ANNA MARIA – The city of Anna Maria’s previous elimination of 88 public parking spaces has been formalized by the adoption of Ordinance 20-877.
Thirty-seven of the permanently eliminated parking spaces were located along North Shore Drive.
The city commission adopted the amended parking ordinance during the Tuesday, Nov. 24 meeting that served as the make-up date for the Nov. 12 meeting canceled due to Tropical Storm Eta.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Dan Murphy referenced a white paper he provided commissioners regarding the parking reductions. The white paper notes the three primary factors that drove the parking reductions were public safety, drainage and the previous elimination of public parking spaces in Holmes Beach.
“We’ve eliminated a net of 88 parking spaces. It’s been 15 years since we visited the parking ordinance within the city of Anna Maria. It was time to relook at it,” Murphy said.
Murphy said North Shore Drive has become a heavily traveled thoroughfare in recent years, but the street hasn’t gotten any wider. During peak periods, cars were parked on both sides of the road with children present, car doors opening in the roadway and construction taking place.
“It was an accident waiting to happen. We eliminated 37 spaces along North Shore, and it was all under the auspices of public safety,” Murphy said.
“We also eliminated spaces for drainage. People were parking on top of our drainage,” Murphy said in reference to the city’s granite- and lime rock-covered vertical infiltration trenches.
“And lastly, we were impacted by the changes made in Holmes Beach. We have pretty much recovered from all those changes. I think it’s a total of about eight spaces associated with the Holmes Beach changes,” Murphy said.
Murphy said 110 public parking spaces were eliminated earlier this year, but 22 were later restored.
He said the public feedback he received from residents has been positive, and some residents asked him why more spaces weren’t eliminated.
“If we can’t justify it for public safety, if you can’t justify it on drainage and it has nothing to with the Holmes Beach changes, there’s very little motion to take those away. Not wanting cars in front of your house, I get it, but these are the three factors we used,” Murphy said.
Murphy recommended reevaluating the impact of the parking reductions early next year, after the peak tourist season.
Beach renourishment requirements
Earlier this month, Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge threatened to attempt to withhold future beach renourishment funding for the city of Holmes Beach if that city’s public parking capacity is not returned to pre-COVID levels.
Anna Maria Commissioner Jon Crane asked Murphy about potential county pushback in response to Anna Maria’s parking reductions.
“Will the county lean on us? I’ve had preliminary discussions with two of the new county commissioners. I don’t anticipate anything from those two, but I can’t tell you about others,” Murphy said.
Murphy said Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Director Charlie Hunsicker asked him to provide the county’s consulting company with a copy of the city’s revised parking plan.
“I sent them our plan a month ago and I have not heard anything since. We more than meet beach renourishment requirements,” Murphy said.
Murphy said the 2005 beach renourishment plan called for 70 public parking spaces within the renourishment zone that stretches from Cypress Avenue to the southern city limits.
“There’s no danger of us losing federal funding for beach renourishment. The rest of our beaches are all privately-owned and they don’t qualify for beach renourishment,” Murphy said.
Commission Chair Carol Carter noted Anna Maria only has a quarter-mile stretch of public beach that would qualify for potential future beach renourishment.
Commissioner Joe Muscatello asked when beach renourishment last occurred in Anna Maria.
Murphy said that occurred in 2005, and only for the beach area that extended south from Cypress Avenue.
Commissioner Mark Short noted Murphy’s white paper stated the city currently has 571 available parking spaces in that area.
“The fact that there are 571 available spots to me is something extremely important to point out,” Short said.
“I feel very strongly this is the right thing to do for public safety. It’s the right thing to do for our drainage. It is the right thing to do for the city of Anna Maria,” Murphy said.
While standing outside her home along North Shore Boulevard, city resident Lou Ann Williams said she was glad the parking spaces in front of her home were eliminated.
“I love the fact that they can’t park here anymore, for the simple fact that it is a hazard and there’s too many people. With so many people parking in my front yard, my family had nowhere to park,” Williams said.
Wheels off pavement
The city commission was also presented with the first of two readings on another ordinance that, when adopted, will further clarify the city’s existing requirements that street-side parking occur with no wheels on the pavement.
The city’s code of ordinances already provides parking exceptions that allow landscaping trucks and other service vehicles to park in no parking zones. At the discretion of code enforcement officers, service vehicles are also allowed to park with tires on the pavement while actively providing service.
