St. Pete Beach City Commission Meeting – August 19, 2026

The St. Pete Beach City Commission met at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, in the Commission Chambers at 155 Corey Avenue, St. Pete Beach, Florida. All five commissioners were present: Mayor Tate, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Commissioners Marriott, Causey, and Maldonado. The commission amended the agenda to add Customary Use as a discussion item, approved consent items, adopted the Merry Pier resolution, and discussed short-term rental registration, agenda timing, county commissioner liaisons, and customary use.

Consent Calendar

• The agenda was approved as amended by a 5-0 vote.
• Consent items 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3g were approved 5-0. These approved the July 28, 2026 meeting minutes (no minutes document was supplied in the source), the St. Pete Beach Classic street closure (Jan. 16–17, 2026 as listed on the agenda), the 8th Avenue Block Party street closure and alcohol sales/consumption (Oct. 17, 2026), and Resolution 2026-30 authorizing a temporary construction easement with Pinellas County for city-owned easement areas at Gulf Way.
• Consent items 3d, 3e, and 3f were pulled for commissioner questions and then approved 5-0.
• On 3d, Assistant City Manager Adam Poyer said the $73,500 payment to Conure Telecom Services is for license plate readers used to manage the city’s parking program, not Flock cameras, and the amount is already in the FY 2026 budget, so no additional funds were requested.
• On 3e, staff said the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office interlocal agreement is for $3,707,724 from Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2027. The city receives about a 30% discount because property taxes already help fund county sheriff services. The increase is about 5.74%; last year’s contract was flat; the city reduced community policing deputies from three to two and lowered the overtime budget from $250,000 to $150,000; unused prepaid additional services may be refunded.
• On 3f, the technology director said the existing security system has been sunsetted, cannot be patched, and creates security vulnerabilities. The new Empire Consulting, Inc./Verkada security system contract is for $100,410.60 over three years and is projected to save about $7,000 per year in ongoing maintenance and support, with features such as phone-based proximity access.

Public Comments & Testimony

• No audience comment cards were reported by the City Clerk at the start of the meeting, and no public comment was received before the Merry Pier resolution vote.

Action Item: Merry Pier Resolution 2026-25

• The City Attorney explained that the Merry Pier lease expired in February 2026 and was not renewed. A tenant counterproposal was unacceptable and would have granted up to a 15-year lease. The commission adopted Resolution 2026-25 by a 5-0 vote, authorizing service of a notice demanding surrender of the Merry Pier property by 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2026, and authorizing the City Attorney to pursue a possession action in circuit court if surrender is not timely made. The resolution also states that the alleged whole-pier lease lacked the required affirmative commission approval.

Discussion: Short-Term Rental Registration

• Assistant City Manager Adam Poyer presented an overview. St. Pete Beach has pre-2011 short-term rental restrictions that provide grandfathered protections, but any new ordinance must be drafted carefully to avoid changing rental duration or frequency and risking that status. Registration is legally possible but would require substantial staff time; comparable programs in Cocoa Beach and Anna Maria Island require two or three full-time equivalent employees. Fees can cover only program administration and enforcement, cannot create a surplus, and would have to be set to actual costs.
• Poyer reported rough counts of 785 Airbnb listings and 928 VRBO listings for St. Pete Beach, with overlap between the platforms, and said that is about half of Treasure Island’s nearly 1,300 Airbnb listings. Anna Maria Island has 720 registered short-term rentals, about 45% of its residential properties.
• Enforcement complaints are mostly about short-term rentals operating outside allowed zoning areas or exceeding the allowed rental windows, not noise or parking complaints. Cases are becoming harder to prove before the special magistrate, and fine revenue only partially offsets enforcement costs.
• Vice Mayor Robinson supported a registration program and a low-cost AI or data-mining enforcement tool, saying it would send a message that residents do not want St. Pete Beach to become an Airbnb community. She argued registration fees would cover costs currently borne by taxpayers and cited pre-storm special magistrate meetings that were about 90% rental-related.
• Commissioner Maldonado said he could support a registration program only if it could be managed internally without new FTEs, preferred software or AI tools over new positions, and considered a larger program premature at this point.
• Commissioner Marriott opposed creating a registration program, calling it a red-tape make-work program. She said illegal operators will not register, the rules already in place are good, and the city should focus on enforcing existing rules with current code enforcement staff and inexpensive technology.
• Mayor Tate said his biggest fear is inadvertently losing the grandfathered status and he favored cost-effective enforcement rather than a large new program. A legal comment noted that the grandfathered restrictions are affected only by changes to rental duration or frequency.
• Commissioner Causey asked for data on the types and locations of offenders and suggested staff research low-cost AI tools used by other cities. The City Manager said the direction he heard from the commission was to consider only a minimal, low-cost AI enforcement option, not a large registration program.

