ANNA MARIA – There may soon be a new paid public parking lot in Anna Maria for beachgoers and other visitors.
On Aug. 14, the Anna Maria Planning and Zoning Board voted 5-0 in favor of recommending city commission approval for a paid parking lot at 9806 Gulf Drive at the corner of Gulf Drive and Magnolia Avenue. City commissioners will next consider the proposal.
The proposed paid parking lot area is highlighted in red in this diagram. – City of Anna Maria | Submitted
Easy Parking Group owner/operator Josh LaRose presented the site plan approval request to the P&Z board on behalf of the property owner, JRHAMI LLC. The Florida Division of Corporations lists Bradenton resident Jerry Robert Hynton as the LLC’s registered agent and manager. Hynton is a pediatric dentist in Bradenton.
Easy Parking Group owner Josh LaRose represented the property owner at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
LaRose’s Sarasota-based company currently operates at least one similar paid parking lot in Anna Maria and has operated similar parking lots in Bradenton Beach. LaRose also operated the now-defunct Old Town Tram shuttle service in Bradenton Beach that was partially funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency.
If approved, paid parking lot users would enter and exist along Magnolia Avenue. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Included in the planning board meeting packet was a memo written by City Planner Ashley Austin. According to the memo, the site plan proposes 22 paid parking spaces in the shell-covered parking lot, including one designated accessible parking space.
LaRose said the parking lot is currently blocked off to the public but some of the existing parking spaces are used by Ginny’s and Jane E’s Café & Gift Shop employees who work across the street. He said parking spaces would still be provided for those employees during daytime hours and the remaining spaces would be open to the public. Ginny’s and Jane E’s closes daily at 3 p.m.
The paid parking lot would be located at 9806 Gulf Drive. – Joe Hendricks | Su
Austin’s memo notes the paid parking lot will provide additional public parking for beachgoers and those visiting the restaurants, retail shops and other businesses in that area.
The site plan proposes one payment kiosk and six parking management signs that feature QR codes that allow for parking payments made using a cell phone. Parking lot patrons will enter and exit the parking lot along Magnolia Avenue.
During the Aug. 14 meeting, Austin said parking lots are a permitted use in the city’s Residential/Office/Retail (ROR) zoning designation but the proposed use requires a city commission-approved site plan.
The site plan includes city-required landscape buffering along the western edge of the property and additional non-required landscape buffering along the southern edge of the parking lot property.
At the request of neighboring property owner Bob Dwyer, with LaRose in agreement, the non-required southern landscape buffering will be removed from the site plan because it would block a long-used secondary entry point to Dwyer’s residential properties at 109 and 113 Magnolia Ave.
When asked, LaRose said the parking rate would likely be in the $5- to $7-dollar-per-hour range and possibly $30 for an entire day, with potential increases during holidays.
Regarding enforcement, LaRose said the parking lot would be privately enforced by Easy Parking Group employees who use written warnings to educate violators and the booting or towing of vehicles when repeat or flagrant parking violations occur.
BRADENTON BEACH – Two city homeowners were surprised to see their property erroneously identified in a July lawsuit filed by Easy Parking Group (EPG) against developer Shawn Kaleta.
“I’ve never had any dealings with Shawn Kaleta or the parking company,” Mark Dexter, owner of 206 Church Ave., told The Sun on Aug. 30.
The Sun published a story on July 29 about the lawsuit complaint, which listed Dexter’s address as the location of a parking lot. The suit was filed in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on July 18 and claimed fraudulent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and breach of agreement by Kaleta and his Beach to Bay Investments Inc.
Easy Parking Group is represented in the lawsuit by Sarasota-based attorney Bailey Lowther.
“This may well be a mistake on my part,” Lowther told The Sun on Aug. 30. “I haven’t amended the complaint to verify the correct addresses.”
The suit followed the termination of Josh LaRose’s EPG parking management contract by Kaleta. LaRose is seeking damages in excess of $50,000.
The lawsuit alleges that Kaleta falsely represented that he, or Beach to Bay, owned or controlled the various properties in which EPG provided parking management and operation services. In that complaint, eight properties are listed, including the Church Avenue property owned by Dexter and Maria Trim.
It’s unclear what property Lowther intended to include in the lawsuit.
“EPG does not know if the actual legal property owners are even aware that their properties were used as private parking lots or if they received any portion of the resulting revenues,” according to the lawsuit.
