Anyone short term rent properties in St Pete Beach/Treasure Island/Madiera Beach?

[Brian Stike]

Help!!

I'm a New Jersey real estate investor with a few long term rentals.  
My wife and I have traveled to St Pete/Treasure Island and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. 
We'd like to start STR investing down in St Pete/Treasure Island.

I want to buy a small 1 bedroom condo and AirBnB it out when we're not using it.  We'd like to use it maybe 3-4 weeks a year, and maybe let family use it another 3-4 weeks.  
I can find these small ~500 sqft condos for fairly inexpensively, but when I look at regulation and code on the city sites, it seems they're not legal for short term rentals.  However, if you open the AirBnB app, you can book several of them for as short as a few days here and there. 

When I read the codes website, certain areas are clearly illegal to STR in Treasure Island, for instance, but I've stayed in several in that area and they are fully functioning, operating businesses within condo buildings that contain a mix of permanent residents and STR tenants. Further, they have on-site maintenance and managers who would CERTAINLY report code violations to the city. I've stayed for as short as 5 days before and the unit was clearly turned over before and after I left, and I even had maintenance in the property during that short stay for quarterly extermination spraying.

I reached out to a realtor in the area and he's of little help.  He basically told me that most likely, code enforcement hasn't caught on.  I find this hard to believe based upon the on site management of the properties and the business front that the landlord portrayed.  (welcome book, guide, procedures and policies, contact numbers, etc).

Does anyone successfully STR in this area and can shed some light for me? Or, if you're a realtor in the area specializing in investors and a track record of supporting and understanding investors, please reach out!!
Thanks!!

Brian