaces near the Bradenton Beach Historic Pier.

Bradenton Beach’s paid parking efforts continue
The city-owned parking spaces along Bridge Street are not expected to be included in the RFP. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

CRA member Jake Spooner expressed his concern that not including the Bridge Street parking spaces in the initial paid parking program would result in Bridge Street-area employees monopolizing the remaining free parking spaces. As he’s done during past discussions, Spooner said paid parking in the city-owned Bridge Street parking would result in more of those parking spaces being available for customers who visit the Bridge Street businesses.

In response, Cosby expressed support for not including the Bridge Street spaces in the initial RFP. He encouraged the CRA members to pursue the other parking locations first and then evaluate the success of those locations before potentially including Bridge Street in the paid parking program.

During past discussions, Cosby expressed support for paid parking in part because it would create a new and additional revenue source for the city, with those revenues generated primarily by tourists and visitors rather than the city’s remaining permanent residents and taxpayers.

Bradenton Beach’s paid parking efforts continue

The Chiles Hospitality group has a privately owned paid parking lot in Bradenton Beach, near the BeachHouse restaurant.- Joe Hendricks | SunEasy Parking Group owner Joshua LaRose provides the CRA-funded Old Town Tram Parking shuttles. He also already provides paid parking equipment and oversight for the Chiles Hospitality group’s privately-owned paid public parking lot near the BeachHouse restaurant in Bradenton Beach, and Chiles Hospitality’s privately-owned paid public parking lot near the Sandbar restaurant in Anna Maria. Both of those paid parking lots are open to the public, including beachgoers, and are not restricted to restaurant patrons.

Bradenton Beach commission nixes rezoning efforts

Bradenton Beach commission nixes rezoning efforts

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Commissioners are abandoning the city’s efforts to rezone 23 residentially-zoned properties north of Bridge Street and south of the Cortez Bridge.

Instead, to address inconsistencies between the city’s zoning and future land use maps, city officials may redirect their efforts to amending the future land use map designations for those properties instead.

The city commission rejected Building Official Steve Gilbert and City Planner Luis Serna’s recommendation on Oct. 20 to rezone those properties from their current Multiple Family Dwelling District (R-3) zoning designation to a Mixed-Use District (MXD) zoning designation.

The commission also rejected the Planning and Zoning Board’s contrary recommendation to rezone those properties to R-2 (two-family dwelling) and change the future land use map designation to Medium Density Residential.

A letter sent to the commission and signed by planning board Chairman Ken McDonough noted five potentially impacted property owners oppose any commercial use in that residentially zoned area. The letter suggests the city poll all 23 potentially impacted property owners to get their input on these matters.

Working in unison, the zoning and future land use maps designate which type of development is allowed on a property. More than a year ago, the city commission directed Gilbert and Serna to begin addressing long-stand- ing inconsistencies that have existed between the maps.

Gilbert, Serna and the planning board have repeatedly discussed and debated city staff’s recommendations to rezone several properties throughout the city. In most instances, the planning board disagreed with the staff’s proposed rezoning recommendations.

City staff’s proposed mixed-use rezoning of these specific properties would have made their zoning designations consistent with the existing Retail/Office/Residential (ROR) future land use map designation.

The mixed-use zoning would have allowed ground-level commercial activities in what has traditionally been a residential area. The proposed mixed-use zoning would have restricted residential use for new construction to no more than 50% of a property’s buildable space while allowing no more than 80% non-residential use of the buildable space.

Bradenton Beach commission nixes rezoning efforts
The now-discarded rezoning considerations applied to the properties shaded in orange that contain the number 4. – City of Bradenton Beach | Submitted

City Attorney Ricinda Perry told the commission downzoning those properties from R-3 to R-2 as proposed by the planning board could be considered a taking of existing development rights, which could potentially diminish property values and expose the city legal action, including the filing of Bert Harris claims seeking compensation for the diminished property values and/or loss of future revenues. Perry also said the existing inconsistencies between the zoning map and the future land use map could expose the city to legal challenges.

The zoning and future land use map issue is further complicated by the plans of the Chiles Hospitality group that owns the BeachHouse restaurant. Chiles Hospitality owns the currently undeveloped property at 109 Third St. N. The perimeter of that vacant lot is currently used for unregulated parking. In September, Chiles Hospitality applied for a special use permit that would allow that property to be converted into a private parking lot to be used predominantly by their employees. The R-3 residential zoning designation prohibits standalone parking facilities.

Public input

When addressing the commission, Chiles Hospitality Facilities Director Brooks O’Hara said, “We strongly urge you to support this rezoning to mixed-use and support giving the property owners more freedom in decisions regarding their property, and not less. We reserve the right to protect our rights legally and could consider a more restrictive zoning as taking, so we would be concerned about that.”

Perry said “spot-zoning” the vacant Chiles Hospitality property with a different zoning designation might be a potential solution to that concern.

Bradenton Beach commission nixes rezoning efforts
In September, Chiles Hospitality submitted this proposed parking configuration for its property at 109 Third St. N. – City of Anna Maria | Submitted

Evelyn Stob owns the single-family home at 105 Third St. that sits between the vacant Chiles Hospitality property and the Chiles Hospitality parking lot to the west that now provides paid public parking. Stob expressed her support for retaining the existing R-3 zoning designation for the residential properties in question.

At the conclusion of Thursday’s lengthy discussion, the commission rejected the proposed rezoning ordinance and directed staff to revisit these matters with the planning and zoning board and the potentially impacted property owners.