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VOL 17 No. 28
April 26, 2017
Noise ordinance requires further review A date has not been set yet for a City Commission workshop discussion about the Bradenton Beach noise ordinance. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
joe hendricks | SUN
FISH Boatworks runs aground
The Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) is shutting down its Boatworks operation due to the resignation of manager Rick Stewart. According to FISH board member Jane von Hahmann, the stand-alone space along Cortez Road will eventually be converted into a museum that will house and display the small wooden boats Stewart and the Boatworks volunteers built or restored over the years. Von Hahmann expressed appreciation and gratitude for the work Stewart did since he began managing the volunteer operation approximately five years ago. Von Hahmann said the FISH board would consider reactivating the Boatworks program if another volunteer manager emerges.
BRADENTON BEACH – The City Commission agrees that a commission workshop is needed to review and discuss the noise ordinance adopted in 2014. City Attorney Ricinda Perry proposed the workshop before noise-related public comments were made at the commission’s Thursday, April 20, meeting. She said public input was welcomed, but the commission were not prepared to take action that day. “As we work through things, there may be little areas that could be tweaked,” she said of the ordinance. The commission members unanimously agreed to review the ordinance at a future date. After noting there are more open-air music venues operating now, Mayor Bill Shearon said he hoped the workshop provides “a clear understanding of the rules, so everybody can play in the sandbox nice.” see noise, page 37
Cortez rises again against Beruff BY CINDY LANE SUN STAFF WRITER | clane@amisun.com
CORTEZ – The last time Cortezians took on Carlos Beruff, they lined up a 90-year-old woman, several seniors in wheelchairs, grandchildren, babes in their mothers’ arms and a disabled commercial fisherman along Cortez Road waving signs reading, “We are the little fish.” For months, they filled hearing rooms with Cortez residents packed as tight as mullet in a cooler. They beat the developer’s 2007 bid to buy the Cortez Trailer Park for $10.8 million, demolish it, displace the residents and turn it into a marina. This time, Cortez-based FISH, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, has linked arms with Suncoast Waterkeeper and former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash to fight Beruff’s Aqua by the Bay project, formerly Long Bar Pointe. The 529-acre residential/commercial project will have 2,384 residential multi-family units and 510 sin-
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gle-family lots, including a five-story building and a 13-story building, according to a county staff report, which states that the buildings are not expected to create any adverse impacts on surrounding developments - Legends Bay to the south, Tidy Island to the north and the planned Lake Flores to the east. The Manatee County Commission is scheduled to decide on Thursday, May 4, the fate of two miles of pristine, state-protected mangrove fringe on Sarasota Bay, known to Cortezians as the kitchen, where juvenile fish, crabs and other marine life has long been protected by nature. The county Planning Commission recommended approval of the project 3-2 on April 13. Beruff and partner Larry Lieberman lost their bid in 2013 to build a marina and channel at Long Bar Pointe when a judge ruled against his constitutional challenge to Manatee County’s comprehensive plan. see cortez, page 33
Grassy Point
Preserve reopens to the public. 4
Anna Maria Island, Florida
SUBMITTED | ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
The area outlined in red is Aqua by the Bay’s proposed mitigation area off Long Bar Pointe in Sarasota Bay.
flavors OF NOLA FOUND IN CORTEZ VILLAGE.
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Jammin’ at the Blues, Brews and
BBQ. 16 The Island’s award-winning weekly newspaper
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