After nearly two months of a building moratorium, Anna Maria commissioners may be moving forward on new regulations.
At a Nov. 13 work session on the moratorium, commissioners requested a draft ordinance on the moratorium from city attorney Jim Dye, as well as regulations for vacation rentals, for a hearing and first reading Dec. 4.
Commissioners are still working on content, but agreed the ordinance should be aimed at providing the city a means to regulate and inspect vacation rentals, Commission Chair Chuck Webb said.
The building moratorium was adopted Sept. 22 after some commissioners expressed concern the city had no means to limit the number of bedrooms in a home.
Webb said people have been obtaining a building permit, claiming to use the structure as their residence, but it often it turns out to be a vacation home. One week after construction is finished and a certificate of occupancy issued, a dwelling would become a vacation rental, Webb said.
“People were lying to the city to get what they wanted,” he said.
The ordinance should be written to allow the city to license vacation rentals and allow the city to inspect rentals to ensure they meet fire and building code requirements, Webb said.
Commissioners also discussed adding a limit on the number of bedrooms in a vacation rental home.
City planner Alan Garrett furnished copies of vacation rental ordinances from other cities that regulate the size and number of bedrooms.
Webb said he hoped the moratorium could be lifted “in a few months” after passage of the ordinance, but Commissioner Doug Copeland said he hoped it would be sooner.
“There are innocent people suffering because of the moratorium,” he said.
Not everyone was planning to build a vacation rental when the moratorium was enacted, Copeland said. So some people have been “in limbo,” having submitted plans before the moratorium was enacted, Copeland said.
Building official Bob Welch suggested plans already on file when the moratorium passed be allowed to proceed, but commissioners amended the original Sept. 22 moratorium to include those plans not yet approved for construction.
Commissioners also instructed Dye to include a deed restriction in the ordinance that would allow people who plan to live in their home to sign a statement that they would not rent the house for a minimum of five years, while allowing for “unusual circumstances.”
In some circumstances, Webb said, the owners could petition the commission to be allowed to rent their home.
Each case would be on an individual basis, he said.
For property owner Cheryl Perez, the commission has done a poor job of addressing the moratorium.
“We submitted our plans Sept. 19. We have no problem signing the deed restriction as this is the last house my husband and I plan to build. It’s our retirement home, yet we’re still waiting to sign after two months,” she said.
“And we still don’t know when we can sign the (deed) restriction and get our permit to start construction,” she said.
Garrett pointed out to commissioners that the city is attempting to regulate something that may be illegal.
City codes prohibit commercial activity in a residential zone, he noted. But the city is attempting to establish regulations governing vacation rentals — which is prohibited.
Dye noted the city is seeking a judicial review of its code to justify prohibiting commercial activity in a residential zone. If rentals are ruled by the court to be commercial activity, the city would already have the means to prohibit the rental use.
Garrett said about two-thirds of the city is made up of vacation rental properties.
“At this rate, the day will come when we don’t have any voters,” quipped Webb.
Commissioners scheduled another work session on the moratorium and vacation rentals for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Anna Maria City Hall, 10005 Gulf Drive.
At the upcoming session, commissioners plan to incorporate language in the ordinance that would allow the city to inspect and license vacation rentals.
The public hearing and first reading of the moratorium ordinance is scheduled for Dec. 4, while the final hearing is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18.
… and moratorium lawsuit lands on Anna Maria doorstep
By Rick Catlin
Islander Reporter
At least one property owner is tired of waiting for Anna Maria to pass a vacation rental ordinance and end a building moratorium.
The owners of 423 Spring Ave., identified as 423 Spring Street AMI LLC, have sued Anna Maria over the city’s failure to issue a permit for property at 423 Spring Ave.
The Bradenton law firm of Blalock Walters, P.A., filed the suit on behalf of the owners, alleging the city was required by its code to issue a permit within 30 business days after the application to build was submitted.
The permit application was filed July 16 and, by Aug. 29, the permit should have been issued, according to the suit.
