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Commission discusses pier lease, parking fines, Waste Management

Commission discusses pier lease, parking fines, Waste Management

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

ANNA MARIA – City Pier tenant requests, increased parking fines and ongoing service issues with Waste Management were among the topics discussed during the June 26 Anna Maria City Commission meeting.

The meeting began with Manatee County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Chief Matt Myers giving a short presentation at the request of Mayor Mark Short. Short said he plans to take full advantage of EOC resources this storm season and do a better job of communicating with the county’s emergency operations team regarding hurricane preparation and response.

Window coverage

The commission approved on first reading an ordinance that upon second reading and final adoption will increase from 20% to 80% the window coverage businesses are allowed for window signs and other promotional materials. The ordinance requires businesses to maintain a 6-inch vertical visibility strip on each window so first respond­ers can look inside before entering.

Commission discusses pier lease, parking fines, Waste Management
Anna Maria businesses will soon be allowed to cover 80% of each window with signage and other messaging. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Parking fines

The commission adopted a resolution that increases the city’s parking ticket fine from $50 to $75 in an effort to discourage beachgoers and other motorists from viewing a $50 parking ticket as an accept­able price to pay to park for the day. Now in effect, the resolution also increases the fine for parking in a handicapped space from $225 to $250. Violators of any parking offense in Anna Maria can be ticketed every two hours for the same ongoing violation.

Pier tenants

The commissioners shared with the mayor their opinions on several requests recently presented by City Pier Grill tenants Brian Seymour, Vic Mattay and Nick Graham.

Commission discusses pier lease, parking fines, Waste Management
The City Pier buildings remain stranded with no pedestrian walkway. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The pier tenants’ initial five-year lease expires on Dec. 31 but can be automatically extended for an addi­tional 15 months or so to account for the time lost to the damage caused by Hurricane Milton. Short hopes to reopen the pier in October 2026 and the pier tenants also have to decide if they want to renew their lease for another five years.

The commissioners support placing a permanent, open-air roof structure over the uncovered T-end seating area, but they want the roofline to match the roofline of the adjacent building occupied by Mote Marine so people can still fish off the far end of the pier.

The commissioners support drink rails being attached to the inside of the roof covering support beams but Com­missioner Kathy Morgan-Johnson doesn’t want the additional seating provided by the rail stools to be used to obtain a liquor license. Johnson is OK with the existing beer and wine sales, but she doesn’t support liquor being served in a public area often populated by children.

The commission supports leaving the pier open 24 hours a day when it reopens rather than closing it at 10 p.m. as has been the case since the new pier opened in 2020.

Regarding Seymour’s comment about paying $400 per square foot to lease the city-owned pier space and paying $40 per square foot to lease his privately-owned Anna Maria General Store space, Com­missioner John Lynch noted the city only charges Seymour and his partners for the interior pier build­ing space and does not charge them for the outdoor area that provides seating for their customers.

Short said he will take the commis­sioners’ insights into account during future pier lease discussions with Seymour.

Waste management

The mayor, commissioners and residents continue to express displeasure with the residential trash collection services provided by Waste Management. The primary concern is Waste Management is not adequately providing the side door service required for non-homesteaded residential properties (including short-term vacation rentals) and paid for by those property owners. On several recent occasions, Short and others have complained about Waste Management employees not returning the trash and recycling receptacles to the side of the residen­tial structure after emptying them.

Commission discusses pier lease, parking fines, Waste Management
Waste Management wants to change Anna Maria’s trash collection days. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Short also made commissioners aware of a new concern. He said a member of the Waste Manage­ment team will appear before the commission on July 10 seeking commission authorization to switch trash collection days from Monday and Thursday to Tuesday and Friday and switch recycling collections from Monday to half of the city on Tuesday and half on Friday, with yard and landscaping collection continuing on Monday.

Short said Waste Management made the request after securing a contract with Manatee County for trash collection services in the unincorporated portions of the county. Johnson and Commissioner Gary McMullen oppose giving up Monday trash collections because of the heavy trash accumulation that occurs during weekends. Lynch suggested Waste Management is trying to manage its margins and pick up additional business without increasing its capacity and the trucks and equipment needed.

Parking penalties increasing in Holmes Beach

Parking penalties instituted in Holmes Beach

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

HOLMES BEACH – If you’re a driver who violates the parking rules in the city of Holmes Beach, beware. There are new penalties in place for violators.

City commissioners voted unanimously on Nov. 17 to approve increases for parking fines in the city. Here’s what those increases look like:

  • Increase a general parking violation from $50 to $75;
  • Establish a $250 fine for using a fraudulent parking permit;
  • Charge a $15 late penalty for unpaid parking tickets 10 days after the parking fine is due instead of the previous five days;
  • Increase illegal handicap and Purple Heart parking violations to $250;
  • Increase the fine to $250 for impeding emergency access to the beach.

Parking fine increases aren’t the only change that drivers can expect.

