ST. PETE BEACH — Will certain vehicles be permitted to drive along a transportation corridor on the island’s sandy beach?
At the suggestion of staff, city commissioners will consider a new and all-encompassing beach ordinance that codifies far-ranging rules and incorporates new regulations for using St. Pete Beach’s most popular and valuable asset.
But don’t expect a Daytona Beach-style traffic jam any time soon. A draft ordinance submitted to the city’s Beach Stewardship Committee states that nobody will be able to drive on the beach without a permit, and those permits will be restricted to public works and public safety vehicles, those involved in permitted commercial activities or special events, and those involved in mechanical beach cleaning.
“We are talking about creating some kind of road within the beach that is going be designated, ‘This is where vehicles need to be on,’” City Manager Alex Rey told commissioners at a May 10 meeting. “The hotel people, surprisingly enough, were in all favor of creating something closer to the dunes that will be a transportation corridor, with speed limits, vehicle sizes and everything else.”
At the meeting, Rey said staff has been working “for some time” on creating a beach ordinance.
“We are doing two things. One is taking every regulation that pertains to the beach and putting it into one single ordinance,” he said. “We are also trying to address some of the things that we see were really omitted from any of the current regulations, in terms of how we are going to be dealing with them.”
Rey said the city is at the very beginning of the process of creating an ordinance. City staff first talked to a city hotelier group to gather their perspective. The city will then go to the Beach Stewardship Committee for additional input.
“Once we have those two inputs, there is going to be a workshop with the commission in which we’ll give you feedback on what those two groups are saying,” he said.
The ordinance will address fishing on the beach and concession businesses that are proliferating on the beach.
“It’s going to make it easier to follow existing regulations, because everything that is permitted through the code of ordinances is going to be consolidated into a beach ordinance,” Rey said. “We are a beach community, it’s our biggest resource. We just need to give it really some good thought as to what we want the beaches to be.”
The city manager told commissioners he foresees a first reading of the ordinance in July and perhaps a final reading in August. “If it takes more than three months, then it takes more than three months,” he said. “We want to do it right.”
According to information provided as background to the Beach Stewardship Committee, the ordinance will codify that sleeping on the beaches will be prohibited; fishing from the sand beach or within any marked swim zone will not be allowed; and the riding of micromobility devices will also be prohibited on the beach, on sidewalks, or where notice is posted.
Beach picnics would be prohibited except on Pass-a-Grille and Upham Beach. Dogs would only be permitted in the designated dog beach area.
In addition, distributing handbills or other advertising will not be allowed.
After a series of hearings that elicit public comment, any draft of the ordinance can be tweaked with additions and eliminations before final adoption.