BRADENTON BEACH – City officials are concerned about a social media driven Floatopia-type beach bash potentially taking place at Coquina Beach on Saturday, April 30.

Mayor Bill Shearon addressed these concerns during last week's City Commission meeting. He said the Bradenton Beach Police Department officers assigned to work the De Soto Grand Parade would be reassigned to work locally in case any incidents unfold at the beach. Shearon said he also spoke to Holmes Beach Mayor Bob Johnson and Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy about providing additional law enforcement assistance if needed.

"We're aware of it, we're ready for it and the other two cities are supporting us," Shearon said.

The mayor said the beach bash is primarily being organized via social media and no special event applications have been submitted to the city. He also said Speciale has the authority to close the beach if things get out of hand.

After the commission meeting, Speciale discussed the annual Floatopia event that took place in Miami Beach in April. The event produced a larger than anticipated crowd that left a major mess in its wake even though event organizers actively encouraged attendees to clean up after themselves.

Floatopia attendees bring a wide and wild variety of flotation devices to the beach during these celebratory affairs. The number of flotation devices left behind this year, combined with other trash and litter deposited on the beach, prompted Miami Beach Mayor Phillip Levine to issue his own Facebook declaration.

"The disruption to our beaches, residents and visitors caused by Floatopia will not be tolerated," he wrote.

His April 17 Facebook post was accompanied by an event photo with the words "Never Again" imposed atop an image of the Floatopia crowd.

Speciale said he was recently made of aware of something similar possibly taking place at Coquina Beach.

"We got some intel from the Sheriff's Office that one of the deputies had seen it on his daughter or son's Facebook page. That's all we really know about it," he said.

In reference to the Miami Beach event, Speciale said, "They literally trashed a beach."

Speciale likened the spontaneous nature of an event like this to the social phenomenon known as a flash mob, and he has been informed that it could begin around 2 p.m.

His primary concerns pertain to the large number of people that may show up and the likelihood that there may be drinking and underage drinking in areas where alcoholic beverages are prohibited.

"There's no alcohol allowed on the beach except at the concession stand," Speciale said.

"We're expecting everyone from everywhere. We'll not only have our kids, but kids from here to Miami," he said, noting that he and his officers will be ready if and when the beach bash transpires.

HOLMES BEACH – Gloria Dei officials submitted an application for a rezone from PSP (public/semi public) to R-2 (residential) to the city's building department on Friday, April 22.

The church, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008, is making the request in order "to save the church and preserve an iconic architectural resource," according to the application.

The application narrative states that church officials "created a task force to review the economics of church operations, including cost saving measures. Interim steps were taken and to reduce costs and the church sold off its parsonage."

The task force determined that the "only long term viable solution was to rezone the adjacent church property for residential uses and to utilize the funds from this sale to fund an investment approach that would yield returns sufficient to maintain the church operations."

The congregation voted to proceed with this recommendation and noted that if the rezone was unsuccessful, "the most likely result is that the Synod will be forced to liquidate the property and combine the congregations with a Lutheran church on the mainland."

The application involves two parcels of 1.06 acres north of and adjacent to the church site, which has been used for overflow parking. In addition to the rezone, church officials seek to amend the future land use designation in the comprehensive plan from PSP to MDR (medium density residential).

ANNA MARIA – City Commissioners have decided to let the building moratorium expire as scheduled on Wednesday, May 11, rather than repeal it ahead of time.

This decision was reached during the special commission meeting on Thursday, April 21.

In effect for two more weeks, the moratorium prevents the review and issuance of demolition permits and building permits for the construction of a residential structure with more than four bedrooms.

An exception has been granted to property owners who sign a restrictive covenant that prevents the property from being used a short-term rental – less than 30 continuous days at a time – for the first five years.

According to Mayor Dan Murphy and City Clerk Diane Percycoe, as of Thursday, April 21, 14 covenant agreements had been signed, but six of those had not yet been formally recorded by city staff.

Murphy said that while the moratorium has been in effect only two homes with more than four bedrooms were permitted without a restrictive covenant. The property at 423 Spring Avenue was permitted as the result of litigation, and a property belonging to Liza and Kit Walker was permitted because the permit was held too long by the building department.

Commissioner Chuck Webb voiced concerns about whether the six unrecorded covenants could be enforced if the moratorium was repealed or expired as planned. He said he did not want to extend the moratorium, but he wondered if it was possible to retain some of the provisions contained in the moratorium ordinance. His primary concern was ensuring that covenant homes are not used as short-term rentals for the first five years, and also that occupancy restrictions are adhered to.