Anna Maria adopted a moratorium Sept. 22 prohibiting the building department from issuing building permits or accepting new ones. Originally, commissioners elected to allow those applications already received by building official Bob Welch by Sept. 19 to proceed. However, three days later, commissioners amended the moratorium to include all applications received, but not acted upon.
The lawsuit seeks to have the city grant a building permit so renovations can begin.
Commissioners met Nov. 13 in a shade meeting. A shade meeting is an attorney-client exemption to Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law that allows a government entity to hold a closed session to discuss pending litigation with their attorneys and strategies for the settlement of lawsuits.
A special commission meeting devoted to the moratorium, which has yet to be formally adopted by ordinance, also was held that day.
Commission Chair Chuck Webb did not announce the results of the shade meeting.
And the Spring Avenue lawsuit could be just the first of others to be filed against the city.
Attorney Scott Rudacille, who also works for Blalock Walters, said he represents six clients in Anna Maria who should have been issued a building permit because their application was submitted before the moratorium was enacted.
He declined to comment if any of those clients plan to move forward with court action.
Owners join forces to fight anticipated regulations
By Rick Catlin
Islander Reporter
Owners of some 1,000 rental properties hope to find strength in numbers.
And while one person might have trouble fighting city hall, Larry Chatt, owner/broker of Island Real Estate, 6101 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, hopes to lead the rental property owners in protecting their rights.
Chatt’s newly formed Anna Maria Island Vacation Property Association represents more than 1,000 rental properties at a fee of $100 each, and that adds up to $100,000 to ensure their rights to continuing renting.
The first newsletter of the organization sent to owners Nov. 20 takes aim at Anna Maria’s Sept. 22 moratorium on construction of a residence with more than three bedrooms.
Chatt writes in the newsletter that vacation rental owners’ and managers’ “rights to rent may be taken away in the next four months” by the Anna Maria City Commission.
He said several property managers “joined forces” to start up the association.
It costs $100 per property annually for membership in the nonprofit organization, according to the newsletter.
The funds will be used to defend vacation rental property rights, as well as funding for a political action committee that will “defend at a state level” the island owners’ rights to rent a home or condo on a weekly basis.
Anna Maria Commissioner Nancy Yetter said the moratorium enacted Sept. 22 bans “issuance” of building permits for residences with more than three bedrooms. It does not ban homes with more than three bedrooms from being rented, she said.
Chatt also comments in the newsletter about hiring an outside attorney to examine Anna Maria’s residential zoning ordinance to determine if there are irregularities — specifically if short-term rentals can be determined to be a commercial activity.
If that attorney tells the city “renting out your seasonal home is a commercial activity,” which is prohibited in the city’s residential zone, owners “can expect Anna Maria to abolish three-bedroom or larger vacation rentals,” he said.
That statement is far from reality, Yetter said.
She said Chatt may have “jumped the gun by even saying that Anna Maria will abolish all three-bedroom and larger rental units.”
She said making vacation rental property owners pay a $100 fee “with a primary purpose to fund litigation against the city is irresponsible and creates further division between residents and homeowners.”
Yetter said she believes a lot of progress has been made with rental agents in dealing with issues of noise, trash and parking.
She said the agents who developed the best rental practices list — which included Chatt — are to be “applauded in their efforts to mitigate the effects of short-term rentals. However, there is still work to be done in these areas.”
It would be “more productive to concentrate on those issues rather than trying to create mass hysteria among the rental owners through this type of newsletter,” she said.
Chatt said the newsletter was an effort to “create a conduit” for the city and vacation property owners “to work together on these tough issues.”
While fear exists among rental property owners, some of whom are island residents, that the city may eliminate rentals if they are determined to be commercial activity, Chatt hopes it won’t come to that end.
He added that he planned to address Anna Maria commissioners at their next meeting to explain he is not seeking a confrontation, but a cooperative effort to solve problems between Anna Maria and vacation property owners.
However, the newsletter arrived at city hall in advance of Chatt’s plans, and he offered his apology for not first addressing the city on the plans of the new property association.
Chatt was unaware the city commission would discuss his association at its Nov. 20 meeting.