THE BEACH CHAIR ORDINANCE PASSED DESPITE OUR PETITION! �

Although Commissioner Marianne Meischeid took the initiative to remove the worst parts of the Beach Chair Ordinance, there is still plenty of bad stuff in there.

Vice Mayor Jeff Rose went along with most of her changes- which clearly demonstrates that someone (likely George) has acted as a middleman to negotiate a behind the scenes compromise. 

The revised version (1st Reading of the Beach Furniture Ordinance) passed with Marianne Meischeid, Jeff Rose, and Shlomo voting "Yes" and Commissioner Nelly Velasquez & Commissioner Fred Landsman voting "NO" because there is still too much bad stuff in this revised version. 

Thankfully, Marriane made 3 main changes to Jeff Rose's terrible version (of course, the changes she made are everything the Surf Club wanted �) 

1) NO west side property rights (this is good news- HOWEVER it's a short-lived victory because Jeff Rose is forcing his vision of a commercial operation behind the community center that will accomodate those west side hotel guests!) 

2) Instead of having "staging areas" (aka "daytime storage") every 100 feet there will now be ONE 8x8 staging area for properties less than 200 feet & ONE 12x12 staging area for properties larger than 200 feet. 

However, there is no maximum capacity for what they fit into that "staging area" - only that the chair stacks not exceed 4 1/2 feet high!) (this is higher than the dune foliage in most locations so your new ocean view will be stacks of beach chairs and piles of umbrellas) 

3) Revised chair operator hours are 8am-sunset (not sunrise to sunset as Jeff Rose wanted) 

**the main problem with this is that code enforcement goes home at 5pm so there won't be anyone to make sure that they have complied and cleaned up. Another issue is that this timing may interfere with sea turtle survival as hatching usually takes place in the cooler dusk hours) 

The BAD STUFF that is still in the ordinance is:

1) PRESETTING is still dramatically increased at the rate of 20 chairs per 100 feet. This means that the Grand Beach can preset 40 chairs and larger properties like the Surf Club can pre-set over 100! This means that by the time YOU get to the beach there won't be much room or choice of where to sit.

The current ordinance only allowed for 5 pre-set chairs per property and 10 more stacked on the side in a staging area ready to be used (so it didn't need a height restriction because it was only 10 chairs) 

2) There are NO LIMITS on total chair numbers! Each property can now cram an UNLIMITED number of chairs into their "box" (keep in mind that the "box" is the bulk of the beach. Residents have 20 feet by the water (much of which is on an incline and full of smelly seaweed) and 10 feet of space between property lines. 

This change will dramatically increase the number of commercial chairs on Surfside's beaches. Surfside currently allows approx 1500 chairs. Changing from quantity restrictions per property to "unlimited" will dramatically increase those numbers.

3) The new ordinance REMOVES the restriction that these commercial chairs can only be provided to "verified hotel guests or condominium residents or guests" - this means that it's effectively now "CHAIRS FOR SALE" in Surfside! 

4) They sneakily REMOVED the entire "no picnicking" provision which essentially clears the way for FOOD SERVICE ON THE BEACH!! 

This is a terrible idea and would be both a disgusting mess and an environmental disaster. (We all know that the daily garbage will wind up in the ocean and attract all sorts of animals.) This will also turn our Community Concession stand into a very profitable "take-out/delivery" joint since the concessionaire pays a pittance in rent (approx $500 per month) and aims to deliver up and down our shoreline. 

***NOTE: After the meeting Marriane seemed confused by this food issue and claimed that was not her intent, so we will know for sure when the lawyers release the revised draft for 2nd Reading at the Sept 13th meeting. 

5) Electric, battery, or hydraulic furniture carts that can travel at 3mph (not ride-on) are now allowed on the hardpack to move beach furniture back and forth from the hotel/condo to the beach. (The prior ordinance prohibited all motorized transport as posing a danger to pedestrians & pets)

Thankfully Marriane did not cave in to Jeff Rose's continued badgering to extend Town issued chair operator permits from 1 to 3 years- a blatant attempt to lock in all of his terrible changes long after residents vote him out of office. 

This contract extension item is not something that Jeff will give up easily and I would expect him to cram it back into the ordinance at 2nd Reading at the Sept 13th meeting.

So what does all this mean to you???

It means that you need to SPREAD the word (we have flyers and stickers!), send emails voicing your concerns, and mark your calendars NOW to attend the next Commission meeting on Tuesday Set 13th at 7pm.

Please remember that any ordinance can change DRASTICALLY between 1st and 2nd reading and that the Sept meeting may be full of surprises (we should expect that Rose & Shlomo will attempt to bully a 3rd vote for their worst ideas).

If we don't rally to protect Surfside's beaches we will be stuck with these terrible changes until we can boot this self-serving crew OUT of office.

Thanks again for your enthusiasm and efforts - the only way we can Save Surfside is by working TOGETHER �❤

The upcoming Friday (8/12 & 9/2) Summer Fridays Beach Party” are great opportunities to spread the word and rally attendance for the 9/13 commission meeting.