St. Pete Beach’s city manager has directed TradeWinds Island Resort to relocate its planned Country Thunder music festival off the beach, citing missing environmental permits and potential harm to nesting sea turtles and shorebirds — just weeks before the event is scheduled to begin.

In a letter dated March 31 to TradeWinds and Country Thunder Executive Director Kim Blevins, City Manager Frances Robustelli said the city has not received sufficient information to approve the special event permit and that the resort has not obtained required permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Robustelli asked TradeWinds to revise its application and relocate the event to an alternative area on the landward side of the resort, east of the coastal construction control line, in a location that does not affect the sandy beach dune system and wildlife.

The festival, as currently planned, would occupy the beach for 12 days, with setup beginning May 2, performances May 8–10, and disassembly through May 13. Sea turtle nesting season officially begins May 1.

As of April 6, no permits had been issued by the city, the DEP or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The DEP said the event cannot proceed without all required local, state and federal authorizations. The city has said DEP approval is a prerequisite for its own permitting process; if DEP denies the application, the city will follow suit.

The three-day concert would bring up to 12,000 ticket holders a day to one of the Gulf Coast’s most significant nesting stretches for sea turtles and state-threatened black skimmers. FWC staff recommended the concert be rescheduled outside of marine turtle nesting season or moved off the beach entirely.

Beth Forys, a seabird researcher and professor at Eckerd College who has studied black skimmers for 32 years, said a colony of 400 to 660 of the birds has nested on St. Pete Beach since 2013, representing roughly 6 to 10% of the remaining skimmer population in Florida. Colony formation and egg laying typically begin in the last week of April through May, directly overlapping with the festival and its proposed setup.

TradeWinds has said it has worked with environmental experts and that a survey conducted March 30 found no nests on the property. Wildlife advocates called that finding misleading, noting that sea turtle nesting season does not begin until May 1 and that black skimmers don’t nest until late April anywhere in the United States.

At a March 24 City Commission meeting, Country Thunder’s Blevins acknowledged that organizers had sold nonrefundable tickets and booked headliners Kane Brown, Zach Top and Shaboozey, and had no backup venue. Blevins said Country Thunder was not informed about nesting season when TradeWinds helped select the May dates.

As of April 6, TradeWinds had not confirmed it would comply with the city manager’s directive. The city’s permitting decision will be administrative rather than put to a commission vote, though a denial can be formally appealed to the City Commission. Country Thunder said it has tentatively reserved a date for next year, outside the nesting window.

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