Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The Environmental Conservancy of North Port has closed on the purchase of a quarter-acre lot off of Chamberlain Boulevard in Port Charlotte, just outside of the North Port city limits. The parcel will be used as a “stepping-stone” habitat for wildlife.
The conservancy met a Feb. 28 deadline to close on the property. The conservancy, which changed its Facebook page to The Environmental Conservancy of North Port and Surrounding Areas to reflect the fact that it also targets land in unincorporated Sarasota and Charlotte counties, has now preserved 38 properties in Sarasota and Charlotte counties and the city of North Port.
Seventeen of the protected parcels are in North Port, 11 in Charlotte County's Harbour Heights neighborhood, six in El Jobean, two in Deep Creek and two in Port Charlotte.
Barbara Lockhart, president of the nonprofit’s board of directors, said the $10,000 came from several donors.
The conservancy started in 2020, targeting lots in North Port for Florida Scrub-Jay habitat and has since expanded to target preservation of habitat for another threatened species, the gopher tortoise.
This was the conservancy’s first purchase in the northwest Port Charlotte area.
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is saying it has more than 4,000 parking spaces, with more on the way.
Despite that, Baird Inc. is moving forward with demolition of the Sarasota Kennel Club to build more than 600 new spaces of paid parking across the street from SRQ.
The City of Sarasota told ABC7 that it has yet to receive development plans for the site.
CEO of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, Rick Piccolo told ABC7, “Presently we have about 3,000 paved spaces and another 500+ under construction that should be done by late summer. We also have about another 500 grass area parking overflow areas available if needed as last resort.”
ABC7 reached out to Baird Inc. but has not heard back.
The city of Anna Maria has responded to a March 5 request for information from OPPAGA regarding the potential consolidation and annexation of the city into Manatee County.
The cities of Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach received similar requests from the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability that conducts research for the Florida Legislature.
Last year, OPPAGA initiated a consolidation study at the request of Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. (R-Bradenton) and the other state legislators who are members of the Manatee County Legislative Delegation.
OPPAGA’s Island consolidation study originally included three possible options: Consolidating the three Island cities into one new city, consolidating and annexing all three cities into the city of Braden*ton or not consolidating the cities but consolidating similar services provided by each Island city.
In November, the three cities submitted separate written re*sponses to OPPAGA that addressed the benefits and challenges of each consolidation scenario.
On March 15, the city of Anna Maria submitted a written response to OPPAGA that addresses the additional option of consolidating Anna Maria into Manatee County and placing it under the control of the county and the Manatee County Commission.
BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
Regarding the benefits of the county consolidation option, the city response notes the city prop*erty taxes currently levied at a 2.05 millage rate would be eliminated. County consolidation would also eliminate the need for city-funded public works departments, building departments and law enforcement agencies.
Regarding the challenges posed by county consolidation, the Anna Maria response notes there would be an increased financial and administrative placed burden on the county, which last year only provided the city with $15,000 as part of the city’s $11.4 million annual budget.
County consolidation would result in the county assuming own*ership and responsibility for the roads, the stormwater and drainage system and other infrastructure elements currently funded by the city and its taxpayers. The county would assume ownership and maintenance responsibilities associated with the city-owned City Pier and the city-owned property that provides rent-free space for The Center of Anna Maria Island.
The Anna Maria response claims county consolidation would result in the loss of existing environmen*tal safeguards and the loss of the diversity and atmosphere the three distinctly different Island cities currently provide.
The outcome of the removal of 116 feet of mangroves to build a seawall at a Gull Drive home may have been different if the property had been located in Sarasota County instead of Manatee County.
A contractor removed some of the mangroves prior to receiving a federal permit, but had been granted an exemption from the state permit requirement by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the federal permit, the contractor removed the rest of the mangroves. No county permit was required.
“In Sarasota County, this wouldn’t happen” because the county has jurisdiction over mangroves under the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Abbey Tyrna wrote in a March 7 email to The Sun. “If mangroves had to be removed to install a seawall, then mitigation would have had to take place.”
Under the act, “The department (FDEP) shall delegate its authority to regulate the trimming and alteration of mangroves to any local government that makes a written request for delegation.”
Sarasota is one of the few counties statewide, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Broward, that have such authority.
CORTEZ – The closing of Bunny & Pirates Bazaar is imminent, but not by the choice of owners Elizabeth Shore and Jeffrey O’Connell.
The news of the closing was announced by the two business owners on Facebook on March 16, two days after a notice to vacate was posted on the outer door of the bar and music venue.
“Dearest Friends – It is with heavy yet hopeful hearts we announce that Bunny & Pirates is closing. We decided last year it was time to move on and also to find someone with a passion for music and community to pick up where we left off,” the post read. “Unfortunately, we were not given the opportunity to sell our soulful creation and beloved brand – instead we have been aggressively and cruelly pushed out on short notice without options in the middle of season.”
The building at 12404 Cortez Road W. is owned by Jewfish Landings LLC with developer Shawn Kaleta as manager.
Shore told The Sun by telephone on March 17 that they had been considering selling the business and had spoken to the owner of the property about it but communications suddenly stopped during lease negotiations.
“I feel so naïve because I thought we would be able to work this out,” Shore said.
“We worked so hard to build something special and I’m heartbroken,” Shore told The Sun. “The outpouring of love on social media is a testament to what we’ve built here in the last seven years.”
“We know this comes as much as a surprise to you as it does to us,” the Facebook post continued. “We never imagined not being given the opportunity to find a path forward in Cortez where our magical musical creative space would live on.”
Shore said the venue will continue to be open for a short time and did not have a specific date for its final closing.
“We still have a few shows planned, so there’s a little time,” she said. “We will be having a going away party, but I don’t have a date yet.”
