Madeira Beach Commission tweaks limits on pets
Residents will be allowed two more cats per household
By WAYNE AYERS
| Article published on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008 |
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MADEIRA BEACH – The Board of Commissioners backed off a workshop decision to remove limits on the number of dogs and cats residents can own during an Aug. 26 meeting.
Instead, they decided to up the number of cats permitted from four to six while leaving the limit on dogs at four per household. A second reading of the ordinance will need to pass before the new limits take effect.
The shift in sentiment was apparently due to an outpouring of citizen opposition to the proposed removal of restrictions. Commissioner Sarah Nichols, who had initiated the ordinance permitting an unlimited number of pets, said she heard mostly from residents with complaints about barking dogs.
Mayor Pat Shontz said she shared those concerns.
Shontz added that she had never heard of anyone objecting to the existing ordinance that limits the number of dogs and cats allowed to four of each per household.
Nichols said people wanting to provide temporary foster homes for cats have complained to her about the restrictions.
Those concerned about barking dogs should know that other local ordinances cover animals making excessive noise and running at large, she said. Of the neighboring beach communities, only Indian Rocks Beach takes a more restrictive stance on the number of pets allowed, Nichols asserted.
Other commission members said that they had heard from residents who want to keep the animal limits intact.
“I have been called by people who don’t like the word ‘unlimited,’” said Commissioner Terry Lister, who added he had had no positive responses to the proposed change.
Commissioner Steve Kochick said the absence of a law limiting pets would place the burden on residents to report their neighbors to authorities.
Kochick said residents wanting “that many more animals would maybe find a farm community more suitable.”
Lister wanted to know how someone would get six or eight cats off the island in an emergency.
In a nod to Nichols’ concerns for felines needing foster care, the commission decided in a close vote to raise the limit on cats from four to six, but keep the limitation on dogs at four. Commissioners Nancy Oakley, Lister, and Nichols voted for the compromise; Kochick and Shontz were opposed.
Employee insurance plan approved
The commission approved a new group health and dental insurance plan for city employees that City Manager W.D. Higginbotham said would save the city about 12 percent per year over the current program. The new plan will take effect Oct. 1.
Outdoor sales OK for Super Bowl week
An ordinance that allows outdoor sales and displays by city businesses one week before and one week after the Super Bowl Feb. 1 when the event takes place in Tampa was unanimously approved.
City Attorney Michael Connolly said the Super Bowl would now be added to the list of events and festivals that the city exempts from the outdoor display rule.
The action was objected to by resident Dick Lewis, who said the city has made so many exemptions to the law banning sales of merchandise outdoors as to make the ordinance almost meaningless.
The commission unanimously passed the Super Bowl exemption, and amended the ordinance to add the World Series if the Tampa Bay Rays are participants.
Kochick said he hoped John’s Pass businesses would not “load up the area with merchandise so people can’t get up and down the sidewalks.”
Resident calls for recreation planning
Resident Robert Shaw said the city needs to evaluate the recreation needs and preferences of its citizens, and establish a comprehensive plan for the use of public properties.
This approach would assure that the properties were put to use in a way that would afford the greatest benefit to the residents and taxpayers of the city, Shaw told the commission.
Shaw cited the city marina and the athletic complex as examples of properties supported by tax dollars where residents bear the burden of making up losses when they occur.
The committee Shaw suggests would survey the residents’ recreational preferences and determine if the city is currently meeting their needs. A comprehensive plan for the use of public properties would then be produced.
Shaw compared the city’s public assets to pieces of a puzzle and said the city needs “to put the puzzle together” in order to best serve the citizens.
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Article published on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008
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