During the Nov. 17 work session, commissioners heard a proposal from Police Chief Bill Tokajer to allow his officers to have a boot in each police vehicle and use it to prevent drivers with three or more outstanding parking tickets from operating their vehicles until delinquent fines are paid.

Tokajer said that currently there are two people with three unpaid parking violations and one with four unpaid parking violations in the city. Right now, he said the city’s regulations allow drivers to have 10 unpaid violations before the city’s officers can pursue the issue.

Under the proposed new regulations, parking tickets would have to be paid before the wheel locking device would be removed by officers.

The proposed ordinance states that the officer writing the citation would have the discretion to either boot or tow the vehicle once three or more unpaid parking violations have accumulated. He said it would be his officers’ intention to boot the vehicles unless they’re blocking traffic.

Tokajer added that his officers currently use the wheel locking devices on illegally parked golf carts because they’re not required to have a license plate so there’s no way to know who the owner or driver is if they’re not on site when the citation is issued.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said she has “no problem with enforcing adequate, responsible laws whether they’re friendly or not.”

Commissioner Kim Rash said he would be happy backdating the ordinance to an effective date of Jan. 1, 2020, and asked if the chief could look into determining a fee for unlocking a boot when it’s used on a vehicle.

Though Commissioner Jim Kihm expressed some concern about backdating the ordinance to the first of the calendar year, commissioners agreed to move the proposed regulations forward to a first reading at an upcoming meeting with an effective date of Jan. 1.

Beach renourishment parking requirement met

During a regular meeting held the same evening, Mayor Judy Titsworth and commissioners addressed comments from Manatee County commissioners made at their Nov. 17 meeting concerning the lack of beach parking in the city and possible withholding of funding if city leaders don’t meet the county leaders’ demands.

Soustek said that she would like to have one commissioner or the mayor attend the county commission meetings on a rotating schedule to have representation in case something like the Nov. 17 discussion, which wasn’t on the meeting’s agenda, happens again. She said that there’s a lack of communication between the city’s elected officials and Manatee County commissioners that she would like to see repaired, as evidenced by incorrect information cited by county commissioners during their meeting. During the Nov. 23 organizational meeting, Soustek applauded Titsworth for her quick reaction in sending two informational letters to county commissioners concerning parking in the city.

After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and a permit parking program for residents was enacted, city officials eliminated 497 on-street parking spaces; 1,261 non-permit spots remain available to the public within a quarter-mile of the beach, as well as 642 resident permit-only until 5 p.m. spots. Chief Bill Tokajer said the city has well over the approximately 500 parking spots needed to be granted beach renourishment funds.

During the city commission meeting, Titsworth addressed the comments brought up by county commissioners during their meeting.

Titsworth said that she was not given notice by county commissioners that parking in Holmes Beach would be discussed during their meeting and didn’t have a chance to speak on the city’s behalf to correct the statements made during their meeting. During her city’s meeting, she reiterated that she’d spoken with county officials when parking restrictions were being discussed and that they were comfortable with the 500 spaces offered for beach renourishment. She said the 500 spaces required per an interlocal agreement between Holmes Beach and Manatee County was approved by Florida state officials. The city is legally required to have 378 spaces to receive beach renourishment funds.

Tokajer thanked Titsworth for her quick response and clarification of the issue of parking spaces, adding “the way that county commissioners and county employees treated this city in their meeting today is just shocking and appalling at the least. I’ll leave it at that.”

Related coverage

 

New county commissioner warns Holmes Beach of parking concerns

 

Increases coming for parking violations

 

Commissioners go forward with permit parking

Increases coming for parking violations

Increases coming for parking violations

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

HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners agreed unanimously to move a draft ordinance raising parking fine violations to a first reading.

During an Oct. 13 work session, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer presented commissioners with a plan to increase parking violations in the city. After Tokajer made his case for the increase in fine amounts, Commissioner Jim Kihm suggested a few changes, namely increasing the proposed violation amount for permit fraud to a maximum of $250 and increasing the fine amount for impeding emergency vehicle access to the beach to $250.

Here are all of the proposed fine amount increases:

  • Increase a general parking violation from $50 to $75,
  • Establish a $250 fine for using a fraudulent parking permit,
  • Charge a $15 late penalty to be charged 10 days after the parking fine is due instead of the current five days,
  • Increase illegal handicap and Purple Heart parking violations to $250.

Tokajer said that out of the 2,920 parking tickets Holmes Beach police officers have written year to date through September, about 100 of those, or 4.5%, were written to residents with 41 of those voided as a one-time resident education opportunity.

“Residents don’t get a lot of parking tickets in Holmes Beach,” he said.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said that she hopes that the larger parking fine amounts will discourage people from parking illegally to go to the beach, shrugging off the current $50 fine as a parking fee.

The draft ordinance goes before commissioners for a first reading at an upcoming city commission meeting.

Related coverage

 

Permit parking approved in Holmes Beach

 

Commissioners go forward with permit parking

 

Changes for parking plans on the agenda