SKA pursues ordinance for municipal lot

An commercial truck the owner claims was broken down was left in the Siesta Key municipal lot for a month — and nobody could legally do anything about it.

The owner of a large commercial vehicle first parked the vehicle in the right of way on Avenida De Mayo in August. After being ticketed — no parking is allowed on that street — the owner moved the vehicle into the municipal lot, located at the corner of Avenida Madera and Calle Minorga, behind Siesta Market.

Another entrance is located on Avenida De Mayo.

There the van stayed from mid-August to September, with the owner moving it from one spot to another every three days. The 72-hour shuffle is the only restriction on the lot.

Michael Shay, president of the Siesta Key Association, said he began receiving complaints about the vehicle from both residents and businesses in the area.

SKA decided to approach the county about creating an ordinance for the municipal lot.

“We shouldn’t have commercial vehicles parking over a certain size,” Shay said.

Other parking lots on Siesta do have restrictions. The public beach parking lots and beach access lots are closed from midnight to 6 a.m. and are restricted to beach patrons. Visitors are not supposed to park their car at the beach and go to the Village, said Sgt. Scott Osborne of Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. A 2010 parking incident occurred when a van advertising the Solorzano Bros. Pizzeria was parked on Beach Road, in front of Siesta Key Beach. The van was parked legally, however some condo owners at Sunset Royale and Crescent Royale complained they could see the van from their units.

The parking spaces on Beach Road are 24-hour spots, and the pizzeria owners moved the van each day. The van was vandalized three times.

The issue was resolved after county staff dug up a code that prohibited off-site advertising and advertising on public property, which prohibited Solorzano Bros. from placing the van in the parking area.

But the municipal lot is a different story.

“There are no rules that say how long you can park,” Osborne said. “There’s nothing to restrict someone pulling in with an RV.”

A vehicle could take up two or three spots and still be legally parked, he said.

There haven’t been many problems with people overusing the lot, Scott said. But, with season on the horizon, it could open up the lot for more incidents.

“It’s better to take care of it before it gets to be a bigger problem,” Scott said.

To get the proposed ordinance to the Sarasota County Commission, the Siesta Key Association must submit a letter explaining what restrictions it would like to see, and the Siesta Key Village Association must send a letter of accordance.

“I’m hoping it’s as simple as that,” Shay said.

Mark Smith, SKVA vice president, said in general the Village association is supporting the ordinance, but it has a few concerns, and the executive board continues to discuss the issue.

Smith said SKVA doesn’t want the parking lot to be abused and would like to see larger commercial vehicles kept out, but there has to be a balance.

“You don’t want someone to park and go have lunch, come back and get ticketed,” Smith said.

SKVA is also favoring the idea of not allowing overnight parking, but, at the same time, it doesn’t want people who have had too much to drink to try and drive home to avoid a ticket.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said.