Last night's marathon commission meeting ended at 1:05am as our "Residents First" Commissioners made significant progress on a number of critical issues. Video links to specific timestamps of interest are in the summary below:
Continued Grace for Code Violations
After staff presentations highlighting continued progress with permitting, the meeting opened with Mayor Petrila and City Manager Robustelli apologizing to residents for overzealous Code Enforcement sending code violation letters to residents who still have storm debris or other code-related issues with their properties. City Manager Robustelli reassured residents to *not* worry about these letters. They were a mistake and inappropriate given the circumstances. Per the City Manager, there will be no fines levied for these issues until April 1st, and Code Enforcement will work to help, not penalize, residents through this recovery process.
Residents are encouraged to reach out to Code Enforcement or your Commissioner with any questions related to cleaning up your property. With these circumstance in mind, Protect St. Pete Beach has volunteers willing to help neighbors in need deal with these issues. If you know neighbors who do not have the ability and resources to address a potential code violation -- such as sorting remaining debris to prepare it for gradual trash pickup by Waste Connections -- feel free to have them email us ([email protected]) and we will see how we can help.
Kimley-Horn Contract Renewal
Mayor Petrila's discussion led to consensus that while renewing the engineering consulting contract with Kimley-Horn & Associates for one year, the city staff is directed to prepare to end this relationship due to their history of obvious and unavoidable conflicts of interest. The conversation regarding this important issue is worth watching, especially as it relates to their testimony regarding development proposals and our sewer system's current state of disrepair as revealed on 12/10/24.
Beach Ordinance: Code Enforcement Citations (2025-04)
Residents have noted a decline in behavior on our beach, and the PCSO has been unable to police our beaches and enforce our ordinances. Issues observed include smoking, dogs, open containers, loud music, and other behavior that violates ordinances and generally detracts from the character of our family-friendly beach community. This lack of enforcement relates to our inability to issue simple administrative citations ("tickets") as opposed to a more complicated "notice of violation" requiring a hearing. As we consolidate our beach regulations, this ordinance allows both the Sheriff and Code Enforcement to issue immediate ticketswith $100 first time / $200 repeat fines, and not requiring a hearing if they are accepted & paid. These citations are easier to enforce with visitors, and help us set higher expectations for ordinance compliance. This proposal passed its first reading unanimously.
Beach Ordinance: General Consolidation (2025-02)
The general Beach Ordinance update has been in progress for several years, and the latest revision was finally brought to the Commission last night for its first reading. The ordinance generated significant controversy, and a number of hotels and resorts sent representatives to object to proposed setbacks for cabana service areas and requirements to de-clutter the beach by removing beach chairs at night (as is currently required for sea turtle protection, but not being enforced). The resorts' objections, however, appeared to be addressed by several common-sense solutions proposed by commissioners:
- As is done at the public beaches, District 2 Commissioner Lisa Robinson noted that beach chairs should only be deployed as needed / when they are rented. It makes zero sense for large resorts like TradeWinds to move 1,300 chairs on and off the beach every day when only a fraction are rented.
- District 4 Commissioner Joe Moholland took time to meet with five hotel operators, and sensibly proposed that the city work with each resort to identify the ideal storage location for their chairs, as opposed to generic language that may not be workable for all.
- Commissioners eliminated an electric vehicle mandate for permitted beach vehicles, with concerns about cost, availability, and potential danger of electric vehicle batteries in the harsh marine environment.
After a long discussion, Commissioner Marriott stated that she was unclear as to the purpose of the proposed changes. In response, Mayor Petrila gave an excellent summary of reasons for de-cluttering the beach, as well as examples of larger Florida beach communities that do so successfully.
Prior to discussing setbacks, the commission paused deliberations for public comment, which was dominated by hotels. The hotels were against the ordinance, although their objections regarding moving chairs and setbacks were considered by commissioners in their subsequent deliberations.
Resident comment was generally favorable, and Beach Stewardship Committee member John Kurzman (speaking as an individual) offered an appropriate note of caution to ensure that the final language does not impact legally establishing our documented tradition of Customary Use on all of our beaches.
