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Spring break is in full swing

Spring break in full swing

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News, Featured.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Anna Maria Island beaches are busy and business owners are enjoying a banner Spring break season.

A mid-week visit to Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach found a quartet of students from Indianapolis among those enjoying a beautiful beach day.

“We have family that lives down here. It’s a clean beach, the sand feels great and the water’s clean,” said high school senior Brenna Garrard, while sitting on the beach Wednesday afternoon with her twin brother Tyler and their high school friends Alexis Weston and Samara Gephart.

Tyler graduated high school early and is now studying mechanics as a freshman at Indiana University.

“We went over to Siesta Key and we’ve been in Clearwater a few times. I like this beach a lot better. Clearwater is more packed. Here it’s more relaxed,” Tyler said.

On Friday, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said, “People have been behaving very well. Most of our guests have been families that have had a wonderful time on the Island. We had two groups of unruly college students that were evicted from their rental units for underage drinking, jumping off the roof into the pool and other things they shouldn’t have been doing. The rental agents were notified and they evicted them.

“We’ve also had many well-behaved and respectful groups of college kids on the Island from Ohio, Minnesota, a group from Indianapolis and a couple groups from Tampa. We enjoy having the groups that respect our rules and ordinances and are responsible and understand we have zero tolerance for any alcohol on the beach,” Tokajer said.

“Spring break has been very busy this year, probably the busiest I can remember in the past 10 years,” said DCoy Ducks’ bartender Brad Lisk. “The crowds seem younger this year and there are a lot more college-aged kids. For the most part, they’ve been well-behaved. They’re here to party but they’re being respectful while enjoying the beach, the sun and some drinking.”

Anna Maria

The Pine Avenue business district in Anna Maria is also abuzz with visitors.

“I don’t know if it’s perception or because we went through such a long dry spell with the red tide and the fact that we lost the pier, but it seems to me that we have a bumper crop this year,” Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said. “It seems to me there’s more families visiting and more younger people. The streets are filled on weekends with young people. I think it’s great for the businesses. I know it’s a little hectic for those who live here full-time, so I ask everybody to be patient, welcoming and kind because it’s good that people are enjoying our city. They’re basking in the sunshine and enjoying themselves.”

Spring break is in full swing
The line was long at the Donut Experiment in Anna Maria Wednesday morning. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Brian Seymour says sales are up at his Anna Maria General Store & Deli.

“The first couple weeks were definitely college kids. This week and next it’s mostly families. It’s nice to see the Island busy again. There’s downsides for the residents with the increased traffic, but people have come back to the Island and they’re supporting the local businesses,” Seymour said.

“We are having a great spring break. We are much busier than last year. That’s good news and we are renting to families, not college kids,” said Duncan Real Estate owner Darcie Duncan.

Bradenton Beach

“We’re having an extremely busy spring break with both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. We’ve got people everywhere,” said Bradenton Beach Police Chief Sam Speciale.

“The schools let out a couple weeks ago and we’ll be seeing a lot of people out here until Easter. We’ve got college kids, high school kids and a lot of families coming down. Everybody’s been really well-behaved and it’s been a nice, quiet spring break. You’ve got to give credit to the kids and the families for coming down here and enjoying themselves without causing any problems. The vacation rentals are all filled. We haven’t had a lot of noise complaints, but we’ve had a few. The few we’ve had quieted right down when our officers went there and we haven’t had to go back,” Speciale said.

Jake Spooner owns the Bridge Street Bazaar and The Fish Hole miniature golf course on Bridge Street.

Spring break is in full swing
The Bridge Tender Inn is among the many Island bars enjoying a boost in Spring break business. Jake Spooner | Submitted

“It’s been a great 2019 and Easter is later this year, so we’ll have a longer season. I’m seeing mostly families – grandparents, parents and kids. Our numbers are up over last year. The Bridge Street bars have been packed too. Everybody seems a lot busier this year,” Spooner said.

Cortez

Business is up in Cortez too.

“I think our crowd might be a little younger this year, but I don’t know if it’s Spring breakers or just families. There just seems to be more people here on Spring break,” Swordfish Grill General Manager Bob Slicker said. “I think there’s more people here too because of what happened in the panhandle with Hurricane Michael. Some people told me they’re here for the first time because they used to go there. We’re up a bit more than normal, which I’m very grateful for. We’re off the beaten path but more people know about Cortez every year.”

Spring break is in full swing
This sandcastle was left as a souvenir of someone’s time at Manatee Beach on Wednesday. Joe Hendricks | Sun
KORN Petitions Rejected

Commission rejects KORN initiatives

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

BRADENTON BEACH – Bradenton Beach Commissioners have rejected four charter amendment initiatives pursued by the Keep Our Residential Neighborhoods (KORN) political action committee.

