HOLMES BEACH – A battle is brewing on 78th Street between a beachfront property owner and neighbors insisting on using a longstanding beach access.
The owners of the beachfront home at 101 78th St., Bryce Raub and Travis Resmond, blocked off public access to a beach path that runs along the edge of their property in mid-April, without notice to neighboring property owners, neighbors say. The two have owned the property since 2014, according to Manatee County Property Appraiser’s records.
The act caused an uproar with neighbors who say they have used the path to access the Gulf of Mexico for years without an issue.
In an email to Mayor Judy Titsworth, Raub said he’d been informed by surveyor James Clements, whom he hired in March, that there is no public beach access between his property and the adjacent lots.
Despite there having been an easement on the property previously, Titsworth said that even if the easement still existed, issues with the language wouldn’t grant the public use of the path for beach access.
In an April 22 talk with The Sun, Titsworth said she’d had city attorney Erica Augello look into the possibility of a public access path across the private property and had bad news for 78th Street residents. While an easement was noted as existing on the property in records prior to 2014, it is not listed on the current deed for the property at 101 78th St. In addition to the disappearance of the easement note on the deed and the fact that there are no easement documents recorded, Titsworth said the easement noted on prior documents was for a nonexclusive easement.
The problem with easements, she said, is that they have to state who the easement benefits. In this case, the easement didn’t state that it benefited the public.
With the property owners not blocking their neighbors from accessing the beach, just blocking the one path to the beach, Titsworth said she’s unsure of how a legal challenge would play out for neighbors. And since the dispute concerns private property, she said there’s very little the city can do, despite being contacted by neighbors and Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge to urge city leaders to take action.
The mayor said she instructed city staff to put up a sign at the closed path noting that no beach access is allowed. A Holmes Beach police officer also was stationed at the end of the street on the weekend of April 22-24 to prevent public access to the path.
If the matter is resolved in the neighbors’ favor, Titsworth said she’d be happy to have the sign placed by city staff removed. Other signs at the path, including ones advising against trespassing, were not installed by city staff.
Neighbors of the beachfront property argue that not only should the easement on the property recorded in earlier deeds give them a right to use the path but that they should also have a right to use it due to the number of years it has been used for beach access.
In addition to writing to city and county leaders, some 78th Street residents have taken to social media to express their frustration with the issue.
Hilary Dravis posted on social media about her father, Vinny, who lived on 78th Street for more than 40 years and used the path to access the beach daily. She said he even purchased a bench from the city to place at the end of the path on the beach for others to enjoy. Dravis said her father would be saddened to see the path closed to the public.
HOLMES BEACH – It looks like residents’ golf cart driving days aren’t numbered after all.
At the first reading of a new golf cart ordinance on April 12, commissioners made a few eleventh hour changes before approving the amended regulations with a unanimous vote. Most notable among those changes is the elimination of a sunset period for golf cart usage in the city.
Commissioner Carol Soustek started the discussion, stating that she’d spoken to several residents who were unhappy with the provision in the new ordinance that didn’t allow for a replacement vehicle to be purchased and put in use on city streets once a resident’s golf cart died.
“It’s very little that they’re asking for,” Soustek said.
Her fellow commissioners all agreed.
Under the new regulations, golf carts can only be operated in the city by residents. Another change made was to add a provision allowing annual renters and other long-term residents as well as homesteaded residents to the list of people allowed to drive a golf cart on city streets.
If the ordinance passes a second and final vote at an upcoming commission meeting, residents will have three months to get their golf carts registered with the Holmes Beach Police Department. Golf carts will be required to have a sticker identifying them as a registered vehicle with the city and must be driven by a licensed driver. To register the vehicle, the owner must show proof of primary residency in Holmes Beach, such as an annual lease agreement or property homestead paperwork.
An important distinction is that, while they may look alike, a golf cart and a low-speed vehicle are considered two different things under Florida law.
A low-speed vehicle is one that has to be registered with the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles and can travel at speeds greater than 21 mph. A golf cart does not have a license plate, nor can it be registered with the DMV. Golf carts travel at speeds lower than 21 mph.
Holmes Beach is the only Anna Maria Island city where golf carts can be legally driven on the road.
MANATEE COUNTY – Cierra Shannon, 28, of Holmes Beach, pled no contest today to a first-degree felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash with a death.
Shannon appeared before Manatee County Judge Lon Arend represented by attorney Tyler Egbert in the hit-and-run pedestrian versus vehicle case.
Sentencing is expected to take place within 60 days and Shannon is not allowed to leave the state of Florida.
Shannon was charged in the Feb. 10, 2021 accident that killed pedestrian Madelyn Dakin, 83, of Michigan, who was on vacation in Holmes Beach with her husband. According to a Holmes Beach Police Department report, Shannon struck Dakin with her vehicle in the 2700 block of Gulf Drive. Witnesses to the accident saw a woman matching Shannon’s description leave the vehicle to check on Dakin before getting back in the vehicle and fleeing the scene, according to the report. Dakin was pronounced dead at the accident scene.