"What I'm concerned about is something that falls through the cracks," Webb said.

Commissioners Nancy Yetter and Carol Carter shared some of his concerns. Commissioners Doug Copeland and Dale Woodland did not. City Attorney Becky Vose assured the commission that all signed covenants, whether recorded yet or not, would restrict the property owners to the agreed upon limitations.

In regard to a partial repeal of the existing moratorium ordinance, Vose said that would conflict with the introductory title language contained the proposed repeal ordinance.

"It doesn't say in phases or certain portions of them. So I'm uncomfortable recommending that you do that," she said.

After further discussion, the commission agreed that the moratorium would not be repealed and would be allowed to expire on May 11. This gives city staff two weeks to record the unrecorded covenant agreements. It also gives the commission two more weeks to address any lingering concerns about the moratorium or the covenant agreements.

Moratorium goals

The current building moratorium was enacted by ordinance in July 2015 and further amended in November after some of the commission's 11 moratorium-related goals had been met.

The moratorium provided the mayor, commission and city staff time to develop the vacation rental ordinance that was adopted in its final amended form in November.

The moratorium also provided the commission time to address many of the 11 concerns listed in the moratorium ordinance. During this time, the city established a minimum bedroom size, clarified the 40 percent living area ratio, passed an ordinance that include pools in impervious surface area calculations and passed an ordinance that prevents lot clearance or demolition until a building permit is acquired. A new procedure for determining legal, non-conforming property uses was adopted, and consistency between the zoning code and the comprehensive plan was addressed.

While working through the list, the commission also determined some of the listed items did not require or warrant further commission action.

There are 14 properties in the city of Anna Maria that have or will be issued building permits that bound by a restrictive covenant that prevents them from being used as vacation rentals for five years.

As of Thursday, April 21, eight of the restrictive covenants had been officially recorded by city staff. These properties are located at:

• 100 Park Ave.;
• 101 Linda Lane;
• 106 Tern Drive;
• 106 Willow Ave.;
• 107 Pelican Drive;
• 110 Gull Drive;
• 111 Park Ave.;
• 832 (B) South Bay Blvd.
As of last week, six more covenant restricted properties still needed to be officially recorded.

These properties are located at:

• 749 North Shore Drive;
• 881 North Shore Drive;
• 205 Elm Ave.;
• 791 Jacaranda Road;
• 518 Villa Rosa Way;
• 106 Beach Ave.

BRADENTON BEACH – Building moratorium advocate Pricilla VonAhnen has presented the city clerk's office with a proposed citizen-initiated moratorium ordinance.

The proposed ordinance VonAhnen presented to the clerk's office calls for a six-month moratorium on the acceptance, review and issuance of building permit applications for all residential units in the R-1 and R-2 residential zone districts. New duplexes would be limited during this period to two bedrooms per side.

If adopted by the commission, or later by city voters, the moratorium would apply to homes containing more than four rooms that can be used as bedrooms or sleeping areas.

The effort is aimed at halting the construction of large homes until new vacation rental regulations can be adopted.

Proposed ordinance 16-464 states that the first goal of the future land use element of the city's comprehensive plan requires the city to maintain and protect the residential and family character of the city, while maximizing the enjoyment of natural and man-made resources by residents and visitors alike.

The proposed ordinance also states that city electors recognize that the nature of the Bradenton Beach community is shifting away from owner-occupied residential units to units intended for other uses.

As provided for in the city charter, the ordinance initiative allows citizen's to present the commission with a proposed ordinance for considered adoption. If the commission fails to adopt the proposed ordinance, or significantly amends it in a manner deemed unacceptable by those who presented it, the citizen-initiated ordinance would be presented to city voters in November.

The documents turned in by VonAhnen also included a proposed ballot summary on the ordinance language and the ordinance's intent.

The proposed ballot summary concludes by saying the ordinance is "for the purpose of protecting and preserving our neighborhoods by identifying, discussing and regulating the impact of large residences and large vacation rentals in the neighborhoods of our community.

If voters were to approve such an ordinance, a temporary building moratorium would be enacted. If voters were to reject the proposed ordinance, the enactment of a building moratorium would again fall to the commission and require the support of at least three commission members.

The signatures of at least 50 registered Bradenton Beach voters were required in order to move the initiative process forward. According VohAhnen's husband, Frank Harrison, 69 petition signatures were acquired, and three times that could have been acquired if needed.

