- Named Best Florida Newspaper In Its Class -
VOL 20 No. 36
June 17, 2020
Opposition to the city’s new parking regulations has led to talk of allowing businesses and churches to charge for parking and issuing parking permits to residents. BY KRISTIN SWAIN SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
HOLMES BEACH – It’s been just over one week since city leaders enacted a plan to limit parking on residential streets on the west side of the city, angering some residents, business owners and visitors. Now city leaders are considering making changes to the city’s land development code to help ease some of the community’s parking concerns. The week started with an online petition aimed at convincing city leaders to reverse a decision to block off street parking in residential neighborhoods west of the city’s main corridors of Gulf, Marina and Palm drives, gaining more than 10,000 signatures from locals and visitors. It ended with a letter from Florida Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Manatee) and Rep. Will Robinson (R-Manatee) asking Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth to consider retracting the parking regulations. Titsworth responded that city leaders are considering changing the land development code to allow businesses and churches to charge for
Parking space reduction spurs protest, dialogue KRISTIN SWAIN | SUN
Protesters gathered outside Holmes Beach City Hall on June 9 prior to the city commission meeting to support the movement to change the city’s new parking regulations that limit street parking in residential neighborhoods.
Anna Maria City Pier opens Friday For now, the pier will be open only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
ANNA MARIA – The new Anna Maria City Pier will reopen at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 19, and Mayor Dan Murphy and city commissioners Carol Carter and Amy Tripp will be among those on hand to greet the first pier visitors. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 concerns, Friday’s pier opening will be a soft opening with no ribbon cutting ceremony and no invited special guests. A more celebratory grand opening ceremony will take place at a future date.
INSIDE NEWS 4 OUTDOORS
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REAL ESTATE
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SPORTS
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CROSSWORD
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For starters, the new City Pier will be open on a limited basis on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The pier will remain closed Monday through Thursday and signs will be posted near the pier regarding the limited visitation hours. “It’s a nice-looking pier and you’re going to be proud of it when you go out there,” Murphy said during the Thursday, June 11 city commission meeting. “We can expand the hours. This is just temporary,” he said of the initial pier visitation restrictions. Murphy said the limited visitation hours take into account three factors: the COVID-19 pandemic, the final SEE PIER, PAGE 23
SEE PARKING, PAGE 26
Watch out for rental fraud Rental owners beware – someone else may be collecting money for fraudulently renting your property. BY KRISTIN SWAIN SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
HOLMES BEACH – Investigations are ongoing in at least three cases of rental fraud that have occurred in the last month. The vacation rentals were rented out without the owner’s or property management company’s knowledge or consent and the funds for the rentals were transferred to a party that doesn’t represent the owner. Visitors arrived only to find out that they really didn’t have a booking at the property they thought they’d reserved. Now Holmes Beach police officers are warning rental owners to be on the lookout for any fraudulent advertisements for
their properties, and are warning visitors to be careful how they book their next vacation. The first instance was reported to HBPD on May 21, when officers responded to 309-A 58th St., where renters were occupying a property that had not been rented through the owner, Jerry McBrayer, or Island Vacation Properties, the company that manages the vacation rental. McBrayer said that he went to the property to do some work while the property was unoccupied during the COVID-19 shutdown and was surprised to find people staying there. After calling Island Vacation Properties to confirm that the property was supposed to be unoccupied, the police were called and, according to the police report, the renters were packing to leave when officers arrived on the scene. SEE RENTALS, PAGE 23
BRAD ‘ LISK’S
CORONAVIRUS heavily impacts
life celebrated in true Island style. 4
local, state tourism. 11 SPIKE IN COVID-19 cases
following reopenings. 3
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Anna Maria Island, Florida
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