More than 180 comments were posted on Facebook in support of Shore and O’Connell and the uniqueness of the space which consisted of a pub and wine bar, a deli and market and live music in the beer garden out back.
People gathered at Christ Church of Longboat Key March 14 for a Florida Department of Transportation workshop on options for traversing Longboat Pass.
The meeting provided a platform for people to voice their opinions and concerns about three proposed replacement alternatives and a “no build” option for the Longboat Pass Bridge on State Road 789.
DOT program managers, consultants and elected officials engaged with people in the open forum.
The bridge, built in 1957 and repaired in 2005 and 2020, faces functional obsolescence and needs either replacement or rehab, according to the DOT.
The state proposes three new options for the 17-foot clearance bridge: a 23-foot drawbridge, a 35-foot drawbridge and a 78-foot-high fixed bridge.
All the new bridge designs have the same dimensions for travel lanes, shoulders and shared-use pathways that nearly double the bridge’s width from 37 feet, 5 inches to 76 feet, 8 inches.
Also in the review is a “no build” option.
However, many meeting attendees expressed the need for a new bridge.
Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier spoke to The Islander during the meeting: “Our local residents are not bashful about letting us know how they feel about things. We’ve got a good turnout here. People are active and interested.”
“It’s pretty clear that the bridge is about to outlive its lifespan,” Schneier added. “When I was first looking at the alternatives I gravitated to a new drawbridge.”
He said that due to the bridge’s role as an access to the Gulf of Mexico, a fixed span must be a 78-foot-high bridge.
Village resident Priscilla Von Ahnen quipped, “I am kind of anti-progress.” She was initially against a new bridge but said viewing the renderings helped to change her mind.
“The big one still looks too big, but I might go with the 36-foot version,” she said.
Longboat Commissioner BJ Bishop, however, is ready to go high.
“If we are going to do this, we might as well go with the third (alternative), the 78-foot bridge,” Bishop said.
Despite preemptive state legislation on the horizon, the city of Anna Maria is increasing registration fees for vacation rentals in the municipality.
City commissioners unanimously voted March 14 to adopt a resolution establishing vacation rental registration fees for 2024-25.
The city’s rental registration fees are based on maximum allowed occupancy.
Each property begins with a base occupancy of two people, plus another two people per bedroom, resulting in a minimum occupancy of four people.
Under the newly adopted registration fees, vacation rental owners will be charged $93.92 per allowed occupant — an 11.5% increase over last year’s $84.17 registration fee.
The fees are prorated to cover the cost of enforcing the VRO, as well as inspections and lobbying costs associated with short-term rentals.
A vacation rental property with one bedroom has an occupancy of four and a fee of $375.68 for 2024-25. A property with the same occupancy would have paid $336.68 for 2023-24.
Mayor Dan Murphy said the city’s highest occupancy vacation rental could have up to 22 occupants as a result of a property right’s claim against the city.
The owner/manager of that property will have to pay $2,066.24 this year.
There were 736 vacation rentals registered in the city as of March 18, according to city clerk LeAnne Addy, compared to 734 registered vacation rentals through February 2023.
Vacation rental owners must register their properties by applying and paying the registration fee by 4 p.m. Saturday, April 1.
Bradenton Beach commissioners will review applications March 21 for paid parking lots on residential and commercial properties.
Commissioners will review permitting for 301 Gulf Drive S., zoned commercial and owned by Why Knot AMI LLC, with George and Wendy Kokolis as title managers.
Applications also are filed for paid parking at 102 Third St. N., 207 Church Ave. and 206 Bay Drive N., all zoned residential, and 205 First Street N., zoned commercial. All the properties are owned by developer Shawn Kaleta and administered by Beach to Bay LLC.
Also under review is an application for paid parking at 109 Third Street N., zoned residential and owned by Ed Chiles.
The commission meeting will be at noon, Thursday, March 21, at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.
Senate Bill 280 could spell the end for the island cities’ local vacation rental regulations.
But the cities of Anna Maria and Holmes Beach are not going out quietly.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy announced March 14 that he was set to meet in the next week with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will have the final say on whether SB 280 — which would preempt rental regulations to the state — becomes law.
SB 280, “Vacation Rentals,” was filed last November by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-St. Petersburg, and an amended version passed through the state legislature as the session ended March 8.
The bill would preempt to the state vacation rental regulations adopted before June 1, 2011, and establish statewide definitions and rules for vacation rental activity.
That would include the implementation of statewide maximum overnight occupancy limits, which would be two people in one common area, plus two people per bedroom — or more if there is at least 50 square feet per person.
SB 280 also would cap fines for rental violations at $500 and, in Anna Maria, direct appeals to the courts instead of special magistrate hearings.
As of March 15, the bill had yet to be presented to the governor, who will have 15 days following its presentation to sign or veto the legislation.
The legislation will automatically pass if DeSantis takes no action, so his veto is needed to kill the bill.
Murphy said the city’s lobbyist, Tallahassee-based Corcoran Partners, scheduled his meeting with the governor.
Murphy said he plans to express to the governor his concerns about SB 280, such as how the bill would implement “virtually unenforceable” occupancy and how the state’s enforcement staff would be inadequate to enforce rental violations across the state.
“It’s not fair. … This is something that could change the whole complexion of this city. This is something that could be really devastating to us,” Murphy said. “Our hands are really tied.”
“This is something that has to be taken care of. I’ll give it my best shot,” he added.
“Godspeed,” Commissioner Jonathan Crane said.
In the meantime, Holmes Beach city commissioners unanimously voted March 12 to approve a letter drafted by city attorney Erica Augello to DeSantis requesting he veto SB 280.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
