It’s the light at the end of the tunnel.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy announced April 27 at a city commission meeting that city attorney Becky Vose had successfully drafted initial offers for all 112 Bert Harris claims received in response to its vacation rental ordinance.
The Bert Harris Jr. Private Property Protection Act of 1995 allows property owners to seek relief if they can prove a government action lowered the value of their property.
Claimants must provide appraisals to establish value and settlements, in lieu of cash payments, can either fully or partly restore the rights that existed prior to the prohibitions. The city initially has 150 days to respond to Bert Harris allegations.
Bert Harris claims began coming to Anna Maria after the city’s vacation rental ordinance went into effect April 2016. The ordinance includes an occupancy maximum of eight people, which has prompted the majority of the claims.
The commission approved seven counter offers for property owners who rejected initial offers from the city.
The counter offers include occupancy for 10-14 people per property. For five of the seven counter offers, the city responded by sticking to its previous offers.
To date, the city has settled 59 Bert Harris claims. Fifty pending claims await action from the claimant and three require a counter offer from the city.
One of the 50 pending claims includes a potential purchase offer. Commissioners authorized an offer April 6 on 801 N. Shore Drive, giving property owners James and Jeanette DePorre the option to accept an occupancy rate of 12 or a purchase offer of $2.27 million.
Vose said there had been no response from the DePorres as of April 27.
Jeannie and Bill Bystrom, Holmes Beach residents and owners of the Stillshores apartments at 604 N. Shore Drive, approached the commission for a second time April 27 requesting that the city consider exempting their property, and others in Anna Maria like theirs, from the VRO.
According to the Bystroms, there are only three properties in Anna Maria that consist of four or more units.
Their four units in the duplex cannot legally be filled by occupants under the current law, said Jeannie Bystrom.
She also pointed out that although current city law would allow the couple to keep the units full if they rent them for a month or more at a time, they rarely find renters looking for a lengthy stay.
Vose said the city could not offer them an exemption from the ordinance outside of a Bert Harris settlement.
Chair Doug Copeland told the Bystroms that, depending on how legislation pending in the Florida House and Senate unfolds, the issue could be moot within the next few weeks.