Shannon’s vehicle was found in Cortez village near the FISH Preserve the following day and she turned herself in to Bradenton police that afternoon.
On Feb. 15, 2021, Shannon’s then-attorney Ronald Filipkowski entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf. She was released the next day on a $15,000 bond. Shannon’s trial was originally scheduled for Nov. 15, 2021 before being rescheduled to this week.
HOLMES BEACH – A familiar topic is coming back to the agenda for a future city commission work session.
The 2022 Florida state legislative session came to a close without anything passing the House or Senate on strengthening the recertification process and other safety measures for condominium buildings. With more and more building issues being identified in Holmes Beach, commissioners are bringing back the idea of creating a local recertification process for some residential buildings.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer brought the subject up in his comments following a March 22 work session, saying he wants to reconsider local safety measures for multi-family structures since city leaders now know that no new regulations are coming from the state.
Mayor Judy Titsworth said she’s already got city attorney Erica Augello researching to see what other communities are doing so Holmes Beach commissioners can have a productive discussion on the subject at a future work session.
Though Holmes Beach thankfully hasn’t had a disaster when it comes to aging buildings falling apart, it has come fairly close in recent weeks. On March 18, Holmes Beach Building Official Neal Schwartz, West Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski, HBPD Chief Bill Tokajer and city Code Compliance Supervisor James Thomas all responded to 2809 Avenue E, where tenants were evacuated due to issues at the three-unit property.
Some of the issues noted in a code compliance report include exterior stairs missing risers, a sagging outdoor second-floor porch that was not entirely connected to the home, damaged windows, missing exterior siding, mold and other structural issues. The officials present declared the property unsafe and removed the inhabitants.
Texts to code compliance officers from property owner Shawn Kaleta indicate that the building is being scheduled for demolition and messages from attorney Louis Najmy to Tokajer state the property was not rented to the people who were staying there. Code compliance officers also received messages from some of the tenants that they were renting the property from Kaleta and paying him $900 per month including utilities as payment using the mobile payment service Venmo.
In mid-July 2021, one of the two Fountain Head condominium buildings had to be temporarily evacuated due to a structural issue with some of the balconies. Earlier that month, a balcony collapsed on a single-family home, though that incident is believed by city leaders to be due to a lack of maintenance at the property.
Commissioners said they don’t want to wait until a disaster strikes before enacting regulations to at least recertify and make sure multi-family buildings are safe for occupants. In November 2021, Schwartz gave a presentation to commissioners on potential recertification regulations that Titsworth said will be a part of future discussions on building safety.
HOLMES BEACH – A good deed backfired last week when a group of teens attacked a man who was trying to stop them from vandalizing Anna Maria Elementary School.
Holmes Beach resident Evan Purcell, 40, was seriously injured on March 23 when he confronted a group of teenagers allegedly drinking and breaking glass bottles near the cafeteria entrance of the school, according to Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer, who held a press conference about the incident.
Holmes Beach resident Evan Purcell is recovering in Blake Hospital after being attacked March 23 at Anna Maria Elementary School. – Submitted
Purcell was walking his dog that evening with his 10-year-old niece when he spotted the vandalism. Purcell said he told the teens to stop what they were doing and leave the property, according to Tokajer. When the teens became aggressive, Purcell pulled out a pocket knife to scare off the group. The move had the opposite effect, with some of the teenagers attacking Purcell, knocking him to the ground and hitting him repeatedly. Purcell’s niece escaped without injury and ran to a nearby home to call 911. The dog also was not injured. Tokajer said that when police arrived on the scene at about 9 p.m., the group had fled in a vehicle and Purcell was unconscious. He was transported by helicopter to Blake Hospital and was in stable condition as of press time for The Sun.
The investigation into what police are calling an aggravated battery case is ongoing.
While the suspects escaped, their vehicle was identified using the city’s license plate recognition system cameras as a white Kia Sportage, Tokajer said. He added that bottles and cans left behind at the scene of the crime are being evaluated for fingerprints and DNA evidence that will be used to identify those involved.
Police are still seeking information on the March 23 assault of Evan Purcell. – Submitted
Tokajer said it’s believed the group contained about six teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18, all thought to be from Sarasota and Manatee counties. Some have been identified, but their names have not been released. He encouraged anyone involved in the attack or with information about those involved to immediately contact HBPD Det. Josh Fleischer at 941-708-5800 ext. 270 or email fleischerj@holmesbeach.org. For anyone who has information but wishes to remain anonymous, contact Manatee County Crime Stoppers at 866-634-TIPS.
Community members are already reaching out to help Purcell as he recovers. His family has set up a GoFundMe account with the goal of raising $25,000 to help pay for hospital bills. As of March 27, $8,425 in funding had been raised. To donate, visit the fundraiser webpage.
HOLMES BEACH – The 34th Annual Springfest Fine Arts & Fine Crafts Festival returned to an appreciative crowd at City Field March 19-20.
