The word of the day was “compromise.”
When 12th Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith Jr. presided over a hearing concerning the Anna Maria short-term vacation rental ordinance Oct. 21, he told city attorney Becky Vose and Mayor Dan Murphy he didn’t want any more amendments to the measure.
Smith said too many changes were made after the parties were ordered to maintain the status quo. The lawsuit began May 22.
On Nov. 2, Smith, at the request of Vose and with permission from attorney Kevin Hennessy for the complainants, decided the city could make a few more amendments.
These amendments were not to complicate the VRO, but to compromise with the plaintiffs and work toward an end to the litigation.
Hennessy, as well as attorney Jennifer Cowan, of the Lewis, Longman and Walker law office in Bradenton, represent vacation rental agencies and owners and the Anna Maria Island Vacation Property Association, compromising more than 100 rental owners.
At the Nov. 4 city meeting, commissioners held the first reading and public hearing on the proposed amendments.
Commissioners Dale Woodland, Carol Carter and Doug Copeland had little to say.
Chair Chuck Webb and Commissioner Nancy Yetter were absent.
A shade meeting had been held behind closed doors — where the city and its attorney are able to discuss strategy in private — before the public meeting was convened.
“This new ordinance is workable, non-punitive and streamlined,” said Murphy. “I feel really comfortable about it.”
Murphy said the rental groups suing the city feel as though the VRO singles them out. “And it did,” he said. “Now we’re going back to what the city originally intended, we’re treating everyone fairly.”
Vose said she drafted the new ordinance a few weeks ago, but was stopped by Smith’s order to make no changes. “This new ordinance is much, much better,” she said. “We’re hoping to resolve the litigation as soon as possible.”
The amendments would remove many of the controversial requirements of the previous VRO. The city is eliminating background checks for sexual predators and a section outlining penalties and guidelines for rental agents, and parking and building code enforcement regulations also have been removed.
“The city already has regulations in place for many of the situations that were outlined in the previous vacation rental ordinances,” Murphy said. “The city can enforce what it already has in place.”
Smith ordered mediation between the plaintiffs and the city, which was scheduled for Nov. 10.
And the press is not permitted to attend.
Larry Chatt, president of the AMIVPA said, “Any collaboration with the city is a good thing as we work towards a compromise.”
Woodland said he’s in favor of the proposed amendments. “We’ve gone back to where we started about a year ago, before the ordinance was written and the city and rental community were talking to one another,” he said, adding he hopes the amended measure will pass.
Efforts to reach Hennessy and Cowan by phone Nov. 5-6 were unsuccessful.
If the Nov. 10 mediation fails, the VRO is still tentatively scheduled to go before Smith for a hearing in January.
The commission is scheduled to hold the final hearing and vote on the amended VRO at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at Anna Maria City Hall, 10005 Gulf Drive.