Leary: Carriages are ambassadors for community

Assistant City Attorney Carlos Mendoza has additional amendments to incorporate into the proposed horse-drawn carriage ordinance after suggestions from commissioners made during a public workshop session.

St. Augustine’s City Commission reacted favorably at a workshop Monday to increasing horse carriage permits to 30 and reporting “spontaneous” off-route charters after the fact.

Commissioner Bill Leary proposed two amendments to tackle concerns in the long-debated ordinance proposal.

An increase from an earlier proposed 25 permit limit to 30 would allow Murphy McDaniel, who currently holds 43 permits, to obtain 15 permits in the new system, while entitling Cushion Carriage and C.B. Hinson, holders of two and one permits respectively, to obtain that same number while applying for additional available permits.

Leary said this “protects existing businesses, which have made significant investment and are ambassadors for our community.”

Commissioners appeared to favor a weekly reporting system in which permit holders notify the city manager of both planned charters for the week ahead and charters unreported in the previous week.

The commission cannot take official action in a workshop, but, the amended ordinance, after it is completed, will come before a regular commission meeting in the future.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News contributed photograph by Lindsay Wiles Gramana