The event is touted by organizers as a combination of people, education, entertainment and food, where you can find amazing items handcrafted and offered for sale by talented artists. Sponsored by the Anna Maria Island Art League, this year’s event featured 80 artists showcasing everything from oil paintings to wood carvings. The event also featured live music and plenty of food, making it a great way to spend a beautiful spring afternoon.
Cynthia Walston of Lutz took Best in Show at Springfest in Holmes Beach. – Submitted
“We are here from New York and had no idea this was happening this weekend. I told my husband we would check it out if we could find a parking spot,” said Linda Minardi, who attended with her husband, Walt. “We found a spot and are happy we did. We had some amazing food and bought a couple of nice pieces to take home and remember how much we love Anna Maria Island.”
Springfest is a juried show for both adults and children. Prizes were $450 for Best in Show, $250 for Awards of Distinction and $100 for Awards of Merit. This year’s winners included:
Best in Show – Cynthia Walston (oil painting)
Award of Distinction – John Cheer (ceramic/glass fuse)
Award of Distinction – Ron Deel (oil painting)
Award of Merit – Kowena Suckstorf (glass)
Award of Merit – Maureen Abdullah (jewelry)
Award of Merit – Jay Canterbury (photography)
The Anna Maria Art League is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the arts on the Island. In addition to classes, funds from the festival underwrite the operation of the art center, exhibits, and a variety of programs for the community. Springfest is a major source of the organization’s annual fundraising. For more information, visit the league’s website.
HOLMES BEACH – “Do you hear that silence? That is the sound of drowning,” West Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski said, opening a discussion on the threats posed by not remaining vigilant around water.
Kwiatkowski was joined by Chief Ben Rigney, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, Manatee County Commissioners Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Carol Whitmore, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer, Manatee County Marine Patrol Chief Joe Westerman and Manatee County Assistant Chief of Special Operations Sean Dwyer, among others, to speak at the event held March 10 at Kingfish Boat Ramp.
Of all of the people who spoke during the event, the most powerful and heart-wrenching testimony came from the Bardwell family who lost their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Lylah in 2021 due to drowning.
Tom and Courtney Bardwell recounted the events leading up to their child drowning in their backyard pool. Tom Bardwell, Lylah’s father, who was home with the toddler at the time of the accident, said that with all of the safety precautions in place to prevent the child from accessing their pool, including a pool fence, he stepped away to take a phone call. In that short amount of time, he said Lylah had apparently tossed a favorite toy over the pool fence and somehow made her way past all of the barriers to keep her out of the water without supervision.
Lylah Bardwell was one of 19 drowning or near-drowning victims under the age of 18 in Manatee County in the past 12 months.
Speaking from her experience, Titsworth said that she nearly lost one of her nephews to drowning when he was a child. Thankfully, she said the boy was found in time and able to be resuscitated. She encouraged everyone to make sure that there is a responsible adult keeping a close watch on everyone in their family or group when in the water, whether at a backyard pool or at the beach.
Dwyer echoed Titsworth’s recommendation, stating that drowning can happen quickly and in just a few inches of water. He said that in addition to making sure that there is an adult watching children swim, to swim near a lifeguard, if possible. He also recommended having someone who is CPR certified nearby. Additionally, he recommended making sure that all children are properly instructed on how to swim, a sentiment repeated by several of the speakers.
Westerman said that for anyone bringing children to the beach for spring break, make sure you swim where a trained lifeguard can observe and respond if an accident happens. He also encouraged beachgoers to learn about rip currents and how to avoid being sucked under and potentially drowning when encountering one.
He said the first thing to do when you realize you’re caught in a rip current is to not try to fight against it to get to shore. Instead, swim out or allow the current to pull you out, maintaining your head above water, and then swim to the side then back to shore once released from the current. Fighting against the rip current will sap your energy reserves and could increase the chance of drowning.
With spring break fully underway in Manatee County, Kwiatkowski said that there will be volunteers stationed in the mornings along Manatee Avenue leading to Manatee Beach waving signs to alert passersby about the initiative to prevent drowning and raise public awareness.
HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners are trying to figure out a way to regulate golf carts, but they’re split on how to enact regulations without penalizing residents.
At a March 8 work session, Holmes Beach commissioners continued a discussion on enacting a registration program for golf carts that would only allow homesteaded city residents to drive them within city limits and give the operation of the vehicles on city streets a sunset period.
A golf cart is defined as being capable of traveling up to 20 mph and is not required to be registered with the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. In contrast, a low-speed vehicle (LSV) may look similar to a golf cart, but can travel at speeds up to 25 mph and must have a state-issued license plate and insurance. Golf carts, unlike LSVs, are only allowed to be driven in the city of Holmes Beach, not in Anna Maria or Bradenton Beach.
If the new regulations pass, golf carts in Holmes Beach will be required to have a registration issued by the city. They would need to have insurance in case of an accident and would be allowed to be operated only during daylight hours, a custom commonly practiced now. The registration would be a one-time issue for residents because the operation of golf carts in the city would have a sunset period of five years.
Though the sunset period was initially proposed by city staff at 10 years, commissioners agreed 3-2 to lower the sunset period to five years, after which the vehicles would not be allowed to be operated in the city. The exception would be for operation at the Key Royale Golf Course.
