Please place on the June 28, 2023 agenda a referral to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee for a discussion and update concerning the current BTR application and renewal process for commercial charter vessels.
For the past several years, the City has continuously contended with illegal conduct, nuisance behavior, noise, litter and a myriad of resident complaints relating to commercial charter vessels and their patrons. These issues negatively impact the City’s safety, cleanliness and image, in addition to adversely affecting neighboring residents’ quality of life. While the City has taken steps to address these issues through increased proactive enforcement, legislation and collaboration with Suntex (the operator of the Miami Beach Marina), certain issues still persist with some commercial charter vessel operators.
As part of this referral, I would request that the Administration update the Committee as to the current BTR application and renewal process for commercial charter vessel operators and, in particular, the City’s inter-departmental communication (including the Finance, Police and Code Compliance departments) in order to identify those commercial charter operators that have previously had City Code (or State law) violations, complaints, and/or created other issues. I would also request that the Administration be prepared to discuss and provide recommendations as to how the BTR application and renewal process may best be streamlined to effectively identify those commercial charter vessel operators that have previously had issues in order to carefully scrutinize whether the BTRs of such operators should be issued or renewed pursuant to the disqualifiers set forth in the City Code.