Jim Rostek sworn in as Madeira Beach Mayor

PINELLAS COUNTY,Fla. - Madeira Beach has a new mayor.

Political newcomer Jim Rostek was sworn on Wednesday afternoon. Rostek is a retired fire captain from Maryland. He beat Vice Mayor and commissioner Doug Andrews by less than 50 votes.

The race was heated, as was the race for mayor of St. Pete Beach. Both races also had a common issue at the forefront: development.

Rostek said residents told him they don’t want overdevelopment, and they want projects to stay within the parameters of the city’s ordinance, meaning buildings wouldn’t be over a certain height.

"What their voices have told me during my walking campaign is we need to curtail the development," Rostek said. "Development is needed because it is the natural evolutionary process where buildings start to become dilapidated and the best thing to do is rebuild, but rebuild within the current confines of the ordinances is best for all," he said.

"Nobody wants overdevelopment," Andrews said at a mayoral forum in February. "Nobody wants to turn into Clearwater Beach."

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Andrews said in a statement Wednesday that there’s no doubt development was on the ballot.

"Development is always on the ballot in Madeira Beach. So, did it have an effect on this election? Of course, it did. Why? It’s simple: Clearwater Beach. Newcomers run their whole campaigns saying that the incumbent is responsible for increased traffic or overdevelopment. They say he/she is trying to turn our paradise into another CB. Problem is its all craziness," Andrews said in the statement.

Andrews said the city has ordinances in place to control the growth, but that everyone is entitled to their opinions.

Rostek said he also ran on making the city’s government more transparent and communicative with citizens, and simplifying the process to get a permit.

Brook Bickford, a resident of St. Pete Beach for a decade and a small business owner, said he chose to live there for a reason.

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"There were other parts of the area of Florida that we looked at that were just too big, too many big hotels, too much development," Bickford said.

His concern that development threatened to change St. Pete Beach was a deciding factor in his vote for another political newcomer, Adrian Petrila, over incumbent Alan Johnson.

"This next mayoral election is a fight for the very soul of St. Pete Beach," Petrila said in a campaign ad. "Are we going to allow for special interests to come in and turn our town into the next Clearwater Beach or St. Pete, or are we going to stand up for ourselves," Petrila said.

Petrila Beach Johnson by about 10 percent of the vote. Many residents saw Johnson as more pro-development, while Petrila started the petition to stop the Tradewinds Resort expansion last year.

"I’m not opposed to development, but I am opposed to adding hundreds of hotel rooms. St. Pete Beach is really restricted as it is as far as the parking, traffic and stuff like that, and we’re really not set up to expand by hundreds of rooms, so that was my biggest concern," Bickford said.

Petrila will be sworn in as St. Pete Beach’s new mayor next week. Fox 13 reached out to Johnson regarding the race and are waiting to hear back.