With an eye toward preventing golf carts – which don’t have the same safety features as an LSV – from being rented to visitors, Mayor Judy Titsworth said she’d like to make whatever regulations are adopted by the city as painless as possible for residents. She also said she’s unconcerned with having golf cart owners pay for the registration, especially since it’s a one-time expense, one that she said the city could potentially absorb.
If the regulations pass a vote during a regular commission meeting, City Attorney Erica Augello said that commissioners should set a deadline for golf cart registration, suggesting a three-month deadline from the time the regulations are passed. No golf carts would be allowed to be registered in the city after that date and no golf carts could be operated in Holmes Beach legally without the registration.
After the meeting concluded, Commissioner Pat Morton said he’s changed his stance on the potential for golf cart regulations. Rather than requiring current owners to have a host of new equipment placed on the carts for them to operate legally, Morton said he’d rather grandfather in current golf carts for homesteaded residents.
“I don’t want to penalize the residents,” Morton told The Sun.
Adding to what he’d like to see happen, Morton said he’d prefer to have golf carts registered to homesteaded residents for the lifetime of the golf cart. After the golf carts die, a new one couldn’t be purchased.
The regulations will go back before commissioners for further discussion at a future meeting.
HOLMES BEACH – In the aftermath of a joint meeting with Manatee County commissioners, Holmes Beach city leaders are trying to figure out their next steps toward building a better relationship with county leaders.
During a March 8 work session, Holmes Beach commissioners went over their notes from the joint meeting, held March 1. They also took public comment on the meeting to help gauge public opinion following the discussion, which primarily revolved around beach parking.
Holmes Beach resident Izzy Skye, representing a group of residents attending the meeting, thanked commissioners for holding firm to their stance on not reopening residential streets near the beach to public parking.
“You cannot pave our paradise to put up your parking lot,” Skye said, speaking about the discussion where Manatee County commissioners suggested building a large parking garage at Manatee Beach. “Visitors are coming to see a preserve. This is no place for a concrete jungle.”
About the March 1 meeting, Commissioner Terry Schaefer said, “I think it was a good opportunity to look the county commissioners in the eye and see the kind of people they are.” He added that it was “obvious” that the primary objective of Manatee County commissioners was to discuss parking, something that Holmes Beach commissioners weren’t willing to change their stance on. But Schaefer said he feels there is still room for more discussions with county leaders, a sentiment echoed by his fellow commissioners.
“It was a beginning,” he said. “I’m not discouraged.”
While Holmes Beach commissioners understand that there are a growing number of Manatee County residents and visitors every year who want to go to the beaches on Anna Maria Island, they also feel that it’s the issue of county leaders to provide parking and facilities for the people wishing to access county beaches. Mayor Judy Titsworth said that she doesn’t have a problem with visitors to the Island – she said she welcomes them – however, there is only so much space available on the 7-mile island, about three of which are occupied by the city of Holmes Beach.
HBPD Chief Bill Tokajer said that, using the city’s license plate reader cameras, he counted 9 million cars coming into Holmes Beach across Manatee Avenue in 2020, increasing to 9.6 million in 2021.
In an effort to work with the county to find solutions to parking problems, and hopefully address some of the city’s concerns in a future joint meeting, she said she’s having City Attorney Erica Augello look at the lease for the land where the Island Branch Library sits to see if that parking lot can be used for overflow beach parking while the library is closed without violating the land grant from the Holmes family, which donated the property to the city.
As a stop-gap measure, Manatee County commissioners voted unanimously on March 8 to enter into an agreement with the Manatee County School Board to use the more than 60 spaces at Anna Maria Elementary School in Holmes Beach as overflow beach parking. During the joint meeting, Titsworth said that if the county wants to use the school for excess beach parking, they need to provide trash and restroom facilities along with a flashing beacon or crossing guard for the crosswalk. While county commissioners were amenable to providing portable restrooms and trash cans, they balked at providing a crossing guard or flashing beacon for the crosswalk traversing Gulf Drive.
“I think the dialogue is open and that’s good,” Commissioner Jayne Christenson said, adding that she thinks Holmes Beach commissioners need to step back and assess what they can do to address some of the issues. She suggested rebranding the city as a community across social media and the internet rather than as a vacation destination.
Commissioners agreed to have another work session to discuss potential action items before scheduling another meeting with county commissioners.
MANATEE COUNTY – Despite having 12 items on the agenda for a joint meeting, the recent discussion between Holmes Beach and Manatee County commissioners kept coming back to one contentious topic – beach parking.
It may have only been March 1, but the lengthy meeting produced as many fireworks as any Fourth of July display.
Though the parking item had a time-certain discussion planned for 11 a.m. during the two-and-a-half-hour session, the topic was the proverbial elephant in the room from the start.
The meeting kicked off with public comment, during which several east county residents stated their resentment of Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth concerning traffic and an inability for some beachgoers to find parking in Holmes Beach. The onslaught of comments prompted Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge to remind speakers to remain civil in their comments and Holmes Beach Commissioner Carol Soustek to note that while Titsworth is the face of the city’s leadership, it’s the commissioners who vote to accept or deny proposed changes, including those related to parking.
