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Tag: The Toy Barn

New moratorium in effect on vehicle rental businesses

New moratorium in effect on vehicle rental businesses

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

HOLMES BEACH – Concern about the number of low-speed vehicles in the city and the potential for incoming additional rental companies has prompted Holmes Beach commissioners to enact a six-month moratorium.

The moratorium, approved in a four-to-one vote during a July 27 meeting with Commissioner Jim Kihm dissenting, blocks the applications for new low-speed vehicle rental businesses coming into the Island city. It does not apply to current businesses or those with pending site plans, such as the pending application for The Toy Barn.

Kihm said he feels that some discussion on the number of low-speed vehicles in the city may merit some conversation but he felt that a moratorium would be premature at this point.

The issue was brought to the attention of commissioners by fellow Commissioner Jayne Christenson. She said she feels that the number of low-speed vehicles taking to city streets is dangerous, particularly with some people not wearing seat belts, piling more people in the vehicle than it safely seats and generally treating the vehicles as toys while on vacation. She suggested the moratorium as a way for city officials to research the problem and try to find a way to make city streets safer without allowing any new rental businesses to set up shop in Holmes Beach.

City Attorney Patricia Petruff warned commissioners they need to manage their expectations concerning the moratorium, noting that while it does prevent a business from opening a brick-and-mortar location in the city, it doesn’t stop one from bringing vehicles in on a trailer to deliver them.

When it was suggested the city require a business tax receipt for anyone doing a business delivery in the city, it was quickly shot down because of the potential logistical and legal issues it would cause. Petruff said it wasn’t realistic for commissioners to require a BTR for anyone delivering in the city because it wouldn’t just apply to low-speed vehicle renters but also food delivery and other services.

Kihm said he would like to spend some time looking at what the issues are concerning the golf cart-like vehicles and mini cars rented by vacationers. And while he’s concerned about traffic, Kihm said moving vehicles through the Island cities is a multi-faceted problem that’s going to need creative solutions.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said she’s unsure of what the city can do as the low-speed vehicles are considered legal vehicles and the city cannot regulate the number of vehicles on the road.

Christenson said she’s heard a low-speed vehicle rental business, one that’s already bringing vehicles into the city for rent without having a brick-and-mortar location, ZoomAround, is considering purchasing the former Wells Fargo location at the corner of Marina and Gulf Drives, just in front of the Shops at Waterline where The Toy Barn is planning to relocate if their site plan is approved by city leaders.

Though the former Wells Fargo property is currently listed as off the market, no sales have been recorded according to Manatee County property appraiser records.

For a vehicle rental business to open in the space, City Planner Bill Brisson said it would require a special exception for the change in use at the property from commissioners. The sale of the property also could negatively impact the Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club which has a lease with Wells Fargo for the use of 20 parking spaces for the resort and adjacent marina.

Brisson said the parking spaces, which are part of the former bank property, are part of the required parking for the resort and marina.

Commissioners instructed staff to send a letter with approval from Mayor Judy Titsworth to management at the Waterline resort to see what their plans are for the required parking spaces for the resort and marina.

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

HOLMES BEACH – Two business owners who submitted site plans for approval by city commissioners didn’t receive good news from commissioners but there’s still hope for approval at a future meeting.

During a July 15 work session, Holmes Beach commissioners heard proposals from the owner of the Shops at Waterline commercial plaza. And while the two-site plan proposals were submitted separately, commissioners had a hard time evaluating one independent of the other, particularly because they involve alterations at the same commercial space.

First up was the proposed site plan from the Shops at Waterline, owned by W.J. Keel Holdings LLC. City Planner Bill Brisson said the minor site plan approval was remanded to commissioners by Building Official Neal Schwartz due to issues with the site plan submittal. Some of the issues, Brisson said, include an incorrect calculation of required onsite parking spaces, lack of dumpster size, screening and placement indicated on the proposed site plan drawings and a mystery spot of a newly enclosed area with an entrance from the adjacent Sunrise Lane that has no usage noted on the plans. Brisson also said that work had been done on the interior of the building without obtaining the proper permits from the city’s building department.

While the proper permits can be obtained from the building department after the fact, those permits will carry a fee three times larger than what would’ve been charged had permits been secured before construction. The permit fees are based on the value of the proposed construction.

As a result of the unpermitted construction, Schwartz said that drywall was removed from three units and electrical and gas lines were unsecured, requiring the gas to be turned off for an extended period. The lack of gas to the shopping plaza caused the tenant restaurant Eat Here to be closed to the public for a few weeks due to a reliance on gas in the kitchen.

Schwartz said that there are too many unknowns in the space for him to approve the minor site plan changes administratively.

Since attorney Aaron Thomas, who represents both the owners of the shopping plaza and The Toy Barn, had contracted COVID-19 and was unable to attend the meeting, his associate Anisley Mena attended and spoke on his behalf.

Mena said that the plaza ownership was awaiting city direction on where to place trash dumpsters and that the changes made were internal only. She asked that the site plan be considered separately from the one proposed by The Toy Barn.

Rather than move the site plan approval to a first reading at a regular meeting, commissioners agreed to allow the applicant to resubmit with additional information and consider the site plan again at a future work session, the same response given to The Toy Barn and owner Travis Lantz.

Lantz said that he plans to work with the city and his attorney to resubmit his site plan for a future location for The Toy Barn at the Shops at Waterline Plaza.

He plans to take up about 3,500 square feet of space in the plaza to house his business’s office and provide a storage facility for his lithium battery-powered vehicles during the off-season when not so many are rented.

The plans submitted to city officials also include the installation of a garage door to allow vehicles to be pulled into the space for storage and maintenance from an access point on Sunrise Lane, something the residents of Sunrise Lane aren’t in favor of as discussed by their attorney during the work session.

During the presentation, Brisson said Lantz also planned to use some of the business’s required parking to store vehicles outside the shop. He said when all of the required parking for the businesses and proposed businesses in the plaza was computed, he came up with a required 66 spaces needed, with 71 total parking spaces located onsite. That means that instead of the 18 spaces indicated in the site plan approval request for parking rental vehicles, Lantz would only have five spaces available for parking rental vehicles. The plans also include a small charging area for golf carts and other vehicles near the proposed garage access.

To allow The Toy Barn to conduct its business in the plaza, Brisson said, requires a special exception because the rental business isn’t covered in uses allowed in the C-3 commercial district. To obtain that approval, the site plan submittal has to meet 12 standards required for a special exception under the city’s land development code, including the production of a traffic study to show how the proposed use will affect traffic in the area.

Lantz said that because his business is primarily a mobile one with vehicles going straight from one rental to another, he doesn’t feel it will negatively impact traffic in the area and that the garage door access on Sunrise Lane would only be used by his employees, not by renters of the vehicles.

Another concern Brisson mentioned is the business negatively affecting nearby residential property values and the quality of life for adjacent residents. Lantz said he’s willing to install an attractive, quiet garage door and that his vehicles are all electrically powered, meaning they make little to no noise to disturb residents.

Lena said she and Thomas would respond in writing to all of the commissioners’ concerns to help move the site plan approval process along.

For his part, Lantz said he plans to continue pursuing the Holmes Beach location for his business and will be attending every meeting where the site plan is discussed to answer any questions from commissioners, city staff and the public.

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