With a unanimous vote Nov. 19, the city of Anna Maria took a gentler route to its restrictions on short-term vacation rentals.
The new ordinance was created as the result of court-ordered mediation to mend the divide between the city and the rental owners and to treat everyone equally.
The city commission adopted the newest of several amendments to the city’s VRO at the second and final public hearing.
At the meeting for the final vote, commissioners did not discuss the potential ramifications of the ordinance.
The commissioners and city attorney have held shade meetings for the past three weeks before public hearings on the proposed changes to the VRO.
Under Florida Sunshine law, shade meetings allow officials to negotiate and strategize litigation behind closed doors. Once the litigation is resolved, the shade meeting minutes will become public record.
The new VRO won’t be enforceable until April 1, and the city has an option to extend the enforcement deadline if its registration fees and forms are not published by Jan. 1.
The city is requiring short-term vacation properties to register. Mayor Dan Murphy said he hasn’t calculated the registration fee but he hoped to have the number this month.
The city previously determined an annual licensing fee of $750. But Murphy said the new registration fee would be less than previously proposed.
This is the third adoption of a vacation rental ordinance for Anna Maria since April 9.
The VRO was originally adopted in April but was amended and re-adopted Sept. 2.
However, a lawsuit against the city from a consortium of short-term vacation rental owners, agents and agencies, encouraged the commission to amend the ordinance in hopes of addressing many of the concerns pointed out in the lawsuit.
During an Oct. 21 motion hearing, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith Jr. told city attorney Becky Vose and Murphy to stop making changes to the ordinance.
The city had to obtain permission from the judge and the plaintiff’s attorneys, Kevin Hennessy and Jennifer Cowan of Lewis, Longman and Walker, to make the newest amendments.
Where the VRO previously created special noise and parking rules, a complicated grandfather clause and strict guidelines on how a rental agent or owner were to be fined and risk their right to rent in the city, the new ordinance instead falls back on existing citywide regulations.
For example, short-term vacation rental homes and long-term residents will follow the city’s existing noise regulations. The April 9 and Sept. 22 versions of the VRO called for additional noise guidelines and fines.
It was the same for parking. The previous VRO required rental properties to provide a map of available parking spaces, but the city has existing parking codes in place.
The city, Hennessy and Cowan began mediating a solution to the lawsuit Nov. 10.
A date for the final hearing in the lawsuit, should it be needed, has yet to be scheduled.