Beachgoers driving into Holmes Beach have had issues finding parking spaces for years. – Kristin Swain | Sun
Beach patrol
During a discussion on beach patrol funding, Titsworth said she’d like the county to step up their financial support of the Holmes Beach Police Department, which is tasked with policing the county-owned beach, public beaches in Holmes Beach and Kingfish Boat Ramp, along with the rest of the city. While the county currently reimburses the city $46,612 for beach patrol services, Titsworth said the city pays about $150,000-160,000 per year to adequately patrol the beaches, boat ramp and beach parking.
The mayor said she’d like to see the county increase its financial support, working up to a minimum of $90,000 per year to be more in line with the amount offered to the Bradenton Beach Police Department annually for similar services, and ideally $115,000 or more to cover the entire cost of one HBPD officer.
While Titsworth acknowledged that the city of Bradenton Beach has a longer stretch of county-owned beach, she noted that Holmes Beach is a larger city and provides more public parking for beachgoers than the Anna Maria Island city to the south.
Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse said that while he appreciates Titsworth’s request for more beach patrol funding, he wanted to know what city leaders are prepared to do for the county in exchange for additional funding, a sentiment echoed by Commissioner Vanessa Baugh.
Holmes Beach Commissioner Terry Schaefer gives his opinion on parking issues in the Anna Maria Island city while Commission Chair Carol Soustek looks on. – Kristin Swain | Sun
Holmes Beach Commissioner Terry Schaefer said Holmes Beach city leaders had come to the meeting to discuss items of concern, not to try and leverage one item for another.
County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, a Holmes Beach resident, said she thinks the stretch of beach in Holmes Beach is too small to necessitate the spending of more funds to police it. County Administrator Scott Hopes said he thinks the county’s funding to Holmes Beach is complimentary to the amount given to Bradenton Beach, $125,000, given the size of the city versus the size of the county park, Manatee Beach and Kingfish Boat Ramp, within the city.
Accusations fly
When 11 a.m. finally rolled around and leaders could get to the discussion they really wanted to have, beach parking, accusations began to fly around the room on both sides.
Van Ostenbridge accused Holmes Beach leaders of having less than 1% of the population of Manatee County and closing its beaches to 99% of Manatee County residents to save its own residents.
Titsworth called out Van Ostenbridge for “weaponizing funding” in a bid to try and force city leaders’ hands to allow beach parking to go unrestricted in the small city to the detriment of Holmes Beach residents, who she pointed out, are also Manatee County residents who pay county taxes. She accused Manatee County commissioners of being unwilling to work with the city and learn the facts about what happens in the Island city and how issues affect residents and tourists alike.
At the crux of the discussion was the status of about 480 parking spaces located solely on the sides of residential streets in neighborhoods near beach accesses. Those residential streets are maintained by the city of Holmes Beach and are funded by tax dollars paid to the city, not the county. Public parking also has long been a headache for nearby residents, who often find trash and litter in their yards, people vandalizing their property, some trespassing and using their private pools and water hoses as public facilities and others defecating in their yards.
After more than a decade of discussion, 124 of those 480 spaces were designated in 2021 as Holmes Beach resident permit parking only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily after being closed to public access since 2020. Ever since that decision was made by Holmes Beach commissioners, it’s been a sore spot between city and county leaders.
Van Ostenbridge demanded that city leaders reopen all city streets to public parking.
“You want 400 spaces?” Soustek countered. “480 parking spaces is a spit in the ocean,” she said, noting that the number of people trying to find parking in Holmes Beach regularly exceeds that amount. She added that opening residential streets to the onslaught of beach parking wouldn’t guarantee Manatee County residents a space to park, that they would still need to get up early to drive out to the Island and avoid traffic and parking stresses.
Holmes Beach Commissioner Jayne Christenson suggested county commissioners designate some of the spaces at Manatee Beach as Manatee County resident-only parking, a suggestion dismissed by county commissioners without comment.
Manatee County Commissioners Kevin Van Ostenbridge, James Satcher and Reggie Bellamy listen as Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth addresses beach parking issues. – Kristin Swain | Sun
“You’ll never have enough spaces and the people will never all be able to get out to the beach,” Titsworth said, noting all of the housing developments currently planned for Manatee County and the increase of people expected to travel to Anna Maria Island’s beaches. At about seven miles long, with about three miles of that being Holmes Beach, she said Anna Maria Island only has so much room to fit people and vehicles on.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer said residential street parking wasn’t going to be used as a bargaining chip between the city and county.
Whitmore said that while she wants to work with city leaders, she’s opposed to the permit parking system and refuses to pay for one herself. She also said she feels that Holmes Beach has too many rules, including the newly instituted city-wide 25 mph speed limit.