EPG asked the court to order Kaleta to immediately identify the actual owners of each of the properties where EPG provided or agreed to provide parking management and operation services, identify the revenues, if any, received by each property owner from the operation as parking lots, and indemnify EPG from any actions brought by or damages owed to the actual owners of the subject properties.
BRADENTON BEACH – The city is moving forward with its plan to implement a paid parking program as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) plans to issue an RFP seeking bids from interested paid parking program equipment providers and operators.
On May 3, CRA members directed City Attorney Ricinda Perry to draft the paid parking RFP based in part on input previously provided by Mayor John Chappie, Public Works Director Tom Woodard, Police Chief John Cosby and the city commission.
The city-owned portion of the parking lot behind the BridgeWalk resort will be included in the paid parking RFP. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Paid parking is expected to include the city-owned portion of the public parking lot off First Street North (behind the BridgeWalk resort), the public parking spaces near the cell tower, the police department headquarters and Lou Barolo park and the city hall parking lot after regular city business hours.
Paid parking is not expected to include the city-owned parking spaces alongside Bridge Street, the privately owned parking spaces along Bridge Street or the city-owned parking spaces near the Bradenton Beach Historic Pier.
The city-owned parking spaces along Bridge Street are not expected to be included in the RFP. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
CRA member Jake Spooner expressed his concern that not including the Bridge Street parking spaces in the initial paid parking program would result in Bridge Street-area employees monopolizing the remaining free parking spaces. As he’s done during past discussions, Spooner said paid parking in the city-owned Bridge Street parking would result in more of those parking spaces being available for customers who visit the Bridge Street businesses.
In response, Cosby expressed support for not including the Bridge Street spaces in the initial RFP. He encouraged the CRA members to pursue the other parking locations first and then evaluate the success of those locations before potentially including Bridge Street in the paid parking program.
During past discussions, Cosby expressed support for paid parking in part because it would create a new and additional revenue source for the city, with those revenues generated primarily by tourists and visitors rather than the city’s remaining permanent residents and taxpayers.
The Chiles Hospitality group has a privately owned paid parking lot in Bradenton Beach, near the BeachHouse restaurant.- Joe Hendricks | SunEasy Parking Group owner Joshua LaRose provides the CRA-funded Old Town Tram Parking shuttles. He also already provides paid parking equipment and oversight for the Chiles Hospitality group’s privately-owned paid public parking lot near the BeachHouse restaurant in Bradenton Beach, and Chiles Hospitality’s privately-owned paid public parking lot near the Sandbar restaurant in Anna Maria. Both of those paid parking lots are open to the public, including beachgoers, and are not restricted to restaurant patrons.
BRADENTON BEACH – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) is recommending a plan to Manatee County commissioners to widen the Coquina Beach Trail for shuttles.
The trail is a paved path about the width of a city sidewalk that begins at the south end of the Coquina Beach parking lot and runs 1.5 miles along the beach north to Fifth Street South. The plan, discussed at the April 24 TDC meeting, would resurface and widen the trail, potentially for the use of the Old Town Tram golf cart shuttle service owned by Josh LaRose’s Easy Parking Group and partially funded by the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).
Easy Parking Group’s ‘Old Town Trams’ currently service Coquina Beach to Bridge Street, but are not allowed to drive on the current beach trail, making for a bumpy ride for passengers, or long waits in heavy beach traffic. This tram stopped for a break in the shade near 13th Street South. – Jason Schaffer | Sun
“They desperately need a way to get people back and forth from Bridge Street to here without sitting in traffic for an hour,” said Doris Snyder, who comes to the beach from Palmetto on a regular basis. “We like to hit one of the restaurants on Bridge Street for lunch or dinner when we come down here, but it’s impossible to park in that area unless you get incredibly lucky. We use the golf cart service a lot, but even if they drive off the road in the parking area instead of sitting in traffic, the ride beats you to death. A cart path would be amazing.”
Project Manager Mike Stern told TDC members that the trail improvements would cost $1.5 million – including the removal of 96 Australian pine trees whose roots are damaging the pavement – and take about eight months to complete. Stern said a large part of the cost will be building a root barrier, which will require the current trail to be removed so that the barrier can be placed underground to prevent future tree roots from growing under the trail and destroying it, causing more unnecessary cost in the future. With the barrier, the trail should last for many years with little serious maintenance, he said.
