SARASOTA COUNTY GOVERNMENT Community Services INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

To : Sarasota County Commission

Through : James L. Ley, County Administrator

From : Larry Arnold, Executive Director, Community Services

Subject : BCC Assignment No. 10033: Public Hearing to Consider Proposed Revisions to Article II, Chapter 90, Sarasota County Code of Ordinances

Date : June 23, 2010

Recommended Motion(s) or Action(s) : To consider the proposed revisions to Article II, Chapter 90, Sarasota County Code of Ordinances.

Background: On March 23, 2010, the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners (BCC) requested that staff conduct a discussion to consider proposed revisions to Article II, Chapter 90 (Use of Parks, Beaches, and Public Lands). In particular, the BCC had received a letter (attached) from the presidents of the Casey Key, Manasota Key, and North Manasota Key Associations (Associations) requesting:

1. Section 90-32 (Definitions) of the Code be altered to differentiate “public” from “private” beaches utilizing the “mean high tide line to establish a division line between each; 2. Section 90-33 (Prohibited Activities and Uses) of the Code be altered to apply only to the “public” sections of the beaches; 3. That a new section be added to the Code to provide for prohibited activities and uses for “private” beaches.

On May 11, 2010, the Board of County Commissioners discussed the proposed revisions to Chapter 90 and authorized staff to advertise a public hearing to consider said revisions. It was further decided that a second public hearing would be held to consider prohibitions for Siesta’s Beaches. A date for this hearing was not established.

Differentiating “Public” and “Private Beaches Differentiating “public” versus “private” beaches at a mean high tide line requires a survey study conducted over an 18.6 year Metonic Cycle. Use of a surveyed line is impractical for purposes of enforcing activities prohibited by Chapter 90. In order to provide separate rules for “private” Beaches and the “public” wet sandy Beach, it was decided by the Board that:

• Prohibitions contained within the current Section 90-33 (Prohibited conditions, activities, or uses) would be amended to apply only to the Public Beach Park and Beaches waterward thereof and all other Siesta Beaches [see new Section 90-33(a)]; • A second Prohibitions Section would be created for Casey and Manasota Key Beaches located south of Palmer Point Park and outside the Public Beach Park and Beaches waterward thereof [see new Section 90-33(b)]. • If a third Prohibition Section was desired for any modified prohibitions applying to Siesta’s Beaches, it could later be added to Section 90-33 following a second public hearing.

Report : At the discussion held on May 11, 2010, the Board requested some revisions to the draft Ordinance amending Chapter 90, including:

• The addition of language to 90-33(a) that would insure that the existing prohibitions continued to apply to the Beaches of Siesta Key until a subsequent new public hearing could consider possible changes; • Modifications proposed by the Office of the County Attorney to Section 90-33(b).

Both of these changes have been incorporated in the attached draft.

Proposed Air Sport Prohibitions/Restrictions At the discussion held on May 11, 2010, the Board requested that staff clarify proposed air sport prohibitions/restrictions. In particular there was confusion about hand held and whether they were prohibited.

Staff conducted further discussions with the businesses and jointly crafted the following revisions:

• A new definition of Air Sports is proposed [Section 90-32(1)]. This includes kiteboarding, kitesurfing, landboarding, , parasailing, and . It does not include flying hand held kites via its exclusion from the definition; • Parachuting, paragliding, and landboarding Air Sports are prohibited for the dangers that they pose to public safety, risk to County liability, and adverse impacts that often occur to nesting shorebirds [Section 90-33(a)(18)]; • Persons engaging in kiteboarding shall launch and land the associated kites no closer than 200 feet from a swim area designated by buoys and shall stay out of said swim areas. Pedestrians and swimmers shall have the right-of-way when kiteboarding [Section 90-33(a)(19)(i)]; • Persons engaging in parasailing shall be no closer than 500 feet from the water’s edge of a Beach located waterward of a Public Beach Park [Section 90-33(a)(19)(ii)]; • , Sailboarding, and Airsports are excluded from the definitions of Vehicle and Watercraft, thereby clarifying that they are not prohibited pursuant to current Section 90- 33(a)(7) language (i.e., a prohibition on parking and driving on the beach).

Permits are proposed in the draft ordinance language for some prohibited Air Sports activites. The purpose of this is to allow for some professional Air Sports events to continue to occur under strict regulations (e.g., the Golden Knights parachuting demonstration for Army recruiting at Siesta Beach). The County attorney is recommending that language be included governing such permit criteria. These criteria would also apply to other permits currently offered in the Code for existing prohibitions to driving or parking a watercraft [Section 90-33(a)(7), overnight camping [Section 90-33(a)(10), and collection of natural objects [Section 90-33(a)(16)(iv)]. Proposed permit evaluation language is contained within Section 90-33(c) of the attached draft Ordinance.

Protected Wildlife Considerations Uses and activities prohibited by the existing Section 90-33 have an ancillary benefit of protecting federally and state listed wildlife species, specifically marine turtles and beach nesting birds. If the proposed ordinance is approved and certain activities are now allowable on private beach areas, all

2 activities are still required to be consistent with federal and state wildlife standards, and any County standards such as the Sarasota County Marine Turtle Protection Ordinance. In order to help clarify, the Commission may consider adding language to the Ordinance that acknowledges the existing federal, state, and local wildlife protection standards and their continued applicability.

Attachments

Exhibit 1: Letter to Sarasota Board of County Commissioners from Manasota, North Manasota, and Casey Key Associations Exhibit 2: Draft Amendments to Ch 90, SCCO

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