Getting down to business
With tensions already flaring between the two groups, Manatee County Director of Parks and Natural Resources Charlie Hunsicker offered the results of a parking study conducted by APTIM/CPE, an independent group. The field study was completed in 2020 with the report from that study dated September 2021. The study area was limited to the city of Holmes Beach and conducted on parking spaces located within a quarter-mile of beach access points and compared to a similar report from 2013.
According to that report, the city of Holmes Beach has 775 public parking spots located within a quarter-mile of public beach access points, with an additional 480 spaces that are either without signs or reserved/permit only. According to the 2013 report, there were 1,255 public parking spaces with the only change being 480 spaces converted to unsigned/reserved status. Of those 480 spaces, 124 were observed to be reserved for resident permit-only parking from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the other 356 “lost” spaces being attributed to parking obstructions and a potential increase in no parking signed areas. Signed public parking spaces in the study area actually increased by 12, with the number of unsigned spaces decreasing by 492 from 2013 to 2020, reducing driver uncertainty on where parking is allowed.
To receive beach renourishment funding, Holmes Beach is required by the state of Florida to have 364 public parking spaces located within a quarter-mile of the beach. In the city’s interlocal agreement with the county regarding beach renourishment funding, Holmes Beach is committed to having about 500 spaces within a quarter-mile of the beach. Currently, there are more than 1,200 public parking spaces, not including resident permit parking spaces, located within a quarter-mile of public beach access with more available throughout the city but located outside of the quarter-mile area.
Titsworth said she’s not only concerned with the issues residents see in neighborhoods but how those issues could also affect the city’s tourism, with more than 1,500 short-term rental properties located in residential neighborhoods. She added that for people just coming to the beach for the day, there need to be adequate restroom, trash and food facilities as well as crosswalks to get safely from parking areas to the beach.
She suggested that county leaders meet with her to work on a renegotiation of the lease for the Island Branch Library land to allow for public parking at that facility when the library is closed. She also noted that public parking is allowed at Holmes Beach City Hall. In addition, if county leaders want to use Anna Maria Elementary School’s parking spaces as public parking when the school isn’t open, she said they should go through proper permitting with the city and provide portable restroom facilities, trash cans and either a crossing guard or lighted beacon for the crosswalk across Gulf Drive.
Van Ostenbridge said he expects people to know how to cross the road when coming to the Island, dismissing the idea of having either a crossing guard or flashing beacon to alert drivers at the location.
Parking garage
Another idea floated around during the meeting was the construction of a parking garage in Holmes Beach to provide more public parking.
Titsworth suggested commissioners consider the purchase of additional property in the city to build a garage on, such as the old Bank of America building on the southeast corner of East Bay Drive and Manatee Avenue. The site is located about two blocks from the entrance to Manatee Beach.
That idea was shot down by Manatee County commissioners. Whitmore said it wasn’t worth it to the county to build a parking garage limited to the city’s 36-foot building height limitations. Titsworth said that with the height limitations in the city’s charter, it would take Holmes Beach voters casting their ballots in favor of changing it to allow for a larger garage to be built. Van Ostenbridge said he opposes purchasing additional property in Holmes Beach and if commissioners decide to build a parking garage in the city, he’d want it to be at Manatee Beach.
Another meeting between Manatee County commissioners and Holmes Beach city leaders is planned to take place in the future to continue discussions.
MANATEE COUNTY – After a joint meeting between Manatee County commissioners and Holmes Beach city leaders didn’t satisfy either side regarding beach parking, the discussion continued by email.
After the March 1 meeting, County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, a Holmes Beach resident and former mayor of the city, and Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth began the exchange, with Whitmore listing what she took away from the joint meeting as actionable items on behalf of the county and the city. She mentioned revamping the land lease at the Island Branch Library to use the site as after-hours beach parking, building a three- to four-story parking garage at Manatee Beach, allowing angled street parking along Manatee Avenue, allowing public parking at city hall and placing portable toilets at all possible designated parking areas with the agreement of both municipalities.
In her response, Titsworth addressed each issue, noting that public parking has always been allowed at city hall and that she would look at the agreement for the library land lease to see what can be done.
Regarding a parking garage, she said that she felt a garage could be constructed within the city’s height limits, 36 feet, and that county leaders would need to look at zoning requirements before planning to build a garage.
Titsworth also noted that parking along the side of Manatee Avenue between East Bay and Gulf drives isn’t allowed because of safety due to traffic congestion and that, if a change were to be made, it would have to be approved by not only city traffic engineers but also by state traffic engineers due to Manatee Avenue’s status as a state road.
The emails continued into the weekend with Whitmore stating that she felt Titsworth was saying “no” to a parking garage in her response. She added that she feels it should be up to the residents of Holmes Beach to decide the fate of a parking garage, should county leaders go in that direction. Titsworth said during the joint meeting discussion on parking garages that if Manatee County leaders want to build a parking garage at Manatee Beach or any other location within the city larger than the current building height limitations, it would require a change of charter, which needs resident support at the polls.
Whitmore also said that she feels the crosswalk at Anna Maria Elementary is enough to keep pedestrians safe as they leave beach parking at the school to cross Gulf Drive to walk to a beach access. She noted that the school crosswalk does not currently have a flashing beacon, as recommended by Titsworth.