Discussion: City Commission Agenda Preparation

• A commissioner asked whether agendas, which have ranged from 900 to 2,000 pages, could be delivered Tuesday afternoon instead of Thursday afternoon. The City Clerk and City Manager explained internal review deadlines, the need for attorney and manager review, and the risk that earlier publication would reduce quality or delay items to a later meeting. The consensus was to keep the current Thursday delivery timeline.

Discussion: County Commissioner Liaisons

• This item was informational. Speakers identified Chris Scherer, Vince Nowicki, and Kathleen Peters as county commissioners with responsibility for parts of St. Pete Beach; all three serve on the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, and Peters also serves on the Tourist Development Council and stormwater/wastewater committees. Commissioner Causey displayed a county map showing two at-large county commission districts cutting through the city, giving St. Pete Beach two at-large county commissioners. Mayor Tate said he has met with or is coordinating meetings with county commissioners and was nominated by the Barrier Islands mayors group as first choice for a Tourist Development Council seat. No formal action was taken.

Discussion: Customary Use

• Vice Mayor Robinson asked for next steps after the prior customary use workshop. The City Attorney said customary use is a judicially created doctrine that is exempt from regulatory takings claims, while a city ordinance on the same subject could create regulatory takings exposure.
• The City Attorney reported that the city was sued in federal court by The Undertow and Plaza Beach Hotel over beach signage, and that the city filed its answer that day. The answer includes affirmative defense number nine based on customary use, citing City of Daytona Beach v. Tona-Rama, Inc. and Bendinger v. Town of Redington Beach. The City Attorney also noted that Daniels v. Town of Palm Beach is now on appeal to the 11th Circuit with a cross-appeal.
• Because litigation is pending, the commission expects to discuss strategy in a shade/executive session. Residents with old photographs or documentation of customary beach use in the relevant segment, roughly from the public beach south for half a mile, may send it to the City Clerk; the City Attorney plans to issue a one-page instruction sheet.

Administrative & Commission Reports

• Publix is still in lease negotiations with landlord Bricksmore; a community meeting is planned for the fall, and a conditional use permit hearing is hoped for spring 2027.
• Budget roadshows: District 4 on Aug. 24, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. at the Warren Webster Building in Pass-a-Grille; District 2 on Aug. 26, 2026 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the public library.
• Fire Station 22 groundbreaking is scheduled for Sept. 16, 2026 at approximately 10:00 a.m. at 1950 Pass-a-Grille Way.
• Commissioner Maldonado thanked the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office for investigating recent break-ins and reminded residents to lock their properties. Commissioner Marriott noted that PSTA Route 90 may be eliminated and that a public hearing is scheduled at the next PSTA board meeting; he also said building permits show the shopping center at 75th and Gulf Boulevard is being repaired, not demolished.

Key Outcomes

• Agenda amended to add Customary Use and approved 5-0.
• Consent items approved: 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3g by 5-0; pulled items 3d, 3e, and 3f by 5-0 after discussion.
• Resolution 2026-25 adopted 5-0.
• Short-term rental registration: no new registration program or FTEs were directed at this time; staff were directed to consider low-cost AI or data-mining enforcement tools and continue enforcing existing rules.
• Agenda preparation: the Thursday publication timeline was retained.
• County commissioner liaison assignment: informational only; no action taken.
• Customary use: no local ordinance was directed; the federal court defense will continue, evidence collection instructions will be issued, and a future shade/executive session is anticipated.