Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/301152
Siesta Seen THE TUP ORDINANCE On a unanimous vote — following about 5 min- utes of discussion — the County Commission this week approved the advertisement of a public hearing on extending by two years the sunset date of the Temporary Use Permits (TUP) provision in the Siesta Key Overlay District zoning ordinance. The new date would be June 8, 2016 and the revised ordi- nance would include Halloween among the holidays for which a permit could be sought. The original ordinance, approved in June 2011, allows bars and restaurants to request TUPs for outdoor activities during specific holiday periods. However, as Assistant Zoning Administrator Donna Thompson pointed out during the April 22 County Commission meet- ing, no bar or restaurant has applied for a TUP under the ordinance since the law went into effect. Nonetheless, Thompson said, the Siesta Key Village Association (SKVA) had sent staff an email requesting the extension of the sunset and also seeking to add Halloween to the list. The existing ordinance allows for TUPs to be issued for the following holidays, begin- ning no earlier than 11 a.m. and ending at the hour specified: • New Year's Eve — valid until 12:30 a.m. on New Year's Day. • St. Patrick's Day — valid to 10 p.m. • Memorial Day — valid to 10 p.m. • Independence Day (July Fourth) — valid to 12:30 a.m. on July 5. • Labor Day — valid to 10 p.m. • Thanksgiving — valid to 10 p.m. The ordinance also provides for the TUP to include one extra day immediately before or after the holiday for which it is obtained, and it is valid to 10 p.m. that day. "If a sec- ond day is requested, all subsequent parties requesting a TUP for that holiday desiring a second day must select the same second day," it points out. Commission Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson reminded her colleagues and staff, "There was, back in 2011, a whole lot of angst over the number of days" allowed for these TUPs. While she said she knows Patterson regularly attends SKA meetings, she wants to be sure the SKA is aware of the movement to extend the sunset date. "I don't want to take anybody by surprise by this," Robinson added. "I've never heard restaurateurs talk about problems with this," Patterson said, "and I don't think SKA could narrate any problems, because [businesses] actually, apparently, have never taken advantage of the opportu- nity [to apply for a TUP]." Patterson added, "It's sort of strange that there have been no permits." Thompson pointed out that the only time staff had received an application for one Sarasota News Leader April 25, 2014 Page 103