“While this sounds like a large investment, we hope this will last much longer than the original trail did because we are fairly confident that there was not as much root barrier, if any, used the first time around,” said Chad Butzow, director of Public Works for Manatee County. “Hopefully we’ll get a bit more longevity this time around.”
The county currently spends between $35,000 to $40,000 a year maintaining the trail, and Public Works says that the steps being taken with the new trail will save that money because the tree roots will no longer be an issue. If this holds true, a third of the cost of the project would be covered by the nearly half a million in repair dollars that wouldn’t need to be spent over the next decade.
When asked by TDC members if the trail could be widened enough to make ample room for golf carts and pedestrians, Stern explained that as long as they were working from the existing footprint, no new permits would be needed, but because of environmental issues due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, any size expansion proposals would require permits at the state level that could take months or even years, and be potentially costly.
Beachgoers enjoy the picnic area and shade provided along the Coquina Trail. – Jason Schaffer | Sun
While not addressing Easy Parking Group’s Old Town Tram by name, TDC member and Bradenton Beach restaurant owner Ed Chiles stated that six-passenger golf cart trams should be allowed to use the path so people could park at the beach and not have to endure the sometimes impossible task of finding a parking space near the Bridge Street shopping and dining area.
“The biggest single issue in Bradenton Beach is lack of parking,” Chiles said. “Coquina Beach may be the most parking spaces anywhere in one place in the county. This trail offers connectivity. I don’t want to see all the golf carts on there, I want to see one set of trams. That connects 1,200 parking spaces that this county has worked so hard on to what the CRA has worked so hard on in downtown Bradenton Beach.”
Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the trams using the trail would also be a big help for water taxi passengers to get to and from downtown Bradenton Beach when the service begins in July of this year.
TDC Chairman James Satcher moved that the proposal be presented to the Board of County Commissioners, with the option to expand the scope of the proposal, such as a wider trail with a shell path adjacent, at a later date. The proposal was passed at the close of discussions.
In other business, it was reported that phase one of the ongoing drainage project at Coquina Beach is now complete, which added 192 parking spaces. Phase two is estimated to be completed by early July, adding 862 additional parking spaces, according to Stern.
Stern said the paving of the parking lot should be completed by the end of May, but there will still be more work to be done. He was pleased to report that fewer of the Australian pine trees that offer shade to the picnic area along the beach and parking area would need to be removed than first thought. This will not only save time and money, but keep much-needed shade in the area.
BRADENTON BEACH – The contract for the Old Town Tram parking shuttle service has been extended for another year.
First launched as a one-year pilot program in November 2020, the Old Town Tram consists of two golf cart-like trams that provide free rides seven days a week within the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) district, which extends south from the Cortez Bridge to the southernmost property lines along Fifth Street South.
Beyond the CRA district, the Old Town Trams also serve the Cortez Beach and Coquina Beach parking lots where tram users are encouraged to park and catch a tram ride to and from their destinations in the CRA district, which includes Bridge Street.
Bradenton Beach CRA members approved the contract extension with Joshua LaRose’s Easy Parking Group by a 5-1 vote on April 5.
During the meeting, City Attorney Ricinda Perry said the current contract was set to expire this month, but the contract could, with LaRose’s approval, be continued on a month-to-month basis if so desired.
When asked about a potential six-month extension, LaRose said he preferred something longer than that.
Each month, LaRose presents the CRA members with a monthly invoice for the tram services rendered. The Easy Parking Group invoice for March totaled $9,510. According to the invoice, advertising panels affixed to the two trams generated $5,175 in ad revenue, which left a $4,335 balance to be paid by the CRA.
Easy Parking Group owner Joshua LaRose provides the CRA’s contracted parking shuttle tram services. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
LaRose also provides the CRA members monthly ridership data and reports. During Wednesday’s meeting, he said tram ridership has increased by 40-60%.
CRA member Ed Chiles initially said he’d support a three-year extension, but the board agreed on a one-year extension. Perry noted that even with the extension, the contract can be terminated at any time by the CRA or LaRose with 30 days advance notice.
CRA member David Bell said he supports the trams and feels they provide an important service. He said he doesn’t have a problem with CRA funds being used to support the tram program, but, as he’s stated before, he feels the tram routes need to be adjusted.