The proposed moratorium ordinance has not yet been formally presented to the city commission for discussion and possible adoption. Two previous attempts to enact a moratorium have failed due to a lack of support from the commission majority.

BRADENTON – Manatee County officials are putting together a $15-17 million TIGER grant application that, if approved, would help fund multiple county and city projects on the Island.

The grant would provide federal funding for North Coquina Boat Ramp improvements, county and city stormwater improvements and the development of the AMI Sun Trail bike and pedestrian path.

The grant application was discussed at the Tuesday, April 19, Manatee County Commission work session.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation website, the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program funds capital investments in transportation and infrastructure and grants are awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region.

During last week's workshop, Director of Property Management Charlie Bishop and Construction Services Manager Tom Yarger presented county commissioners with an overview of the grant application.

When introducing the Coquina Beach TIGER grant application, Bishop said, "We should probably change the name to the Anna Maria Island TIGER grant."

He then recognized Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon and Holmes Beach Mayor Bob Johnson, who were in attendance.

Bishop said a consultant would help county file the grant application on Tuesday, April 26, ahead of the April 29 application deadline.

Bishop said the county already had funds and permits in place for $1.2 million in improvements to the North Coquina Boat Ramp, and plans and funds in place for $1.8 million in stormwater improvements at the southern end of Coquina Beach. Preliminary plans had also been developed to repave and extend the Coquina Trail near the boat ramp and Leffis Key.

These already budgeted funds would serve as the county's 25 percent match if the TIGER grant is approved.

Bishop said the Island mayors then came forward with a plan to tie in city stormwater improvements and the AMI Sun Trail bike path.

"We've combined their needs with our needs," Bishop said of the expanded grant application.

Yarger said, "We started talking about intermodal transportation and how can we move cars away from the downtown districts, the shopping areas and the tourist attraction areas and move people there."

In addition to the trail improvements, Yarger said the grant would help fund a large parking lot at the north Coquina boat ramp that would allow employees who work in and near the Bridge Street district to park their cars at the ramp and catch a trolley, shuttle or bike to their workplace. Yarger said this could free up an additional 70 to 80 parking spaces in the Bridge Street area.

Yarger said the county boat ramp could also accommodate a water taxi service that would connect to the mainland and help reduce the number of cars coming to the Island. He also said the state has given preliminary approval for a new Gulf Drive crosswalk near the north boat ramp.

The grant application will include funding requests for trash receptacles, benches, a bike-share program and turtle-friendly lighting.

County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said, "This is not an easy grant to apply for. It's a very competitive grant, and we're not assured success, but we're doing a yeoman's job in putting together a package which should be irresistible."

County Commissioner and Bradenton Beach resident John Chappie said, "This project will mean a lot to the Island communities."

He also praised the cooperative efforts of the Island cities.

Mayor Johnson stepped forward and said, "I just can't express enough gratitude for the manner in which this has evolved."

Johnson said it was Shearon's idea to combine the cities' grant application efforts with the county efforts.

Holmes Beach Commissioner Jean Peelen has told Manatee County Commissioners that she will not be reapplying for reappointment to the Tourist Development Council (TDC) when her term is up in June.

In her April 24 e-mail, Peelen said, " … I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to serve the county in this way. I greatly admire the professionalism of Elliott (Elliott Falcione, executive manager of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors' Bureau) and his hard-working crew.

"The organization is run beautifully, and their success in diversifying tourism attractors is impressive: sports, the arts, regattas, eco-activities, and, of course, the beach.

"I think that at this point my time is better spent helping the Island cities to cope with the success of the TDC. I know that every success has some downsides, and I am committed to helping the Island cope with the stresses created by the state's emphasis on tourism.

"My job has begun with the creation of the Home Sweet Home organization, the purpose of which is to grow our permanent communities on the Island. We are working with existing organizations to accomplish this goal in an entirely positive manner.

"I thank Elliott for his offer to support the Home Sweet Home effort in any way he can.

"Thank you for appointing me. I wish the TDC success."

HOLMES BEACH – Tree house owners Richard Hazen and Lynn Tran were served with a notice of hearing on Wednesday, April 20, to appear before a special magistrate on Wednesday, May 4, regarding a fine that was first imposed by the Code Enforcement Board in 2013.

