Enforcement takes precedence.
Anna Maria Mayor Mark Short’s veto of an emergency ordinance will stand.
City commissioners agreed Sept. 25 not to override Short’s veto of an emergency ordinance that would have codified a no-swim zone at Bean Point, with an exemption for residents with riparian rights in the area.
The ordinance was unanimously approved Sept. 11 by the commission and would have lasted 60 days had Short not vetoed it on Sept. 15.
He said at the Sept. 25 meeting that the ordinance would be “basically impossible” to enforce due to the special exemption for certain residents and their guests.
Two drownings in the waters off Bean Point over August spurred the city to install “No Swimming” signs along the shoreline, from the Fern Avenue beach access to the city’s northernmost beach access between 831 and 833 N. Shore Drive.
Since the emergency ordinance was shot down, leaving the no-swimming zone without code to back it, those signs have been replaced. New signs, posted at each beach access point in the area and along the shoreline, state “Warning | Dangerous Currents | Swim At Your Own Risk | No Lifeguards”.
Commissioner Christopher Arendt acknowledged Short’s veto was “probably the right choice” given the enforcement concerns and voiced support for the new signs.
There was no motion to override the mayoral veto.