BELLEAIR – A string of burglaries over the holidays involving unlocked vehicles and open garages prompted Belleair Police Chief Tom Edwards to urge residents to lock up.
Burglars took about $30 from three open cars in one afternoon within sight of police headquarters on Osceola Road Edwards said.
“It was a brazen act,” he told the Belleair Town Commission Tuesday night. “But one that could easily have been avoided. People just need to remember to lock their cars and not leave valuables exposed.”
Underscoring that the problem is not confined to just Belleair, Edwards pointed to a recent night in which a series of 29 vehicle burglaries were reported in neighboring Clearwater.
“This is happening everywhere,” the chief warned.
Edwards also introduced the newest addition to Belleair’s police force, Officer Dan Bates.
Bates is a 26-year veteran of the St. Petersburg Police Department where he served as a detective and later as a department spokesperson.
Bates also taught at the police academy and served over the past two years as a code enforcement officer in Clearwater.
“Officer Bates is a certified crime prevention officer, which will serve our community well,” Edwards said.
Bates fills a position being vacated by Officer Allison Bennett who has requested part-time duty while she attends pre-med classes at USF. Bennett plans to attend dental school. As recently as November Bennett received praise from the department for averting a potential tragedy by rousing a Belleair family and assisting in extinguishing a porch fire that had been ignited by an unattended Halloween display.
The commission continued its discussion of “goals” for 2010. This is part of the process by which the commission sets performance expectations for Town Manager Micah Maxwell.
Maxwell who consistently receives high marks from the board was tasked with among other items keeping the Belleview Biltmore project on track by “handling all issues regarding the Belleview Biltmore in a timely and appropriate manner.”
Biltmore project still on hold
The project to begin renovations to the historic Belleview Biltmore Resort and Spa on hold since the hotel’s closing May 21 is currently stalled over a dispute with residents of Sand Key who are suing Clearwater for alleged violations of the city code in granting a series of variances to the Biltmore and Cabana Club owners, Latitude Management Real Estate Investors.
LMREI has maintained that the Cabana Club is a critical part of the whole and that until they receive a ruling from the three-judge appeals panel the project cannot proceed. It is unclear what would happen to the entire project should the Cabana Club variances be overturned. Owners of the Belleview Biltmore had no comment Tuesday.
“It’s not clear to us how a 38-room annex can be such a vital economic component of the much larger development in Belleair,” said one of the plaintiffs, attorney Cynthia Remley of Sand Key. The lawsuit contends that the variances granted for the Cabana Club exceed the city’s land to structure ratio by 260 percent and would reduce residential values in nearby neighborhoods by $8.35 million, Remley said.
While the project languishes, LMREI collects a $250 per day fine for code violations imposed by Belleair officials related to the deteriorated condition of the Biltmore’s roof.
