Council Gives Boat Canopies a Thumbs Up

Had the ordinary citizen happen to pick up a copy of the Marco Island City Council agenda for the February 7 meeting, they would anticipate a 90-minute meeting and adjournment close to 7 PM. The agenda was relatively light, providing hope it would be an early evening, to no avail.

The meeting started on a relatively positive note as Council Chair Erik Brechnitz presented a proclamation to Marco Island Police Officer Josh Ferris, honoring his 10-year service anniversary. Both Brechnitz and City Manager Mike McNees praised Officer Ferris for his service to the community.

Council moved on to hear from Assistant City Manager Casey Lucius, who reported on a number of bills that are currently winding their way through the legislature in Tallahassee. Some of the bills seek to limit local controls, add undue financial burdens on local municipalities and counties, as well as impact governments sovereign immunity protection, by removing caps on damages. 

The Florida League of Cities opposes the Sovereign Immunity bills, the Vacation Rental bills, and the Business Damages/Business Protection bills. However, the Florida League of Cities supports the Local Ordinance bills because recent amendments have added exceptions, such as ordinances to adopt a budget or to adopt a comprehensive plan.

City Manager McNees will communicate the city’s opposition to several of these legislative initiatives through the proper channels.

An agenda item, which caused as much confusion before City Council as it did when it was before the Planning Board, involved allowing the use of a canopy device to protect marine craft from the sun’s harmful UV damage. This issue brought out approximately three dozen residents to the meeting.

The Planning Board had given a thumbs up to the canopy concept, but many people were confused when city staff brought back a recommendation to reject it and maintain the status quo. Each citizen who rose and came to the podium chipped away at the staff’s objection.

Council agreed to some verbiage and definition changes sought by staff but agreed with the residents regarding their request. Community Development Director Daniel Smith continued attempts to make his point, until Councilor Rich Blonna, obviously agitated at Smith’s insistence on rejecting the canopy notion, finally said, “Enough. Let it go.” 

Councilor Greg Folley objected to creating an unnecessary bureaucracy to manage the issue. Folley rejected throwing the request for a canopy into the “bureaucratic black hole” of a conditional use permit process, further financially punishing a person seeking a permit. Council agreed with the citizens and directed staff to create the parameters to allow the canopy option to be available to residents.

Vice Chair Jared Grifoni closed out the meeting as he presented his “White Paper” regarding sidewalks and a request for a referendum. A prolonged discussion drew no firm conclusion on the matter, which will be discussed further.