Residents protest after DeSantis signs bill for Anna Maria Island beach parking garage
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Friday allowing Manatee County Government to circumvent the city of Holmes Beach’s rules to build a beach parking garage on Anna Maria Island.
After years of back and forth on the issue of adding more beach parking spaces, Florida lawmakers weighed in, giving county officials the authority to issue their own permit to build a three-story garage at Manatee Public Beach, instead of seeking permission from island leaders.
Under a rule recently approved by the Holmes Beach City Commission, multi-level parking facilities are banned, but the county could have presented the proposed garage during a public hearing and earned approval from Holmes Beach officials. State lawmakers argued they were skeptical of Holmes Beach ever approving a garage.
The governor’s bill signing came hours before a demonstration led by the organizers of a petition with over 6,000 signatures against the $45 million Holmes Beach parking garage, which has been at the center of a disagreement between local and state officials over parking.
Around 50 people showed up at the courthouse courtyard at 1051 Manatee Ave. W, Bradenton, Friday afternoon, holding signs reading “Danger Will Robinson,” “Save Anna Maria” and “No Parking Garage in Holmes Beach,” among others.
Among those in attendance was Mayor Judy Titsworth, who has been a vocal critic of the proposed legislation.
“I’m happy to see that citizens are getting involved,” Titsworth said during a Friday afternoon interview with the Bradenton Herald. “It’s just weird. It’s just such an overreach. I never thought in my position I’d be having to defend the city against a local bill that nobody wants.”
DeSantis signs Anna Maria Island garage bill
County officials say they support building the garage at the Manatee Public Beach parking lot, which sits at the end of Manatee Avenue. The garage would be funded by tourism taxes, which are paid by visitors who stay at local hotels and short-term rentals.
In earlier statements, Manatee County commissioners have said they would support a garage designed to fit in with the character of the island while providing certain amenities such as restaurants, restrooms and showers.
Talha Siddique, founder of Speak Out Manatee, a grassroots organization that helped organize the protest, said he sees the bill as a signal that the county commission doesn’t listen to its constituents, and wishes more people would point the finger locally as opposed to the state level.
“I would say this has been an absolute failure at our county level. We have a county commission that refuses to come up with a solution. Instead, they want to root for something that no one wants,” he said. “This process has absolutely failed and the failure lies at the doorstep of our elected county officials.”
In 2020, the city of Holmes Beach made controversial changes to the parking situation, barring visitors from parking in places where it had always been allowed. City officials said the changes were necessary because beachgoers were causing problems in Holmes Beach neighborhoods, such as littering and blocking residential driveways.
State lawmakers want more beach parking
Earlier this year, the Florida House of Representatives and the Senate both voted unanimously to approve the bill, which had the support of Manatee County’s lawmakers.
State Rep. Will Robinson, Jr., surprised Holmes Beach leaders when he announced his intention to file the bill earlier this year. He said it was time for the island to accept more visitors.
“Folks are getting frustrated. They can’t access the beaches, they’re turning around and they’re going back home,” Robinson, R-Bradenton, previously said.
Titsworth, however, says there is already enough parking and believes the parking garage would create more problems than it is likely to solve.
“Ask any of them if they’ve ever witnessed a 1,500 to 1,700 car parking garage that’s 400,000 square feet on a little, tiny, cherished piece of sand that will add another 3,000 people when the beach is already overcapacity,” she said. “It’s going to be a public safety nightmare because the traffic will be backed up for two hours.”
In an interview with the Bradenton Herald, State Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, said he believed he and Robinson had been “very, very judicious” in how they approached the situation. Boyd recalled a recent meeting with island officials where they agreed a parking garage could resolve concerns.
But a few months later, Holmes Beach officials moved to ban parking garages within city limits. Titsworth has argued that county officials still could have proposed a garage, but it would have needed to be approved by the Holmes Beach City Commission in a public hearing.
“We’ve honestly and legitimately tried to work with them on an agreement. Every time we think we have an agreement, the restrictions become more onerous,” Boyd said. “I really thought we made some headway with Holmes Beach, and it just seems like it’s always been one step forward and two steps back.”
Residents respond to bill with protest
Morgan Bryant, who created the petition and helped organize Friday’s protest with the support of Speak Out Manatee, was a fan of DeSantis before he signed the bill into law. If it weren’t for him, her small island business Cool Beans A.M.I, which she co-owns with her husband, Ben Bryant, would have closed during the pandemic.
Now, however, she doesn’t know how to feel, saying that it feels like he became the very thing he fought against: big government.
“They’re circumventing our home rule and exercising their big government overreach. All of us work really, really hard to preserve our island,” she said.
She worries that this “overreach” may not stop with a parking garage and that it could set a precedent for the state and higher levels of government intervening in island matters without listening to what locals want. She also is concerned that the issue hasn’t been looked at closely enough for this kind of investment to be made, citing the lack of environmental studies, in addition to sharing Titsworth’s concerns over traffic.
It’s also an eyesore, she said.
“A giant parking garage is going to be the first thing people are going to see when they drive over that bridge,” she said.
Her husband, Ben Bryant, has lived on Anna Maria Island since he was 4 years old and called the garage “a slap in the face from our elected officials.” He said the structure would go against everything the island stands for, ruining the “quaintness” and “magic” of the island.
“I think that’s the worst idea ever,” he said.
A timeline for the construction of a parking garage on Holmes Beach has not been determined. County officials have not yet voted to approve the facility.
This story was originally published June 23, 2023 at 2:39 PM.