In the hours before and after school, there is a school zone speed limit of 15 mph with a flashing beacon and Holmes Beach police or code compliance officers serve as crossing guards at the location. The ordinary speed through the area is 25 mph.
In her email, Whitmore also noted that she feels Titsworth’s comments on angled parking along Manatee Avenue are contradictory. She said that the area was regularly used for public parking for years before being closed due to safety concerns a few years ago. When Manatee County leaders closed the parking on the right of way further east on Manatee Avenue now used for the Kingfish Boat Ramp’s auxiliary parking, Whitmore said Titsworth appealed to the county’s leadership to reopen the spaces for boater use. Whitmore said she sees no difference in the use of the two different areas.
In response, Titsworth invited Whitmore and other county leaders to come to the Tuesday, March 8 Holmes Beach commission work session where commissioners plan to discuss the joint meeting with Manatee County commissioners and what the next steps are for the city to move forward.
MANATEE COUNTY – Holmes Beach city leaders and Manatee County commissioners came together March 1 for a long-awaited meeting spotlighting dock space for a proposed Anna Maria Island water taxi.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said that while she and other city leaders are in support of a water taxi coming to the Island, they haven’t yet been approached by anyone to discuss a potential docking site in the Island’s largest city.
County Commissioner George Kruse said that he feels it’s up to the city’s leaders to come to county leaders with potential solutions for where a water taxi could dock, not rely on Manatee County leaders to tell the city where a water taxi could go.
County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh added that the county isn’t looking at building a place to dock a water taxi in Holmes Beach, but that she’d like to see it eventually have a place to stop in each of the three Anna Maria Island cities. Creating those stops would be up to the leaders of the three cities, working with the county to create solutions to existing issues.
Titsworth said that the place in Holmes Beach with the largest amount of parking for a water taxi isn’t the one that would be the best central location for tourists or locals taking the alternative form of transportation – Kingfish Boat Ramp.
The Manatee County-owned and maintained boat ramp is already planned to undergo renovations, including restrooms and the addition of a long dock for day boats to park at. Unfortunately for a water taxi, the planned renovations don’t include a place to park a water taxi and the location is about three blocks from Manatee Beach, which some beachgoers might see as a hindrance to taking a boat to the beach instead of driving.
Titsworth added that the boat ramp also doesn’t have a trolley stop, which would be a way to move people from Kingfish to the rest of the Island.
County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge suggested the marina basin located in the heart of Holmes Beach’s commercial district as a potential docking location for the water taxi. Centrally located near shops, restaurants and within a few blocks of public beach accesses, the marina, owned and managed by the adjacent Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club, sounds ideal – except for parking, Titsworth pointed out.
She told county commissioners that Waterline lost at least 25 to 30 required parking spaces for the marina when the adjacent Wells Fargo Bank was closed in 2020. Though the marina’s management had a lease with the bank for those spaces, they have been scrambling since the building was put up for sale to find other off-site parking spaces to lease, an effort that had, as of the joint meeting, not produced any viable results, according to Titsworth. This leaves no parking spaces available for water taxi usage.
She added that the boat basin is small and used by local fishing captains and tour boats, whose operation she wouldn’t want to hinder by trying to get a water taxi in and out of the basin multiple times per day, assuming the channel leading to the basin and the basin itself are even navigable for what could potentially be a large boat.
The only other public boat access to the water is a small Holmes Beach-owned and maintained boat launch located next to the city field park complex which has limited parking, is bordered on three sides by residential areas, is the launch point for emergency response boats for West Manatee Fire Rescue and the Holmes Beach Police Department and is fairly shallow during low tide, which could hinder the operation of a large water taxi vessel.
All in all, Titsworth said she just didn’t see where in Holmes Beach a water taxi could be docked where it would be beneficial to visitors, locals and service workers.
“I think it is a worthy way to reduce traffic, even if Holmes Beach doesn’t have a spot to utilize,” Holmes Beach Commissioner Terry Schaefer said of the water taxi.
When some Manatee County commissioners accused city leaders of being unwilling to work with them to find a solution for water taxi issues, Holmes Beach Commission Chair Carol Soustek fired back: “If you think the cities haven’t been working to find a way to solve problems, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
Soustek said that she’d been participating in conversations about how to get a water taxi up and working on Anna Maria Island since 2005. She added that “just putting people on a boat” wasn’t the end of the process. To achieve a working water taxi, Soustek said it requires parking on both sides of the water taxi route, a way to move people to and from the docking station on both sides and money to make it all happen. And those issues all exist in addition to having an operator to run the water taxi, water taxi boats and a place to dock the boats at each stop.
In a bid to find common ground, County Commissioner Reggie Bellamy suggested that Soustek and other Island leaders who’ve worked on trying to get a water taxi for the Island share the roadblocks they’ve encountered in that endeavor with county commissioners as a way to begin collaborating on finding a workable solution to getting a water taxi launched.
