HOLMES BEACH – The bang that kicked off 2023 in Anna Maria Island’s largest city wasn’t the fireworks. The year that was had a lot of ups and downs for both city leaders and residents along with a few surprise loops along the rollercoaster of a year.
TREE HOUSE OWNERS MARK DECADE OF LEGAL WRANGLING
In January, the year started the same way that it ended, with the city and tree house owners Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen facing off in court over the beachfront tree house structure at Angelinos Sea Lodge. As the legal fight passed the decade mark in Manatee County courtrooms, the tree house owners received another blow as cases against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the city were found in favor of the government entities. Despite the setbacks, the fight for the owners to keep the two-story tree house aloft and for the city to have the unpermitted structure removed continues.
PARKING GARAGE PURSUED
One of the twists that took city leaders for a loop in 2023 started in January with Manatee County Legislative Delegation members deciding to push a bill forward to allow Manatee County commissioners to construct a three-story parking garage at Manatee Beach. The fight over the parking garage began more than a year earlier with Manatee County commissioners, spearheaded by Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge, arguing with city leaders over some street-side parking in residential neighborhoods being designated as resident-only until 5 p.m. daily. Though the plan to change the parking in some residential neighborhoods was almost 10 years in the making, Van Ostenbridge claimed that city leaders took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to close side of street parking in residential neighborhoods in a bid to keep visitors away from the beach. Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer provided county leaders with personally collected numbers demonstrating the abundance of open beach parking in the city, even during high-volume holidays such as Easter and spring break. Despite the data provided to county commissioners, they pushed for state legislators to introduce a parking garage bill in violation of the city’s land development code and comprehensive plan. The bill passed and at the end of the year city leaders are considering their legal options to continue the parking garage fight.
If built according to plan, the garage would cost Manatee County taxpayers more than an estimated $45 million to construct and $200,000 annually to maintain, remove the existing beach facilities including a historic building housing concessions, a bar and retail store, eliminate the existing more than 450 parking spots and facilities for more than two years during construction, and provide around 900 total parking spaces. Van Ostenbridge said the parking spaces in the garage would need to be paid for hourly by drivers in order to fund the garage’s maintenance. Though paid parking is not currently an allowable use in Holmes Beach, and neither are multi-story parking facilities, Mayor Judy Titsworth said that if county commissioners decide to go ahead with building the garage and charging for parking, the city will be forced to reconsider its stance on free beach parking for the public.
CONSOLIDATION STUDY BEGUN
After giving leaders in the three Anna Maria Island cities a few months to discuss how they could consolidate services to save taxpayers money, members of the state legislative delegation opted to go forward with an Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability study to look at consolidation of the three Anna Maria Island cities or annexation into Bradenton or unincorporated Manatee County. Rep. Will Robinson Jr. (R-Bradenton) and Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton) sent the mayors of all three cities a notice in the fall that the OPPAGA study would be going forward with the intent of investigating if the three Island cities should be consolidated, annexed or left as three independent municipalities. While the mayors said they support the study in an effort to look at ways to save taxpayers money, they are all opposed to consolidation or elimination of the Island municipalities.
ISLANDERS 4 CLEAN WATER LAUNCHED
In the spring, Holmes Beach city leaders celebrated the launch of the Islanders 4 Clean Water campaign aimed at raising awareness of water quality issues in and around Anna Maria Island and how residents and visitors can reduce their negative impact on the environment. Dozens of people took the plunge in support of the campaign and city leaders are continuing to raise awareness for the campaign and environment into 2024.
NO ELECTION NEEDED
The sitting city commissioners escaped the need for an election in November as candidate qualifying ended in July with incumbent Commissioners Pat Morton, Terry Schaefer and Carol Soustek all running unopposed. Because only one person qualified to run for the charter review commission, which was set to convene in January 2024, City Attorney Erica Augello said that no additional members could be appointed to the charter review commission outside of the election process, meaning that this will be the first time since the city’s incorporation that the charter review commission will not meet as scheduled.
LIGHT IMPACTS FROM HURRICANE IDALIA
Anna Maria Island once again slipped through hurricane season virtually unscathed. The closest brush the Island had with a named storm was when Hurricane Idalia moved past about 100 miles in the Gulf of Mexico off Holmes Beach’s shoreline. While the Island missed taking a direct hit, the storm brought a day of rain and windy weather to the city, flooding and some minor damage to structures.
WATER MAIN REPAIR DELAYED ON BRIDGE
Due to delays in receiving materials, work to repair and relocate a water main along the Anna Maria Island Bridge on Manatee Avenue was postponed. Crews are completing the last phase of the water main pipe repair, installing additional hangers to support the pipe on the east side of the bridge.