Based on the ridership data and additional input provided monthly by LaRose, Bell has repeatedly expressed his support for discontinuing the little-used tram service at Coquina Beach and extending that service north of the Cortez Bridge where demand appears to be higher.
“People are not going to park at Coquina to come up to the CRA (district),” Bell said during the April 5 meeting. “My concern always is that we’re not analyzing the data the way that we should.”
CRA member Jan Vosburgh cast the only vote opposing the contract extension. Before doing so, she questioned extending the Old Town Tram contract at a time when significant portions of the Cortez Beach parking lot along Gulf Drive South are being rendered temporarily unavailable because of a Manatee County sewer line replacement project that’s not expected to end until late 2024.
Manatee County’s sewer line replacement project temporarily reduces the number of parking spaces available at Cortez Beach. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“I don’t see why we should be paying for the tram right now considering all that construction on Gulf Drive. Why bother with the trams? I don’t think we need it while all that construction’s going on,” Vosburgh said.
“Actually, I think it’s more important to have it now because of the construction,” CRA member John Chappie said, noting the county project sometimes forces people to park even further away from their desired destinations.
The Old Town Trams run Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5-10 p.m. On Sundays, the service ends one hour earlier at 9 p.m. Passengers can hail a tram as it passes by or call 941-404-6240 to request a ride.
BRADENTON BEACH – By a 3-2 vote, the Old Town Tram parking shuttle contract has been extended for six months.
Initiated by the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a one-year pilot program in November 2020, the free tram service uses golf cart-like electric vehicles provided and operated by Joshua LaRose’s Sarasota-based Easy Parking Group.
In 2021, the pilot program was extended for a second year and that one-year contract extension expired on Nov. 1. On Nov. 2, the CRA members and LaRose agreed to a six-month extension that expires on April 30. The CRA or LaRose can terminate the service at any time with 30 days’ notice. CRA members John Chappie, Ralph Cole and Ed Chiles supported the contract extension. Members David Bell and Jan Vosburgh opposed it.
Before agreeing to the extension, the CRA members discussed privatizing the tram service with LaRose and/or other operators, entering into another one-year contract with LaRose or discontinuing the tram service. The board discussed allowing the tram service to continue on a month-to-month basis but City Attorney Ricinda Perry said the contract doesn’t allow that.
The trams run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with the exception of Sundays, when service stops at 9 p.m. LaRose said privatization would likely result in reduced operating hours and days of operation.
Tram goals
The tram service is funded by the CRA and the monthly costs are partially offset by advertising revenues generated by the trams’ advertising panels. The long-term goal is for advertising revenues to cover 100% of the monthly costs. During the past year, advertising revenues have accounted for slightly more than 50% of the monthly costs.
The primary operational goal for the tram service is to encourage visitors to park in the county-owned Cortez Beach and Coquina Beach parking lots south of Bridge Street and take the trams to and from their desired locations within the CRA district that extends from Fifth Street South to the Cortez Bridge.
Of the two county-owned beach parking areas, Cortez Beach is closer to Bridge Street. LaRose has repeatedly stated that his tram drivers frequently pick up passengers at Cortez Beach but rarely transport passengers to and from Coquina Beach further to the south.
Visitors are encouraged to park at Cortez Beach and ride the trams to their desired destinations within the CRA district. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
LaRose said most rides are generated by personal interactions between tram drivers and those searching for a parking space, people hailing a ride in person or people hailing a ride by phone.
LaRose has repeatedly noted this his drivers frequently turn down requests for rides north of the Cortez Bridge, which remains outside the CRA’s intended tram route.
The long-term vision for the tram service includes installing a dedicated tram path running along the west side of Gulf Drive South from Fifth Street South to the North Coquina boat ramp. The dedicated path would allow tram drivers and passengers to avoid sitting in Gulf Drive traffic.
The tram path – and a dedicated employee parking lot near the Coquina North boat ramp – received preliminary Manatee County Commission support in 2021, but the installation of a tram path remains on hold pending a county pipe replacement project that is expected to significantly disrupt the Cortez Beach parking areas while that work takes place.
Perry said the lack of a dedicated tram path puts the tram service in “a tenuous position for success.”
