Boat ramps are in short supply across Manatee County. Could the Skyway be the answer?
The answers to Manatee County’s boat ramp shortage could come in the form of a regional push to build a new one along the southern end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
It’s a solution that Manatee leaders pushed for in 2008 as well. During a Council of Governments meeting of the county’s municipalities on Tuesday night, leaders agreed that it’s time to renew that effort.
In a presentation to the group, Charlie Hunsicker, Manatee County’s director of Parks and Natural Resources said his employees have been searching for new boat ramp opportunities for 30 years, but there aren’t many sites available.
“Lord knows that for the 30 years that I’ve known of our boat ramp shortage, we’ve been looking for more capacity,” Hunsicker said. “As a coastal county, we are facing the legacy of development.”
The county owns and operates nine boat ramps, providing a total of 16 launch lanes and 253 marked trailer spaces. That falls far short of what the county should provide, Hunsicker admitted.
“Launch lanes and parking spaces go hand in hand and we’ve tried to find a balance where we can,” Hunsicker said, referring to a chart depicting boat ramp availability. “A county of 411,000 people should be double what you see here, easy.”
Hunsicker said the hurdles include impacts on the marine environment and the high costs of creating an adequate boat ramp. Most of the potential boat ramp areas are in shallow waters that would need to be dredged to carve a deeper channel.
According to Hunsicker, the Skyway could be the perfect place for a large number of boat launch lanes and parking spaces. A conceptual design prepared in 2008 estimated that a boat ramp in that location could add six boat launch lanes that boats use to enter the water, 130 boat trailer spaces and 30 regular parking spaces
“It’s kind of like our home run shot,” Hunsicker said of the Skyway boat ramp that would be built near the entrance of the Skyway fishing pier on the Manatee County side of the bridge. “There’s no guarantee that it’s permissible or affordable, but when we’re looking at a significant push for additional boat ramps north of the Manatee River, this is it.”
In an interview with the Bradenton Herald, Hunsicker estimated that the proposed Skyway boat ramp could cost as much as $50 million. The estimated cost of potential boat ramps in other parts of the county is around $7 million.
“We could never build it by ourselves,” he said, referring to the exorbitant cost of building along the Skyway. “We might as well build a boat ramp in the middle of the Manatee River.”
The West Coast Inland Navigation District submitted a similar application to build a Skyway boat ramp in 2008, but the effort lost momentum over time, Hunsicker said.
The location of the site and the dredging required to create enough land to build the ramp requires several approvals from the Florida Department of Transportation. But if local leaders can win that battle, the new boat ramp is a no-brainer, they said.
“I’m a huge supporter of the Skyway idea. We could easily put 200 spaces there,” said County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge.
Officials said they were ready to get on board with the idea and join in a partnership that could help speed the process.
“I think if we all come together as a unified voice, it’s better than if we do it on our own,” said County Commissioner Carol Whitmore. “We all agree that we definitely need more boat ramps in Manatee County. I think the Skyway is the best approach so that we can get all of these parking spots and get some of the boat traffic off of the smaller roads in Manatee County.”
“It’s not just the county’s problem, it’s all of ours,” Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown added.
The key could be getting other nearby municipalities involved, said County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, who suggested moving forward and reaching out to Hillsborough County for its support and assistance.
While the Skyway plan sounds appealing, Palmetto City Commissioner Brian Williams implored his fellow municipal leaders to strive for additional opportunities to meet the county’s overall need.
“We’re talking about one boat ramp and 200 spaces,” Williams said. “That’s not enough.”
According to Hunsicker, Manatee County is doing just that by moving forward with a series of boat ramp renovations and upgrades that squeeze in additional parking where possible. Plans are in the works to add spaces at Kingfish Boat Ramp and Fort Hamer Boat Ramp.
There are also opportunities to partner with private landowners. Whiting Preston, president and CEO of Manatee Fruit Company, has offered to work with the county on a new boat ramp as part of the 360-acre Peninsula Bay development slated to be built in Cortez.
“We are very anxious to continue our discussions with the Preston family to make this partnership the first in Manatee County — as it relates to marine capacity — happen,” Hunsicker said.
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 3:07 PM.
