After delays, Palma Sola boat ramp will reopen. Another ramp will close soon for repairs

The Palma Sola boat ramp, 9800 Manatee Ave. W. on the south side of the Palma Sola Causeway, will reopen on Friday.

The boat ramp had fallen into major disrepair over the years and had become a public safety issue.

In January 2019, the city of Bradenton turned ownership over to Manatee County, a deal that took a decade after the city built the ramp iwith the intent of the county eventually taking over ownership and maintenance.

Manatee County immediately shut the boat ramp down for repairs and renovations, including moving the ramps slightly to the west in order to improve parking. The project was expected to take six months.

“But we had to clean up some paperwork and get the right agreements with the state before we could proceed,” said Commissioner Carol Whitmore. “That’s what’s taken so long.”

Whitmore said the ramp had become a “major liability, but everything is fixed now.”

As Palma Sola opens, the county will turn its attention to Kingfish Boat Ramp in Holmes Beach.

Palma Sola boat ramp offers unique access into southern part of Palma Sola Bay. The Kingfish ramp is a more widely used and larger facility with access into Tampa Bay. Hundreds of boaters and anglers use it daily.

“That’s going to be rough, but it’s also a major safety issue,” Whitmore said.

Funding is largely in place for the Kingfish renovations, but Whitmore said a closure is at least three months away.

“We weren’t going to assess or start the engineering for Kingfish until Palma Sola was completed,” Whitmore said.

The county learned in December of 2018 that Kingfish was suffering, “severe structural deficiencies,” but it was left open because of the situation at Palma Sola.

Closing two boat ramps in close proximity to one another was not an option, however, and the county’s acquiring of Palma Sola a month later took priority.

This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 12:05 PM.