Angela Rodocker, owner of the BridgeWalk and Silver Surf resorts, has long supported the tram service, while also remaining critical of its operations. She does not support the trams traveling north of the Cortez Bridge and has constantly expressed the need for tram drivers to adhere to a designated route within the CRA district.
Rodocker acknowledged the trams are moving a lot of people around, but she doesn’t think the service is meeting its original objectives. Bradenton Beach Marina owner Mike Bazzy encouraged the board to continue the tram service despite its shortcomings.
“Don’t give up, stay with it,” he said.
To hail a tram, call 941-404-6240. To learn more, visit the tram website.
BRADENTON BEACH – City officials soon will begin negotiating with Easy Parking Group owner Josh LaRose to create a paid parking program on city-owned lots.
The commission unanimously authorized City Attorney Ricinda Perry, Police Chief John Cosby and other members of the city team on Aug. 30 to enter into direct contract negotiations with LaRose to implement a paid parking pilot program that provides the city the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the initial program before entering into a long-term contract.
“I figured I’d put it on the agenda and see what everyone else’s thoughts are,” Commissioner Jake Spooner said when initiating the paid parking discussion.
“Paid parking can give us a nice stream of revenue without raising the millage or doing other things to raise the funds that are needed,” he added, noting that paid parking revenues could help subsidize the city’s police department.
Commissioner Jake Spooner requested the paid parking discussion. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
As part of his research, Spooner engaged in preliminary discussions with LaRose, who for the past two years has provided the trams and drivers for the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA)-funded Old Town Tram parking shuttle program.
LaRose’s Sarasota-based company provides and manages the paid parking kiosk located in one of the Sandbar restaurant’s overflow parking lots in Anna Maria. He also provides and manages paid parking systems in downtown Sarasota, St. Armands Circle and Venice.
Easy Parking Group owner Josh LaRose presented his paid parking proposal to the city commission. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Spooner said paid parking would help create more turnover and make more parking spaces available to those who visit the CRA district, which includes Bridge Street.
Agreeing with Spooner’s statement, LaRose said a paid parking program would also encourage those who don’t want to pay for parking to park in the nearby Cortez Beach parking lot and use the free Old Town Trams to get to their destinations in the CRA district.
LaRose proposed a pilot program creating paid parking in the city-owned portion of the lot located between First Street North and the backside of the BridgeWalk resort, and the city-owned spaces near the police station and public works building along Highland Avenue.
The city-owned parking spaces near the police station are included in the paid parking proposal. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Spooner suggested the public parking spaces along Bridge Street could also be used for paid parking to help discourage employee parking in those spaces. That option might be presented for future discussion.
Private parking lots generally charge $4.50 to $5 an hour, LaRose said. For Bradenton Beach, he proposed charging $3.50 an hour, which could be increased, decreased or waived as needed with users paying using onsite payment kiosks or their cell phones. Cosby said he liked the idea of potentially increasing the parking rate on certain holidays to help control the number of visitors coming to the city.
LaRose suggested allowing Bradenton Beach residents to park for free or at a discounted rate using their city-issued hurricane re-entry tags or a parking decal to be issued by the city.
“We’re really only taxing the visitors that come here,” he said.
This payment kiosk in the Sandbar restaurant’s overflow parking lot in Anna Maria provides paid public parking for beachgoers and others. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Using a conservative estimate, LaRose said the proposed 56 parking spaces would generate between $240,000 to $343,000 in net revenues per year, depending on whether his company provides a full-time parking ambassador who’s paid an hourly rate to enforce the paid parking.
LaRose said his company uses the same parking enforcement technology that’s used by police departments. He said his company’s enforcement aimed primarily at educating users but can result in boots being placed on vehicles if needed.
The enforcement costs will depend on whether his company receives 100% of the revenues generated by the parking citations issued by his employees, LaRose said. A typical enforcement period is 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., but his company enforces parking in downtown Sarasota until 2 a.m. and in some parking lots, enforcement begins at 8 a.m.
LaRose said there would be no start-up costs or out-of-pocket expenses for the city. He proposes a 50-50 split of the net parking revenues that remain after equipment, signs, enforcement and other expenses are deducted. The city commission favors a 60-40 split. LaRose said the revenue sharing can be further negotiated before an agreement is finalized.
Cosby said it’s important to designate in advance how the paid parking revenues will be spent. He suggested using some of those revenues to replace the aging city hall building. Commissioner Ralph Cole said some of the revenue needs to be used to for additional funding of the city police department that has to deal with the increased enforcement needs created by the large number of visitors coming to Bradenton Beach.
