He’s apparently got faith.
Anna Maria Vacations owner Joe Varner looks forward to passage of a proposed state law that has the potential to block municipal rental regulations going back to 2011.
“We feel that what they’re doing to roll back the 2011 law, the state Legislature is picking up for us,” Joe Varner said about Sen. Greg Steube’s 2017 bill, SB 188, and the companion legislation, HB 425.
Varner’s company in February retreated from a legal battle against the city of Anna Maria’s eight-person occupancy limit that had risen to the appeal court.
Varner said he’s confident state legislators will pass SB 188 in support of the state’s $70 billion tourism industry.
With wife Kelly, Varner owns Florida Gulf Coast Vacation Homes LLC, dba Anna Maria Vacations, of Holmes Beach, which employs 30 people. AMV manages 235 rentals on Anna Maria Island, including 65 in Anna Maria, 133 in Holmes Beach and 37 in Bradenton Beach. The business handles about 8,000 bookings annually, he said.
Varner believes people who have come to the island should expect it to grow, comparing the growth of the island’s rental community with another type of development.
“If you build a house next to an airport, there’s a potential for it to grow and noise to increase.
“They knew the risk,” Varner said of the island’s residents.
Lawmakers sponsoring the bill, as well as Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, are like-minded.
“I have and will continue to support property owners’ rights on these issues,” Boyd wrote in a Feb. 22 email to The Islander.
A “fair number” of people indicated “interest in their property rights,” according to the representative, whose district includes Anna Maria Island.
“I support the legislation we passed in 2011,” he added.
On the other side in the growing debate, Anna Maria and Holmes Beach city commissions have decided to pay lobbyists in Tallahassee to promote their concerns.
Anna Maria hired a lobbyist on a $5,000 a month retainer in January. Holmes Beach city commissioners have given Mayor Bob Johnson the go-ahead to employ a lobbyist at an amount not to exceed $25,000, Commissioner Jean Peelen said Feb. 23.
A loss of old-Florida charm blamed on vacation rentals led Anna Maria and Holmes Beach to adopt ordinances in 2015 aimed at regulating resort housing, including occupancy limits.
Both city websites offer sample letters opposing SB 188 and HB 425.
Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, representing Anna Maria Island, was unavailable for comment Feb. 22-23, according to legislative assistant Amanda Romant.
As far as what’s next with Varner’s efforts to support the vacation rental community, he said he’s content to wait out the legislative process and work “in a rational way with people on the ground.”