HOLMES BEACH – Mayor Judy Titsworth recently shared her thoughts on the possibility of paid parking becoming a reality in Holmes Beach at some point in the not too distant future.
Titsworth addressed paid parking while giving her mayor’s report during the Aug. 25 city commission meeting. Titsworth noted she recently had her annual meeting with Manatee County officials and there was reluctance at the county level to discuss paid parking at the Island’s county-owned public beaches in Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach.
“They didn’t want to talk about it this year because it’s election season and they know that’s going to cause some anxiety as soon as you talk about paid parking at beaches,” Titsworth said.
She also referenced the recently presented parking study in Anna Maria that proposes paid parking and resident permit parking.
She referenced the Anna Maria mayor and said, “I have been in conversations with Mark Short. We’ve seen that they are looking at what they have to do. They invested in a parking plan. It was just unveiled.”
Regarding what might happen in Holmes Beach, Titsworth said, “Everybody knows that we’ve done our parking map and we’ve identified what we would have if we went forward with paid parking. We’ve just been sort of waiting until we were pushed into paid parking. We all have to do it at the same time.”
Titsworth noted Anna Maria and Holmes Beach already use the same Passport program for the issuance of parking tickets and the collection of parking ticket fines.
Although she’ll be stepping down as mayor in November, Titsworth anticipates Holmes Beach implementing a paid parking program that would be similar to the parking program Anna Maria expects to implement in March.
“We would be looking at protecting Holmes Beach property owners. Anna Maria would be looking at protecting theirs,” she said.
“Although we might have little different scenarios with our paid parking, we’re hoping they would be very similar as far as use for the people that are using it. We’re doing the background work in case it looks like it’s going to happen, or in case these two cities decide let’s do it, let’s not wait for the county. Staff has been prepared to act if we need to,” Titsworth said.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore asked about Bradenton Beach’s paid parking plans. She said it would be nice if all three Island cities worked in continuity.
Titsworth said most of the beach parking in Bradenton Beach is at the county-owned beaches, but she anticipates Bradenton Beach implementing some form of paid parking program too.
Commissioner Jessica Patel asked the mayor if Holmes Beach has a parking map. Titsworth said that map can be found at the city website.
Whitmore asked how much residents pay for parking permits in the areas where permit parking is already in place. Police Chief Bill Tokajer said the annual resident parking permits are $10.
“I’m not paying to park when I live here,” Whitmore said.
Commissioner and mayoral candidate Dan Diggins said paid parking will be a heated issue during the next couple of years.
“We’re gonna get you all the information, so if it does come forward, staff will be able to give you everything for your consideration,” Titsworth said. “It could be messy when you start going to paid parking, but we’ll have all that information for you when you’re ready to talk about it.”
