“Preservation.” “Protection.”
Those words from Anna Maria city officials and residents helped define the rationale for approving a vacation rental ordinance April 9.
People crowded into the chamber at city hall for the final public hearing on the ordinance, although there was confusion due to a delayed reading and rewrites earlier in March, March 26 was the first reading.
The vote to approve the ordinance was unanimous.
“Shutting out the rental business is not our intention,” said Commissioner Nancy Yetter. “We’re here, doing this, because over the last seven years the greed and behavior of several (rental) groups have deeply affected our community.”
Commissioner Dale Woodland read from the National Association of Realtors’ Short-Term Rental Housing Restrictions white paper, which has been cited in defense of the regulations in the rental ordinance.
“People with no ties to the community are more concerned with maximizing funds than they are about being good neighbors,” said Woodland.
Residents appeared anxious to speak as the commissioners went through the ordinance section by section, rule by rule.
The commissioners discussed the regulations and how they would be enforced.
The hours for swimming pool use will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A bedroom’s allowable dimensions and makeup were redefined so renters can’t break the maximum occupancy rule by putting a sleeping couch into a TV room.
When the public’s chance to speak came, residents encouraged commissioners.
“The island is changing,” said Anna Maria resident Alan Wade. “Everything’s stemming from the real estate community trying to maximize their profits and something needs to happen.”
“Rentals are all about making as much money as possible, as fast as possible,” said former Anna Maria Commissioner Gene Aubry. “I’ve never seen a city deteriorate so much in one year as it has here.”
Applause followed each speaker without interruption from the chair’s gavel.
“We’re not trying to be bad guys,” said Woodland. “We’re trying to protect our community.”
Mike Coleman, of Pine Avenue Restoration in Anna Maria, and Jason Sato, of Sato Real Estate, spoke on behalf of their respective vacation rental agencies.
Both are residents and both said the few complaints the city received came from a small number of vacation rentals. They urged the commission to stop before it was too late.
Coleman and Sato also warned the commissioners of potential legal action against the city, but the vacation rental regulations passed unanimously.
The special meeting ended before commissioners addressed the issue of permit parking, listed for months as an agenda topic.
Commission Chair Chuck Webb said they’d get to the parking issue at the next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at Anna Maria City Hall, 1005 Gulf Drive.
He also said the city’s current building moratorium is another issue to be addressed in a future meeting.
I am a regular vacationer to Anna Maria and have been since 2011. My husband and I fell in love with this lovely town and now come back here at least 2-3 times a year. Anna Maria captured our hearts and we cannot imagine spending our time anywhere else. It is becoming more evident that we as vacationers are not wanted or welcome here on AMI. This makes me very sad that a few bad apples have ruined it for everyone.
I though am very familiar with tourists as I am also a full time resident of a very well know tourist town – Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. If there is a city that has a very high number of tourists it’s Niagara Falls. We love our tourists as they provide our residents jobs, maintain our infrastructure and bring in much needed dollars. We welcome our tourists with open arms and embrace the fact that people choose to spend their hard earned dollars and time with us in Canada. Yes we experience issues, yes there are problems, yes traffic can be a headache. We though have never publicly tried as hard as Anna Maria does to tell your vacationers that “we are not interested in you being here – go home”!
I write this with such a heavy heart – feeling so unwanted in a town that has charmed us in so many ways. As a human resource professional what I see here is a bandaid solution to a much greater issue – which is a dysfunctional governance system that could use some work.
For a town that on the surface talks about small town values and knowing your neighbour you would expect an amicable solution to issues instead of pushing through regulations in a knee-jerk fashion that will only increase the animosity and create as a result more and more issues. The root cause of AMIs problems will not be solved with this regulation. When/If I return in 4-5 months I expect that there will be some other issue/problem/concern that will again have your governance jumping to create further regulations that will only add to the dysfunctional climate.
In reading an article about a part-time resident who has had issues with the neighbouring property (noise, parking, number of guests) I sympathize with him. I do note that instead of handing it in a small town way – which would be to speak to the rental company or the guests themselves he chose a different route one that is perpetuating the issues that AMI is facing. This behaviour is so very sad.
AMI has an opportunity in front of them. If they are duly enticed by it, then the governance of AMI will evolve to and beyond considering the majority of AMI vacationers a negative; and will more fully appreciate that the AMI governance needs to undergo a transformation of their leadership. AMI needs to choose cooperation over the communities current conflicts.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion so here is mine in a nutshell – for those that disagree – thank you for your opinion please have the respect and courtesy to approach my thoughts with an attitude of openness:
The structure of AMIs governance has been and will continue to be ineffective until they give primary attention to their true governance responsibilities and under go serious change.
IF the governance of AMI wants real results they need to think in new and different ways. If they keep doing what they are doing, they will keep getting what they are getting…….an environment that is vexatious, hostile and encourages ostracism and exclusion of others. Let’s ask ourselves the following question:
**Is the governance of AMI getting the results they should?**
If not, they need to change their thinking. A governance body whose thinking is entrenched will typically resist change and want to keep things as they are. The challenge for many is not in embracing new ideas, but rather in letting go of the fixed ideas they already have.
