ANNA MARIA – The public will soon be given a chance to provide input on the future use of the currently vacant City Pier building.
The city of Anna Maria will host a public meeting on the City Pier on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m.
Originally scheduled for Feb. 2 but then pushed back a week, the Feb. 10 meeting will take place inside the larger city-owned pier building that was originally intended to be occupied by a restaurant operator.
With Brian Seymour, Nick Graham and Vic Mattay now operating the City Pier Grill & Bait Shop in the smaller of the two city-owned pier buildings, the future use of the larger pier building remains undetermined.
During the Thursday, Jan. 14 city commission meeting, Mayor Dan Murphy proposed a special meeting at which he would provide the public and the commission with some possible options.
“Between now and the end of the month, I will have some recommendations for the city commission to consider,” he said.
Commissioner Joe Muscatello suggested the meeting take place inside the pier building so the public can see the available space for themselves.
Murphy said the possible options include a full-service, sit-down restaurant, a special event facility, or a special event facility that also includes a retail sales operation. He also said representatives of the Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium have expressed interest in using the vacant space for a learning lab.
“Mote Marine has some very specific ideas they’d like to share with our commission, so they need to be in attendance at that meeting,” Murphy said.
Murphy said the possible use could include a combination of some of these possibilities and that no one has approached him recently with any specific plans for a restaurant, retail space, or special event venue.
He added he will provide commissioners with some basic architectural drawings that illustrate how the interior space could be used for the various possibilities.
“I think we need to decide what we’re going to do with it,” Murphy said of the vacant space made more valuable by its beautiful views.
Murphy said he doesn’t expect the commission to decide at the Feb. 10 meeting.
“This is just the first meeting to discuss the future of that space. I don’t think you can do it all in one meeting,” he said while noting he expects to hear a variety of proposals and ideas.
“We can put together a plan, but I can’t pursue five plans at once. I think we need to agree on our first choice, and maybe here’s our second and here’s our third. We need to zero in on one plan and drive that into fruition as quickly as possible.”