Mayor John Chappie asked if the city is required to put the paid parking services out to bid so other companies can submit proposals. Perry said the city’s procurement policy allows the municipality to enter into direct negotiations with LaRose because he already serves as the CRA’s contracted parking tram provider, adding that the discussions must be conducted in a public setting in accordance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law. Cosby noted the Easy Parking Group is a local company and said he and city staff already have a good working relationship with LaRose.
BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners plan to discuss the possibility of charging for parking in some city-owned parking lots.
During the July 7 city commission meeting, Commissioner Jake Spooner requested that a city commission workshop be scheduled to discuss potential paid parking.
“I was going to ask the board if there’d be any appetite to have a workshop on the possibility of paid parking in the city lots,” he said.
“I think that would be wonderful,” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said.
“I agree,” Mayor John Chappie added. “We briefly discussed it a little while back and I know you’ve been working with the (police) chief.”
Chappie asked Spooner to work with City Clerk Terri Sanclemente to schedule the requested commission workshop, which will also include insight from Police Chief John Cosby.
He noted the scheduling of a commission workshop does not mean the commission is already committed to the idea of paid parking.
“We’re going to hear what Commissioner Spooner has prepared, and discussion with the chief, and see where we’re at,” Chappie said.
Past discussions
Spooner has suggested paid parking in the past. During the June 1 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, he suggested paid parking in city-owned parking lots as a means of generating additional revenue to help subsidize the CRA-funded Old Town Tram program; and to also help fund additional policing within the CRA district that extends from the Cortez Bridge to Fifth Street South. In response, Chappie said he didn’t want to see paid parking lots located all over the city.
More than a year ago, when discussing the potential replacement of the aging city hall building, Spooner suggested building a new city hall/police department building near the existing police department and public works buildings and converting the existing city hall property into a paid parking lot. Spooner estimated this would generate enough revenues to pay off the new city hall complex in 10 years and continue to provide the city with additional revenues after that.
In response to that suggestion, Chappie and Vosburgh expressed opposition to converting the city hall property located across the street from the Gulf of Mexico into a paid parking lot.
A new trend?
On Thursday, July 14, the Anna Maria City Commission is expected to approve a site plan amendment that will formalize the existing paid parking in a lot owned by Ed Chiles and the Sandbar restaurant ownership group.
Located near the Sandbar, the automated paid parking kiosk provided by Joshua LaRose’s Easy Parking Group charges $5 per hour or $30 for eight hours of paid public parking that is open to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis. Parking in that lot is not restricted to Sandbar restaurant patrons only.
One of the Sandbar restaurant’s parking lots now offers paid public parking. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
LaRose’s company also provides paid parking kiosks in downtown Sarasota and in Siesta Key. He is also the service and equipment provider for the Bradenton Beach CRA’s Old Town Tram service.
The anticipated approval of the Sandbar’s paid parking program may inspire other private and public property owners to follow suit as a means of generating additional revenues while also providing more public parking on Anna Maria Island.
ANNA MARIA – Sandbar restaurant owner Ed Chiles is one step closer to having his paid public parking lot formally approved by city officials.
The Anna Maria Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended on June 2 that city commission approval of an amended site plan would bring the existing paid parking operations into compliance with city code.
The Chiles Group/Weld Inc.-owned parking lot at 9902 Gulf Drive has long served as an overflow parking lot for the Sandbar restaurant. The paid parking lot is located between Spring Lane and Magnolia Avenue. In February, the city’s code enforcement department became aware of paid parking occurring there without the city’s approval.
The paid parking lot is located along Gulf Drive, between Spring Lane and Magnolia Avenue. – City of Anna Maria | Submitted
“This is before you today as a result of a code enforcement case that was brought forward to the property owner,” City Planner Chad Minor told the planning board.
Minor said the automated payment kiosk and paid parking signs were installed in February and paid parking began without the knowledge of city staff. The kiosk also references a cell phone app. Minor said the Chiles Group was informed that the city would not pursue further code enforcement action if the ownership group submitted an amended site plan to be reviewed by the planning board and approved by the city commission.