Following public comment, the commission resumed deliberations to discuss setbacks for cabana service areas and commercial operations. Mayor Petrila, Commissioner Robinson, and Commissioner Moholland reached consensus on 75 foot setbacks (increased from 50 ft) from the water to the cabana service area, and reduced the proposed side setbacks from 30 feet to 15 feet.
Commissioners Marriott and Rzewnicki objected to changing setbacks. However, based upon pre-storm aerial photography, the Commission could not identify any hotels that were actually using space outside of a 75 ft front setback -- so moving from 50 to 75 ft appears to be simply formalizing what was being practiced last summer.
Perhaps the most puzzling moments came about 4 hours and 38 minutes into the meeting, when Commissioner Rzewicki began expressing unrelated objections, such as asking for a Business Impact Statement, and then objecting to hotels "pulling all the chairs ... all the way through the dunes" when the commission had already reached consensus on the value of site-specific plans for chair storage.
Mayor Petrila then explained that the Business Impact Statement is required for the Second Reading, not the First Reading, and that the aerial sketches provided were precisely what was requested to fine-tune the setbacks and understand the proposed changes in light of how the beach was being used.
Ultimately, this ordinance with numerous refinements after tonight's discussion passed by a vote of 3-2 (Petrila, Robinson, and Moholland in favor, with Marriott and Rzewnicki opposing). We are thankful for the diligence of our Residents First commissioners and hope that the combination of these two ordinances will be able to help all of us work together (residents, law enforcement, and hotels) to elevate our beaches as we clean up and rebuild.
Noise Ordinance
The final major business item is an addition to our noise ordinance. Our new City Attorneys did an excellent job presenting the enforcement challenges with the current ordinance, and a new, common-sense "Plainly Audible" approach that is an objective, non-content based standard of noise that is "plainly audible" at a specified distance (or greater). This standard has been upheld as constitutional by the Florida Supreme Court, and is used in other cities like Tampa and Cocoa Beach. The first reading of this ordinance was passed 3-2 after an active discussion, again with Petrila, Robinson, and Moholland in favor, Marriott and Rzewnicki opposed.
Decoupling Permits
Commissioner Robinson is leading discussion to get city staff to define how exactly we can prepare ourselves for the next hurricane season. As we now know, open building permits during hurricane season are a tremendous risk due to FEMA's 50% rule. Therefore, she is asking staff to determine a process by which residents who are still completing work from last year's storms can protect themselves from the risk of a second tragedy should another storm hit this year while permits are still open despite our best efforts to close them out before June.
Forensic Audit
Commissioner Robinson requested that the City Attorney determine how we can ensure an accurate accounting of all money spent during the management of prior city managers, ideally without further burdening residents/taxpayers. The City Attorney reported that he was in contact with various parties and exploring options to accomplish that goal.
City Manager Performance Evaluation
We join the city commission in thanking our new City Manager for her tremendous contributions and helping our town recover to a much greater extent than neighboring communities after last year's storms.
City Clerk Resignation
It is with regret that we report that our City Clerk Amber LaRowe has announced her resignation. City Clerk LaRowe was a beacon of competence and professionalism during significant upheavals at our city, and her integrity is well-documented through the multiple Public Records Requests associated with key events. She will be staying through March to assist with the transition. We join the Commission in thanking her for her service to St. Pete Beach, and wish her the absolute best in her future endeavors.
Letters to the President
In an odd conclusion, Commissioner Rzewnicki asked the City Attorney about the appropriateness of Mayor Petrila writing a letter seeking assistance in hurricane recovery from the President and his new leadership at FEMA. The CIty Attorney then read the duties of the mayor to Commissioner Rzewnicki from the City Charter, assuring her that the mayor "is the city's official designated to represent the city in all agreements with other governmental entities."
We thank Mayor Petrila for his diligence in seeking assistance for our town from all sources, especially considering that just a few weeks ago Mayor Petrila met with the prior administration for the same purpose.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mayor Petrila invited all Commissioners to sign this letter before it is officially transmitted to the President:
Unfortunately, only Commissioners Robinson and Moholland chose to join Mayor Petrila in this effort to support our community.
Thank you for your patience and diligence as we all walk the long road to recovery. We remain optimistic that despite current challenges, St. Pete Beach will ultimately emerge united as we work to repair and rebuild.