PARKING: Bill would allow garage

FROM PAGE 1 least two years of construction, according to Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge.

The possibility of a parking garage first came up during a 2022 meeting between county and city leaders to discuss issues related to beachgoer parking in Anna Maria Island’s largest city. Later in the year, city leaders passed an ordinance banning parking garages in Holmes Beach, though a special exception for the use could still be sought with approval of the city commission.

In a talk with The Sun last week, Van Ostenbridge said he’d planned to move forward with a proposal for a parking garage on the county-owned beach property but felt that city leaders “kept moving the goalpost.” So, he posed the issue to state legislators, who filed the bill.

If the parking garage is approved at the state level, the proposed structure would be three stories tall, remaining within the city’s height restrictions – unlike previous garage plans of four stories - but still two stories higher than the existing concession stand. The exception to the height restriction would be the elevator shaft, which would extend above the top level of the garage to allow beachgoers to access rooftop parking.

The structure would only re- quire building permits from the county, not from the city where it would be located, according to the bill.

Van Ostenbridge said the proposed structure would stretch across the entirety of the parcel - from the 10-foot required setback on the south side at West Coast Surf Shop to the northern boundary of Gulf Drive - and house between 1,500-1,700 parking spaces along with new restroom, concession and retail facilities. The cost of the project is estimated at $45 million.

Van Ostenbridge said construction would take about two years. During those two years, the currently existing 427 parking spaces at the public beach would be unavailable, so he said all of the residential streets on the Island would have to be opened to public parking to accommodate beachgoers.

Currently, all three Island cities have limited public parking available on residential streets, requiring all four tires of a vehicle parked street-side to be off the pavement.

Once the garage is completed, Van Ostenbridge said that parkers would have to pay a nominal fee to use the garage spaces, such as $2 per hour, to help the county recoup the money spent to build the structure.

HOLMES BEACH MAYOR’S RESPONSE

In a letter last week to county commissioners, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth reiterated her opposition to the proposed parking garage and urged state and county leaders to come to the Island to see the currently available parking and how it’s used by beachgoers.

“As mayor of one of the many cities in Manatee County, I once again welcome each of you on a tour,” Titsworth said in the letter.

“I understand decisions have and will continue to be made by your board, many of which will have a profound effect on the quality of life for our citizens, guests and business owners. I hope that you will each be able to gain valuable knowledge as to why Holmes Beach is not only one of the most special places on earth to live but also an extremely popular tourist destination to which people come from all over the world each year to visit.

“For the past three years now, Holmes Beach citizens have found to be on our heels defending against false narratives by county leaders,” she wrote. “These stem from city leaders finally putting a limit on the number of secondary beach parking that could safely be accommodated in residential neighborhoods. I hope that