The property has been used for parking since the mid-1960s and will continue to provide overflow parking for the Sandbar restaurant, while also providing paid public parking for beachgoers and those visiting other restaurants, businesses and destinations, he said.
The paid public parking is available to restaurant patrons, beachgoers and others. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Minor said city staff was initially concerned that using that lot for paid public parking might eliminate some of the parking required for the restaurant operations. He said the site plan amendment process gave city staff the opportunity to review the potential impacts of the paid parking lot and staff determined the restaurant parking requirements would still be met. Minor recommends approval of the site plan application that conforms with the city’s ordinances and comprehensive plan.
Board member Barbara Zdravecky asked Minor if the approval of the Sandbar site plan would set a precedent for other paid parking lots. Minor said any property proposing to offer paid parking would have to go through the same site plan approval process. He said he’s not aware of any other property owners currently pursuing paid parking, but they are afforded that ability through the city code.
Brooks O’Hara, the director of real estate for the Chiles Group and the applicant for the amended site plan approval, attended the planning board meeting and answered questions posed by the board members.
The paid parking options include an automated payment kiosk and a cell phone app. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
When asked how the automated paid parking is enforced, O’Hara said the Chiles Group uses the same vendor (Joshua LaRose’s Easy Parking Group) that provides the city of Sarasota’s paid parking kiosks on Main Street. O’Hara said enforcement is mainly voluntary, but if a violation occurs, a notice can be placed on the offending vehicle. If the violation continues, a wheel lock or windshield bar can be placed on the vehicle.
“We haven’t had to do that,” O’Hara said.
When asked about the overnight parking and RV parking, O’Hara said the parked vehicles are usually gone by 10 p.m. and he’s not aware of any overnight parking or RV parking taking place in that lot. He said the parking spaces are not large enough to accommodate RV parking and the lot could be closed off after hours if needed.
Minor said the city code includes provisions that address overnight parking and RV parking.
When asked why the Sandbar ownership group wasn’t issued a code enforcement violation citation, Minor said, “Our goal is to work for compliance.”
O’Hara said the parking lot in question has historically been used for paid parking, but with a parking lot attendant collecting cash payments.
“For years, this was out of compliance then?” board member Bob Carter asked.
Mayor Dan Murphy attended the meeting and provided some historical context on the past use of the parking lot. Murphy said Sandbar patrons used to pay $25 when parking there, but in exchange received a $25 voucher to use at the restaurant. Murphy said the city did not consider that to be paid parking, but the installation of an automated payment kiosk signified a switch from restaurant customer parking to paid public parking.
Murphy said O’Hara’s assertion that paid parking was previously allowed in that parking lot was not accurate.
“The reason we let you do what do is because you had a voucher system for eating at your restaurant. That made it customer parking,” Murphy said.
The amended site plan will now be presented to the city commission for final approval.
BRADENTON BEACH – The parking tram pilot program in Bradenton Beach is expected to begin service on Sunday, Nov. 1.
The Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) members unanimously approved a one-year contract on Wednesday, Sept. 2 with Easy Parking Group owner Joshua LaRose, who in June was selected as the CRA’s top choice over two other bidders.
Easy Parking Group already provides daily tram service for the Daiquiri Deck and the Bridge Street Bazaar businesses that operate in the building owned by CRA member and City Commissioner Jake Spooner.
Utilizing two electric, golf-cart-like trams, the pilot program will be funded by the CRA. The trams will be owned, operated, maintained and insured by the Easy Parking Group and one of the trams will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The rides will be free for passengers, but tram drivers will gladly accept tips.
The one-year contract provides LaRose with exclusive rights for five one-year renewals.
When service begins, the trams will provide park-and-ride shuttle services in and around the CRA district that extends from the Cortez Bridge to Fifth Street South. The county-owned parking spaces at Cortez Beach – along Gulf Drive and south of Bridge Street – will be among the locations where motorists can park for free and catch a free ride to various destinations in and around the CRA district. The county-owned parking spaces further south at Coquina Beach may also be used.
City Attorney Ricinda Perry said there’s “absolutely no need to go to the county” regarding the use of the county-owned beach parking spaces currently used by Island residents, county residents, non-residents, the Monkey Bus and others. Perry said there’s nothing that prohibits or prevents the CRA from running trams to those public parking areas.
The city-owned parking lot behind the BridgeWalk resort and the city lot next to the public works department building may also serve as park-and-ride destinations, as could the after-hours parking spaces at city hall.