Barring a court order or a new petition initiative done according to the city charter, KORN’s proposed charter amendment questions will not appear on the city ballot this fall.

KORN’s charter initiatives propose a citywide prohibition on multi-level parking garages, hiring a full-time city manager, increasing setback restrictions and prohibiting vacant commission seats from being filled by commission appointment.

The commission based its decision on KORN not following the charter’s referendum procedures and on insufficiencies and concerns cited by City Clerk Terri Sanclemente, City Attorney Ricinda Perry and City Engineer Lynn Burnett.

After nearly two hours of debate on Thursday, June 21, the commission adopted three motions. The first was for the commission to uphold Sanclemente’s decision to reject the proposed amendments according article 4 of the city charter. The second stated KORN’s initiatives do not comply with Florida Statutes 166.031 and 101.161. A third motion directed city staff to defend the city charter and represent the city in any litigation arising from the KORN petitions.

All three motions were approved by 4-1 votes, with Commissioner Randy White in opposition.

As he left city hall, KORN chairman Reed Mapes said, “I’m calling my lawyer.”

As of mid-day Monday, a lawsuit had not been filed.

Petition insufficiencies

On June 4, KORN treasurer John Metz submitted the signed petitions to the clerk’s office with a note citing 88 signatures for the parking garage petition, 87 for the vacancies petition, 83 for the setbacks petition and 76 for the city manager petition.

The referendum requirements in the city charter and state law require verified signatures from at least 10 percent of the registered electors in the preceding general election. According to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office website, Bradenton Beach had 744 registered in November 2017.

“Now you put us in a position where we either don’t follow our city charter or we go to litigation.”
– Jake Spooner, Bradenton Beach Commissioner

On June 11, Sanclemente sent Metz a letter stating KORN didn’t form a five-member petition circulating committee, didn’t use the city’s required forms and didn’t provide accompanying affidavits stating each petition was signed in the presence of a committee member.

“This office has testimony that petitions were mailed to residents and were not signed in the presence of a committee member,” Sanclemente wrote. “Accordingly, your petitions are deemed insufficient pursuant to the city charter.”

KORN was given 10 days to file amended petitions. Sanclemente recapped these insufficiencies for the commission and said Metz refused to accept the petitions mailed back to him.

During that morning’s Charter Review Committee meeting, the city engineer said KORN’s setback amendment could negatively impact stormwater retention. She recommended revising the amendment language or addressing those concerns in city code instead. Perry said the amendment could expose the city to Bert Harris claims.

KORN John Metz
KORN treasurer John Metz tells city commissioners KORN’s charter initiatives were conducted according to state law and not the city charter. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Commission discussion

“We’re using the same process that was used last year, a state process under 166.031,” Metz told the commission.

He was referencing charter initiatives pursued by the Concerned Neighbors of Bradenton Beach (CNOBB) in 2017. Perry said those voter-adopted charter amendments still contain unresolved conflicts.

“The city is a conduit through which we operate. There’s nothing the city’s to do except to follow statute. I’m here to ask you to send these petitions on. I think there’s enough litigation going on that we don’t need more,” Metz said.

“Did you follow the procedure in our charter?” Cole asked.

“It’s not appropriate,” Metz responded.

“You don’t find it appropriate, but our job is to follow our city charter. Now you put us in a position where we either don’t follow our city charter or we go to litigation. Why didn’t you follow our charter?” Commissioner Jake Spooner said.

“We’re not required to,” Metz said.

Perry said the Elections Office only determines whether enough verified petition signatures were obtained and it’s up to the commission to review referendums for compliance with the charter and state law.

“You were sworn in to uphold this city’s constitution, which is its charter, and state law,” Perry told the commission.

Perry said state law limits ballot summaries to 75 words and ballot titles to 15 words. The ballot summary for the vacancies amendment contains 102 words and the setbacks summary contains 89. According to Perry, all four ballot titles exceed 15 words.

The word “outrageous” appears in the parking garage summary and “cronyism” appears in the vacancies summary. Perry’s June 19 memo to the commission referenced a Florida Supreme Court ruling that says, “The ballot summary should tell the voter the legal effect of the amendment and no more. The political motivation behind a given change must be propounded outside the voting booth.”

Perry said state law no longer allows land-use referendums and Cole noted the charter’s building height restrictions predate the change in state law.

Chappie said the first question to be answered was, “Does the charter apply or not?”

Perry said the charter was created according to state law and works in tandem with Florida statues.

