Parking on Anna Maria Island is a big issue. Manatee leaders promise to work it out
Sparks flew and tempers flared, but Holmes Beach and Manatee County leaders are at least one step closer to resolving some of the beach parking issues on Anna Maria Island.
An hour-long meeting between Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth and County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge marks the first time the two local governments have come together to discuss the controversial parking changes on the barrier island. Both leaders agreed to work closely moving forward but not before lobbing accusations and insults.
“I’m here to talk to anybody, but the fact that you’ve brought it up now four times at one of your public meetings and never invited me to attend to defend our position,” Titsworth said. “It’s lies that come out of everybody’s mouth. What happened to someone coming over and talking and saying, ‘I have real concerns?’”
The Manatee County Commission’s most recent discussion came on Thursday. As part of that debate, Commissioner George Kruse pitched a number of actions the county could take to strong-arm Holmes Beach into adding more parking spaces.
“The residents of Holmes Beach are the ones creating the problem because they don’t want the parking and we’re keeping the library open. Well, we need parking and they won’t give us parking. If they lose a day at a library, maybe they’ll think twice about taking our parking away in the first place. It’s our library,” said Kruse, who also suggested removing the county’s trolley stops from Holmes Beach.
“If push comes to shove, there are things that we can do if they don’t decide that want to work with the other cities,” Commissioner Vanessa Baugh added. “I think it’s important that we all work together as a team. That’s what I would expect from their local government and I’m hoping that’s what ends up happening.”
Tensions between the county and Holmes Beach government are coming to a head about a year after the city tweaked its parking ordinance to remove more than 500 on-street parking spaces in residential neighborhoods. County officials say the change limits beach access for island visitors, but Holmes Beach argues that the changes protect homeowners in the area.
Rolling back the parking availability in neighborhoods is a response to beachgoers who have caused trouble for residents, Titsworth explained. Homeowners have complained about visitors who leave trash in the street, use the restroom in the front yard and block driveways with their cars.
In 2020, Holmes Beach reconsidered its approach to beach parking amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents protested the changes, demanding the return of on-street parking. In July, the Holmes Beach City Commission approved a new ordinance that allows Holmes Beach homeowners to park on neighborhood streets with a parking permit.
According to Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer, the city provides 1,906 spaces, including the nearly 700 permitted spaces that are reserved for residents. That’s about 500 total spaces fewer than the 2,400 that were available before the changes.
On Monday, Van Ostenbridge criticized those changes, arguing that city officials capitalized on the public health crisis to make unfavorable changes.
“You used a pandemic to eliminate public access to the beach. You eliminated these parking spaces during the pandemic and then you didn’t return them,” he said.
“That is such a lie. We were opening back up, so it was time to decide what was a safe way to address these complaints we’ve had for 10 years,” Titsworth responded.
After finally opening a dialogue with one another, Titsworth and Van Ostenbridge vowed to work together to come up with a suitable resolution. As part of their meeting, Van Ostenbridge offered several ideas that could improve the parking situation, such as sending mass texts to island visitors or providing code enforcement support.
The biggest game-changer, however, could come from closely monitored traffic lights. On the weekends when the beach is at its peak, there are no engineers available to modify the light signals and relieve congestion. According to Van Ostenbridge, the county could resolve that issue by paying someone to do that job over the weekend.
“I think of what we discussed today, what will have the greatest impact is portable restrooms, changing the timing of traffic signals on Anna Maria Island to move the traffic a little cleaner and adding some public-private partnerships with churches, as well as opening up Anna Maria Elementary and library parking,” Van Ostenbridge said after the meeting. “I think those will add spaces out here for people in town to come out and park.”
There are still a few snags to resolve, though. Titsworth said the county will need to modify the ground lease at the Island Library if they want to use it to provide beach parking. Similar approvals need to be made for island churches that have attempted to open their parking lots up to beachgoers.
Van Ostenbridge and Titsworth agreed to meet in the next few weeks to discuss the next steps of any plans to add more parking and improve island congestion.
“We have to help each other out,” Titsworth said.
This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
