Belleair Shore votes to unlock beach gates, ease umbrella restrictions
- The moves could help ease longstanding disputes with neighboring Belleair Beach over beach access.
BELLEAIR SHORE — To a burst of applause from their sometimes feuding neighbors, town commissioners voted Oct. 20 to remove locks from three beach-access gates and advanced an ordinance relaxing restrictions on umbrellas and other shade structures.
The gates — at 600, 1200 and 1880 Gulf Boulevard — will remain closed to discourage unauthorized parking but will no longer be locked, allowing beach-goers to slide them open at any time.
Vice Mayor Daniel Storie proposed the change after complaints from Belleair Beach residents and officials, several of whom were seated in the room where commissioners were meeting. Storie said Pinellas County sheriff's deputies sometimes failed to reopen the gates on schedule or secured them in ways that prevented pedestrians from getting through.
Storie appeared at a Belleair Beach City Council meeting earlier this month, where he offered an olive branch to the neighboring community and expressed a willingness to address the longstanding beach-access disputes.
“It's created a lot of animosity,” said Debra Maul, a Belleair Beach resident who has spoken out at council meetings about the locked gates.
Commissioners also approved the first reading of an ordinance establishing an annual permit program for umbrellas and other "sunshade structures." The proposal would allow eligible residents of both municipalities to obtain permits, with a limit of two per property address.
Commissioners agreed to revise the ordinance before final approval to clarify eligibility, allow larger open-sided canopies and specify where umbrellas and shade structures could be placed in relation to the erosion control line, or ECL. The state-established legal boundary, which Belleair Shore is trying to eliminate, separates public and private beach areas.
Former Belleair Beach Mayor Joseph Manzo, an attorney who had threatened to sue the town over its restrictions on umbrellas and other shade structures, suggested the revised ordinance could avert litigation.
“Pass it next time and there's no suit,” he told commissioners, referring to an expected second and final reading next month.
Storie also asked Town Attorney Daniel Lewis to contact Belleair Beach's attorney about restarting negotiations over an interlocal agreement governing beach access. Manzo offered to help, urging officials to include an alliance of Belleair Beach residents in the discussions.
The apparent thaw comes after months of disagreements over not only locked gates and umbrella restrictions but the town's separate legal challenge to the ECL.
That dispute remains unresolved even as Belleair Shore officials received praise from some of their most vocal critics.
“God bless you, Mr. Storie,” Belleair Beach Councilman Frank Bankard said. “I was going to read you the Riot Act tonight, but I thank you for bringing this up. I think it’s a great move.”
Said Manzo: “I also came to rip Mr. Storie. But maybe you really mean it. Maybe you really are offering an olive branch.”
“This is wonderful.”