The governance of AMI need to be innovative and open to new ideas, encourage and enable respectful communication and co-operation and to reinforce collaborative relationships. One key responsibility of AMI’s governance is to provide effective leadership; on that I leave you with one important piece of information:
Leaders, in various ways, have been theorized to affect how their followers feel; leaders who feel excited, enthusiastic, and energetic themselves are likely to similarly energize their followers, as are leaders who feel distressed and hostile likely to negatively activate their followers. The governance of AMI has the opportunity to foster and shape the current climate of AMI – to make it one of collaboration and harmony.
Best of Luck AMI you have your work cut out for you!
Ann Brascoupe
Organizational Consultant and former vacationer to AMI
Very well said. My wife and I have been regular visitors to the island since 2008, sometimes multiple times per year. It is very sad and disheartening to see what the island is evolving into.
Regarding the “new” rental ordinance. The only thing that it does is make a rental agent responsible for renters. Good luck with that. Hows a hapless $12.00 an hour agent going to kick out drunks? Florida State Chapter 509 already exists.It makes registration, inspection, and unruly guests criminally sanctioned.If you don’t enforce it how is another law going to help? Noise ordinances already exist.
The city of Anna Maria supposedly just wrote another one. County deputies write reports and issue written warnings on first time violators. These same officers then issue $250.00 tickets. They do this throughout the county sometimes sixty times a month. Same with Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach and the City of Bradenton. The city of Anna Maria has a magistrate system. Have any tickets been written under that system by AM police officers or by code enforcement? Chief Kenney, Lt. Damato and Sargent Dangler wrote tickets and arrested people. Enforce the current codes.
What a sad day for the city of Anna Maria. Once again our city leaders have thrown the “baby out with the bath water”, solved nothing and divided our town.
With full disclosure, I live in Anna Maria and have 1 rental property on the island – in Anna Maria. I agree, we have some rental related issues in Anna Maria that need to be addressed. I was present at the commission meeting when this ordinance passed.
In the process of attempting to solve our issues, the commission has created an atmosphere of animosity, divisiveness and distrust. I do not understand why, in a city of 1500, our government leaders, residents and business community cannot sit down and resolve this COMMUNITY issue together. Do our commissioners really think that passing the ordinance in the manner they chose is going to lead us back to the “old Anna Maria”? I think not. The lawsuits will soon be flying, if they haven’t already started. Sides will be taken and our city will be further fractured.
It perplexes me why the commission continually passes ordinances rather than addressing the root problem. We cannot seem to enforce our noise ordinance, yet a new ordinance that prohibits swimming (in rentals) before 8am and after 10pm solves the noise issue. Really?
This type of governing is typical of our commission. One need look no further than the “Sandwich Sign” issue. The city could not (or would not) enforce the rule of 1 sandwich sign per establishment. Their predictable answer – ban sandwich signs completely.
At the last commission meeting, and in defense of the new rental ordinance, Commissioner Yetter cited a few recent problem events. One example was a builder/developer allowing people to stay in a house without having obtained a Certificate of Occupancy. I’m not sure how she connects the dots that the new rental ordinance solves this problem. Don’t we have an ordinance regarding occupancy and CO’s? Again, inforce the laws we have. Perhaps an increase in fines and a suspension of construction/permits for builder/developer/owners that violate the code are in order.
Some of my families fondest memories are summer beach vacations. My mother-in-law would rent a house at the Jersey Shore for 2 weeks. Her 3 children, spouses and 5 grandchildren (11 of us) would have a delightful time at the shore. To this day, my kids, now in their 30’s, reminisce about those family vacations with fond memories. It’s a shame that Anna Maria has chosen not to welcome the creation of those family memories. Sorry – only 8 in a rental – as if that number itself magically solves ANYTHING. Apparently 8 non-swimming, partiers playing loud music isn’t considered a problem.
In my opinion, our first order of business should be to STIRCTLY enforce our existing laws.
We are headed in the completely wrong direction by not working together. This city will be so busy fighting amongst ourselves, we will solve nothing.
I highly encourage the mayor to step in, put a team together and solve these issues TOGETHER.
Respectfully,
Randy Houlas
Anna Maria
The Mayor, with all due respect, sides with the anti-rental mentality. The number (8) has absolutely nothing to do with noise and I believe Comm. Carter and Woodland are absolutely wrong about this topic. We have a family of 10 who have NEVER had even a mention of being noisy. Not once. The number of people do not matter(except for when it exceeds the homes capacity), instead it is the “quality” of those people. Enforcing existing ordinances, as you suggest, is the correct way to correct nuisance renter issues.
Not to fear, the AM Commission and Mayor will ultimately lose. They should have been economically savvy and used the ordinance to require licensing, thereby increasing revenue, and adjusted the warning, citation, and fee schedule for those violations. Then they could have hired enforcement personnel to enforce the already sufficient laws that are passed.
City of AM, you may think you have won the fight, but the war is far from over. You will lose and to you applauding, intolerant residents who claim “your” island is fading away, it’s not a private island and it’s certainly not yours. Without us, the hated rental owners, Anna Maria would be nothing more than a dilapidated piece of rubble by a nice beach. Biting the hands that feed you results in harsh consequences that all of us “greedy, abusive, non-caring”(your words) will diligently apply through elections, court cases and changing public opinion. Enjoy the temporary high….