Reply to Questions

Dear Susan,
To items you bring up in your article need some explanation to clarify them for everyone. 1. St. Pete is the ONLY city from Vermont to Key West to have an ordinance that restricts hired parties and receptions for B&B's. 2. The reason the cooking code is proposed to be deleted is that the ordinance is covered under the State guidelines so the city does not need to be redundant. State regulations state that now cooking items shall be allowed in any guestrooms.

Answers to fears

Dear Anonymous,
Your red flag fear on this subject is incorrect because the State regulations for hotel and restaurants, a governing body that licenses all B&B's, does not allow any of the guestrooms to have cooking facilities. The city code is redundant and this is the reason it is being deleted. As for catering, again State regulations require functions to be catered unless the Inn has a licensed kitchen to perform same. In this instance, none of the inns in the Northeast have such a license. So this does not take away any type of revenue but promotes revenue between businesses and helps all concerned. Thanks

Thanks, Dave..

Thanks for your explanation, Dave. There will be an additional meeting in Julie Weston's office this Thurs. for CONA, Northshore leadership to discuss the ordinance. By the way, Julie's report states that only the B&B ordinances in Orlando, Boston and Santa Fe were studied, so we're doing some research of our own--in particular of B&Bs in dense, historic neighborhoods similar to NS. It may be that one ordinance for all B&BS in all areas of the City is not acceptable.

B&B Ordinance

Hi Susan,
The B&B Association did a lot of research into this by finding the ordinances in townships in Vermont, Upstate NY, Amelia Island, St Augustine, and Key West. Extensive reviews were undertaken prior to our first meeting with Julie Weston. It is very evident from the 8 subsections of our one code for B&B's that thesea re very old and antique based on the industry standards of today. We, as innkeepers, have a great opportunity to make St. Pete a B&B destination for all sorts of travelers including corporate travelers, vacationers, conventioneers, wedding guests, etc. None of the Inns in St. Pete even boarder on ''flop houses'' or brothels, or dope dens as some people want others to believe. These inns are first class, AAA rated accommodations that are unsurpassed by many of the hotels here in our area. As an Association, we are dedicated to preserving this reputation that we have created for our good city and by updating the codes we help protect our city and enhance our tourist industry to the highest standards. Our city thrives on tourism and this means tourists need a place to stay when they visit. Travelers who frequent B&B's are above average, professional types of people who are tired of the stereotyped hotel stays. They are not the usual run of the mill folks who lok for the cheapest stay they can find. OUr rates alone prove that these are not flop houses. There are stats that can show you that over 30% of the corporate travelers on the move today choose B&B's over hotels. This is an incredible amount and proves again that these are first class inns. As the B&B industry grows in St. Pete, everyone benefits. From the inns and guests, to the catering companies, rental companies, florists, other hotels that work together to make a young bride's wedding an unforgettable day. The city and stae benefit from the taxes taken in and overall, our city benefits because more people come to visit it. This means the shops and boutiques profit and last but not least, property values skyrocket so home owners benefit also. We welcome the opportunity to speak at the meeting on September 17th and encourage all neighbors to come and ask their questions. Thanks for listening!