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VOL 22 No. 6
November 17, 2021
Commissioners talk building recertification regulations
BY KRISTIN SWAIN SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
the street, a light rain began falling soon after the parade started but it quickly subsided and the parade finished under sunny skies. “This is great,” Duncan Real Estate owner Darcie Duncan said as the parade passed by her office building.
HOLMES BEACH – Building Official In the wake of Neal Schwartz is working with a building collapse Holmes Beach commissioners to in Surfside, Holmes develop a recertification program for Beach officials are large buildings to identify structural looking to enact issues before they become a serious a recertification safety hazard. After the colprogram for large lapse of a condominium buildbuildings to try and ing in Surfside, Holmes Beach prevent a similar commissioners became consituation on AMI. cerned about the safety of older buildings in their city, which are subject to harsh conditions due to water, sea air and erosion. Schwartz began researching and gave a staff report on Nov. 9 on building recertification guidelines that need to be implemented in Holmes Beach. Under such a program, applicable buildings would be inspected by a third-party engineering service to determine if they are structurally and electrically sound. These inspections would take place every few decades, with the results given to the city and all issues corrected within a specified time for the building to be recertified. If the inspection and/or repairs are not completed, the building’s owner would face potentially hefty fines from the city. Schwartz suggested adopting the same guidelines for reinspection used by Miami/ Dade counties and the city of Boca Raton, with a few adjustments. He also suggested that all single-family and duplex structures be exempt from the recertification requirements, regardless of size or age. The recertification requirements would apply to all buildings that are more than three stories tall, meaning three stories over parking if there is parking on the ground level, all mixed-use buildings over one story and
SEE PARADE, PAGE 11
SEE BUILDING, PAGE 31
JOE HENDRICKS | SUN
A U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard helped lead the parade down Pine Avenue.
Anna Maria pays tribute to veterans Anna Maria’s Old Soldiers & Sailors parade and ceremony returned after a one-year absence. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
ANNA MARIA – The city honored local veterans and their spouses with its Old Soldiers & Sailors Veterans Day parade and a post-parade recognition ceremony. Returning after a one-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thursday afternoon parade included marching bands, local veterans, military and first responder vehicles, vintage vehicles, elected officials, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch volunteers, local businesses, a group of children from The Center of Anna Maria Island and more. Led by a bagpiper, a Marine Corps color guard, “Uncle Sam” and parade marshals Cdr. Michael Riordan and Col. David Pate, the parade began at City Hall at 1 p.m. and traveled down Pine Avenue to City Pier Park. With crowds lining both sides of
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JOE HENDRICKS | SUN
Mayor Dan Murphy and his wife Barbara were among those representing the city of Anna Maria in the parade.
all things matrimonial in The Sun’s Wedding Guide. 22-23 FIND
Anna Maria Island, Florida
CRABS AND music rule at the
Cortez Stone Crab festival. 3 HOLIDAYS IN Paradise gearing up in Bradenton Beach. 4
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