However on Friday, April 22, tree house attorney David Levin filed a motion for continuance to stay the hearing because another case involving the structure was scheduled for a court hearing in June.

The June 6 hearing involves an initiative petition filed by Tran and Hazen seeking to put an ordinance on the ballot for voters to decide if the tree house is legal.

According to the motion for continuance, "If respondents prevail at summary judgment and the ordinance is summarily adopted, the tree house would not be in violation, and there will be no basis to assess a penalty.

"As such, proceeding with a penalty hearing and the potential assessment daily fines while respondents attempt to address the same issue in a separate proceeding would be premature and unfairly prejudicial."

"We want to work with the city to get this resolved," Tran said. "We have to follow it all the way to the end. I'm going to keep a good attitude."

"We want to figure out what we can do to gain compliance," Code Enforcement Officer James Thomas said. "We want to do what's good for the city and the taxpayers."

Code enforcement case

Tran and Hazen built the tree house on the beach in front of Angelino's Sea Lodge at 103 29th St. in 2011. Shortly after that, it came to the attention of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the city.

In 2013, the city's Code Enforcement Board ruled that the tree house was constructed without a permit and encroached 20 feet into the erosion control line. The board ordered the couple to remove the violations or demolish the tree house.

When they did neither, the board imposed a fine of $100 per day. The couple appealed the order and the fine, and in March 2014, they were granted a stay from the fine.

In September 2014, a judge upheld the board's original order. The couple appealed, and the circuit court also upheld the board's order.

The special magistrate hearing is the next step in this process in which the special magistrate will determine whether to re-impose the code board fine.

In September 2013, the couple filed the initiative petition, but the city alleged that an election would be invalid under state law and requested a declaratory judgment.

In February, Levin filed a motion arguing that the prohibition in state law applies to a development order and that the tree house is an accessory structure.

Tran said she and Hazen spent $26,000 to $30,000 to build the tree house and likely $100,000 in legal fees. City treasurer Lori Hill said the city has spent $37,506 in legal fees on it.

CORTEZ – "Go big," Eric Grimes likes to say.

So why not commission a life-size replica of the biggest, baddest, meaner-than-a junkyard-dog hammerhead shark ever known to prowl southwest Florida's waters?

Ol' Hitler is slated to greet people at the luxury vacation motor coach resort and marina that Grimes is planning at the canalfront 17.8-acre property at 12444 Cortez Road W. His company, Florida Land Enterprises, recently purchased the land, formerly known as Hunter's Hill and HH Marina and tentatively renamed Capt. Frank's after Grimes' grandfather.

Grimes said customers and motorists going to the beach will stop to have their pictures taken with Ol' Hitler and write their names on a chalkboard hanging on the dock as if they had caught the beast themselves.

Cortez artist Rose Lipke, festival committee chairman for the annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival, is making the 24-foot fish from foam and fiberglass, kind of like a surfboard, in an old garage on the property. People waiting at the bus stop out front have been curious about what she's doing, she said.

Ol' Hitler is more than a local legend. Probably a girl – hammerhead females are generally larger than males – the shark has not only been reported off Anna Maria Island, but from Tampa Bay south to Florida's 10,000 Islands.

Recognized as real on Shark Week on cable TV's Discovery Channel, Ol' Hitler is dark – hammerheads are thought to be able to tan if they spend a lot of time cruising near the water's surface – and sports a swastika-shaped scar that gave birth to a moniker that may also be a reference to shark-shaped German submarines that patrolled local waters during World War II.

It's not the first time Ol' Hitler has been on TV. Before cable was invented, Tampa outdoorsman "Salty" Sol Fleischman of WTVT-TV Channel 13 spread the shark's lore on the airwaves. Longer than some fishing boats, Ol' Hitler has reputedly been shot, harpooned, stabbed and axed, but the legend swims on.

That legend is probably a combination of shark tales that date back longer than any one hammerhead could live – up to 50 years.

But there's no arguing the fact that southwest Florida waters, with their plentiful hammerhead fare, tarpon, are a favorite hangout for really big hammerheads.

In 2006, a 14.5-foot, 1,280-pound hammerhead was brought to A.P. Bell Fish Co. in Cortez to be put on ice. The International Game Fish Association awarded Capt. Bucky Dennis a sport fishing world record title for catching the fish, which he hooked about 300 yards off Boca Grande beach.

In true Ol' Hitler style, the shark towed Dennis' boat 12 miles from Boca Grande Pass, for five and a half hours.

Long live the legend.