The trams will also provide park-and-ride service to employees who work in and around the CRA district.
“It will move them to the Coquina and Cortez beach areas if the owners of the establishments tell their people they need to park elsewhere and open up more spaces closer to the businesses we have in the Bridge Street/CRA area,” CRA member and Mayor John Chappie said.
Tram routing
The initial tram plans envisioned trams running back and forth between Cortez Beach and the public works parking lot, using Fifth Street South, Bay Drive South, Church Street North, First Street North and Bridge Street as the proposed travel routes.
This led to some public resistance from residents who live along Fifth Street South and Bay Drive South, which led to additional CRA discussions about potentially using a route that relies more on Gulf Drive and Bridge Street.
The initial tram route was proposed to the follow the route highlighted in red, with Cortez Beach shown to the right. – City of Bradenton Beach | Submitted
During Wednesday’s meeting, resident Terry Gephardt again expressed her concerns about the potential tram route.
“I want to make the same comment I’ve made all along: Please do not run the tram down Fifth Street South. We are a neighborhood. We want to be a community, we don’t want to be a commercial endeavor,” she said.
The exact tram routes and operating hours will be subject to ongoing review and revision.
“This is a pilot project. We need to decide where it runs, where it will be best suited, how often it will be used and what the peak seasonal needs and demands are,” Perry said.
Chappie also addressed the routing concerns.
“The routing is going to be flexible. I’ve heard what the concerns are on Fifth Street and there’s a lot of good points there. I think we need to look at these other areas, along with the Fifth Street area. I think we need to move forward with it and see how this shakes out,” Chappie said.
Perry said LaRose is willing to treat the pilot program as a fluid situation as long as the CRA commits to two trams.
The contract calls for LaRose to provide the CRA with ridership and route data that can be used to continually evaluate the program’s impact and success.
That data may also be used to support the CRA’s potential future efforts to install a dedicated tram path in the Cortez Beach parking area, running parallel to Gulf Drive. City Engineer Lynn Burnett has already discussed with county staff the possibility of a tram path and reconfiguring the Cortez Beach parking lots using diagonal parking and ropes and bollards to separate the parking areas from the tram path.
Anticipated costs
Perry said the trams will run seven days a week, 365 days a year and the initial hours of operation will be Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The city’s contract with the Easy Parking Group is based on daily rates. Perry said the rates will be $155 per day for the regular shuttle cart and $165 per day for the ADA-compliant cart. This equates to $320 per day, approximately $9,731 per month and $116,800 per year.
As he has done during previous discussions, CRA Chair Ralph Cole again expressed concerns about dedicating more than $100,000 per year in annual CRA revenues to a parking tram program. In recent years, CRA’s annual tax revenues have averaged between $500,000 and $600,000, according to City Treasurer Shayne Thompson.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Cole questioned whether the proposed annual tram expenditure might be better used to pursue other CRA projects instead, including the additional undergrounding of utility lines. Despite his reservations, Cole agreed to give the pilot program a try.
Tram-based advertising opportunities are expected to help offset the CRA’s tram expenditures. – Easy Parking Group | Submitted
Perry said advertising revenue generated by signs affixed to the trams would help offset some of the CRA expenses. Perry said the ad revenues will be noted on the monthly invoices and deducted from the CRA’s monthly payments to the Easy Parking Group. Perry said she’s already been contacted by six business owners interested in advertising.
“If the pilot program’s not successful, we can cancel it. If we decide we can’t appropriate the funds for it, we can get out of it,” Perry said.
Additional comments
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the road construction taking place in and around the CRA district, member David Bell questioned whether Nov. 1 was the best time to launch the program and begin collecting ridership data.
CRA member and Beach House restaurant owner Ed Chiles said, “It seems like we’re on the precipice here of success, and that gives me goosebumps. We’ve been working on this for years and years.”
Bridge Street will be a primary destination for the CRA parking trams when service begins. – Easy Parking Group | Submitted
Chiles noted parking has historically been the biggest problem in the Bradenton Beach business district.
“I think it’s a great overall Bradenton Beach project. We’re going to have something fresh and new as we hopefully come out of this pandemic. I think it’s universally supported by the businesses. Ricinda, thank you for your perseverance. It looks like we’re about to make this thing happen,” Chiles said.