“It’s not specific to KORN. Our charter has to be followed,” Spooner said.

“This is an attempt to stop these KORN initiatives,” White said.

White said the state process provides citizens with another option if they feel they’re not being heard at the local level.

“Had the city been willing to work with us, we’d probably been able to work all those items out. We’ve found that very much impossible,” KORN chair Reed Mapes said regarding last year’s referendum efforts.

“That’s not true. The city was clearly pleading to work with CNOBB to set up a charter review committee to get it done correctly. CNOBB said no,” Chappie responded.

“What is the problem with following a simple procedure?” Cole said of this year’s efforts. “If you would have done that, it would have allowed us to say yes, let’s put it to the voters without breaking our own city charter.”

Related coverage:

Charter Review Committee appointed

Commissioners discuss parking garages, more

Bridge Tender Inn fire

Bridge Tender Inn survives electrical fire

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

BRADENTON BEACH – An electrical fire left the Bridge Tender Inn closed for business Wednesday evening, but the damage was apparently limited to the electric meter and the electrical system on the outside of the main building.

Bradenton Beach resident Steve Schewe was at the Bridge Tender Inn’s Dockside Bar shortly after 4 p.m. when the short-lived fire started.

“I was across the street when it suddenly started making huge popping sounds like it was ready to explode. Flames leapt from the breaker box and the pole on the roof,” Schewe said.

City Commissioner Jake Spooner was playing trivia inside the Bridge Tender Inn dining room at the time. The fire that ensued was on the outside wall at the west end of the dining room.

“It was crazy. First the lights dimmed inside and I said, ‘That’s not good.’ Alaska Joe said, ‘This thing’s about to blow.’ We started smelling smoke and everybody was saying ‘Get out of the building,’ ” Spooner said.

“I walked around to the Drift In and that’s when the electric meter blew. There was a flash and a loud bang. It was nuts. They got real lucky,” he added.

Bridge Tender Electric Meter
This is what remained of the Bridge Tender Inn’s electric meter after the fire. – Shannon Dunnan | Submitted

Spooner said only the meter box and the feed pole were on fire.

When asked if the outdoor bar remained open, Spooner said, “The fire department made everybody leave the entire premises.”

The Bradenton Beach Police Department was the first to respond. Lt. John Cosby said the fire was contained to the electrical connections at the west end of the building.

“The inside of the restaurant wasn’t damaged other than smoke,” he said.

Bridge Tender Inn manager Shannon Dunnan was there when the fire began, as was owner Fred Bartizal.

“As far as we know the building’s OK. They won’t let me in, so I can’t go and look,” she said.

Fire Marshal’s insight

A few hours later, West Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Jim Davis discussed what happened.

He said three engine companies from West Manatee responded and another from Longboat Key was canceled en route. Davis said the fire was out by the time they arrived.

“A couple bystanders hit the electrical box with dry chemical extinguishers. There was smoke and we had to check out the whole building. Electricity’s kind of funny. You never know where it’s going to start or end, so we had to check the whole building out to make sure there was no extension,” he said.

Bridge Tender Fire Elbow
Fire Marshal Jim Davis was told wires might have shorted inside this elbow-shaped pipe. – Shannon Dunnan | Submitted

“It was definitely electrical and it occurred between the street power where the transformer is and the building’s electrical system. It appears to have occurred from an electrical short in the weatherhead – the pipe that sticks up and has an elbow on the top where the wires come off the pole,” Davis explained.

“The FPL (Florida Power & Light) guy said it looks as though the hot wire where that elbow is got together with the ground wire and energized the ground wire. That caused the power to go back and forth from the building and the pole, increasing the surge every time. It acts as if the building needs more power, so it will keep sending more until something gives.

“The fuse on the pole did what it was supposed to do and gave way, but it had already burned out the electric meter and everything in the box behind the meter,” Davis said.

Davis said the meter cover was thrown more than 10 feet by the power surge.

“You couldn’t even recognize it. It was just a blob of melted plastic,” he said.

“We stood by until Florida Power got there to completely kill the power to the building. Once they did that we were clear to go. When we left, their electrician, United Electric, was already trying to evaluate the situation to get them up and running as soon as possible,” Davis said.

Bridge Tender Electrical Fire
The damage was limited mainly to the electrical equipment on the outside wall at the west end of the dining room. – Shannon Dunnan | Submitted

Davis said it was unlikely the Bridge Tender Inn would be open first thing Thursday morning.

He said FPL will not restore power to the building until they check the electrician’s work.

“They won’t put another meter on it until they’re positive everything is ready,” Davis said, noting that Bradenton Beach Building Official Steve Gilbert would also be part of that process.