Growth and Development Controversy Ripples Through Quiet Anna Maria Island Community...
It's being reported in an article at the Bradenton Herald that the "normally laid-back island community" of Anna Maria has been stirring with turmoil and controversy over the past few weeks."
The controversy is the "old debate between those who want this one-square-mile city of 1,000 on the northern end of Anna Maria Island to remain as it was when they moved here... and those who would like to see changes, especially in the commercial district along Pine Avenue."
"It boiled over two weeks ago when a legal consultant, Michael Barfield, requested under Florida Sunshine Law all the e-mails first-term City Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus had sent from city or personal computers regarding city business."
The first batch of e-mails from Stoltzfus’ home computer generated nearly nine hundred pages of documents, and more than 1,260 pages on the second. Barfield said in reading the e-mails it appeared Stoltzfus was trying to target a particular business, the Pine Avenue Restoration Project, referred to as PAR.
As noted in the article, this controversy is nothing new to the community of Anna Maria. "The difference of opinions on how much Pine Avenue should be developed goes back many years." No doubt this is a difference of opinion common to many communities across the country that are under pressure for change.
The city of Anna Maria even held a series of workshops in 2002 where the public was able to establish a vision that would be eventually be codified in the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations.
The article went on to say that, much like the Old Florida Look and Feel of Anna Maria Island as a whole, the residents at the time remarked that one of the strengths of the city was the small-town character and slow pace.
In the end, the final vision statement said the city should be a “quiet, friendly beach community which reflects its Old-Florida style through a balanced mix of single-family homes of varying sizes, with tree-line streets, landscaping, a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly network, and a defined commercial center of small shops and specialty stores serving the community.”
And to think it was all about achieving a balance for both sides of the Anna Maria development debate, and for the Anna Maria Island community as a whole.
Anyone interested in the future of the City of Anna Maria or the Pine Avenue Restoration Project will find it an interesting read, albeit a bit long.
Go to www.bradenton.com/2010/03/28/2163202/growth-controversy-ripples-through.html for the full article... Growth Controversy Ripples Through Quiet Anna Maria.
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