HOLMES BEACH – It’s taken about 18 months for the Planning Commission to finish its review and revisions of the city’s comprehensive plan, and now city commissioners are ready to discuss those changes at a public hearing.
During a Feb. 22 work session, city commissioners reviewed the changes to the comprehensive plan submitted by planning commissioners along with representatives from LaRue Planning, who assisted in the audit.
Some of the biggest proposed changes include the addition of a property rights element and the incorporation of arts and culture as a part of the recreation element. Each element of the comprehensive plan was also amended to make it easier to understand and to incorporate the city’s vision and value statements.
City commissioners praised everyone who worked on the revisions.
“A lot of people worked very hard on this. It took a lot of time,” Commissioner Carol Soustek said. “I think it’s about as good as it can get. It’s so clean now,” she said of the comprehensive plan.
As a part of the comprehensive plan review, planning commissioners held several public meetings along with a workshop to go over the proposed changes and get public input.
Now the amended comprehensive plan will go before city commissioners for a public hearing and a vote at the Tuesday, March 8 meeting before being submitted to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) for review. If the changes pass the city commission’s first vote, they must be submitted to the DEO within 10 days, after which that organization has 30 days to review and provide comments and required changes to the document.
After those comments are received and any necessary revisions are made, city commissioners must schedule a final public hearing and vote for the comprehensive plan before it is resubmitted to the DEO for a final review and then officially adopted by the city.
City commissioners estimate that the comprehensive plan changes could be officially adopted as early as the end of June, pending approval by the state.
To review all of the proposed changes for the comprehensive plan, visit the LaRue Planning website.
HOLMES BEACH – It was a win for Holmes Beach police officers when Special Magistrate Michael Connolly ruled in favor of upholding a noise violation citation, assessing a $175 fine.
Property owner James Daniel Clark appeared during a Feb. 10 hearing to contest a noise violation citation received by his son, Justin Clark, on Nov. 27, 2021.
HBPD Officer Michael Van Horne testified before Connolly about the incident, which happened at a home Clark owns at 240 S. Harbor Drive in Holmes Beach. Van Horne said he responded to a noise complaint at the address. When he got out of his vehicle about 200 feet away from the home on the street, he said loud music was plainly audible. Upon walking up to the gate to the backyard, Van Horne and Sgt. Thomas Fraser say they saw several young people in a hot tub. Justin Clark responded to their summons to the gate and, with his father on the phone, answered police questions and received the noise violation.
Body camera footage from the two officers confirmed their version of events, also bringing to light that Justin Clark admitted that underage drinking was taking place on the property.
Speaking on behalf of James Daniel Clark was attorney Michele Grantham. Grantham argued that the neighbor who reported the incident had called multiple times since 2019 to report issues at the property and that the November incident was the only time that a citation was issued. She also argued that the police responding to the call had previously used a decibel reader to determine if a noise violation had taken place and did not use it this time, instead using the plainly audible portion of the city’s noise ordinance, along with seven standards outlined in the ordinance to determine that a violation had taken place. Grantham said the plainly audible language and seven standards were too subjective.
Tokajer disagreed. He testified on behalf of his officers and said the noise ordinance allows officers to determine if a violation occurs based on reasonableness and their own common sense, even if that noise takes place during the day, as this one did. With the body cameras unable to amplify sound, what was heard on the camera footage was an accurate depiction of the noise at the time of the citation, he said.
“This is clearly a violation,” Tokajer said of the music, which caused the disturbance.
Though he wasn’t onsite at the time of the incident, James Daniel Clark testified during the hearing on behalf of his son, saying he believed the group of college sophomores were watching a football game and that was the source of the noise. While being questioned by Augello, he admitted that the noise heard in the body camera footage did not sound like a football game.
After hearing testimony on both sides, Connolly ruled that a violation had taken place and ordered Clark to pay a fine of $175 plus a $10 administrative fee.
HOLMES BEACH – Drivers beware. You’ll have to hit the brakes a little more than usual when driving through Holmes Beach.
Commissioners voted three-to-one to pass a resolution on Feb. 8 lowering the speed limit to 25 miles per hour on all city-maintained streets. The change takes effect as soon as Police Chief Bill Tokajer can have the 35 mph signs in the city removed.
Commissioner Kim Rash was absent from the Feb. 8 commission meeting and Commissioner Jayne Christenson voted against lowering the speed limit.
During commission discussion, Commissioner Terry Schaefer said he thinks lowering the speed limit city-wide will also lower the chance of vehicular accidents resulting in injuries.
Christenson argued that lowering the speed limit won’t reduce congestion on Holmes Beach streets. She said it would prevent people from driving faster in areas where it was permitted when traffic congestion isn’t an issue. Those sentiments were echoed by two residents who stepped up to speak on the subject during public comment.
“You’re penalizing the residents who live here, work here and are trying to get home,” Christenson said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Instead, she suggested having a 25 mph speed limit during the day and a 35 mph speed limit at night.
Commissioner Pat Morton said the traffic in Holmes Beach doesn’t stop after dark and he thinks it’s up to city leaders to bring some safety back to city streets regarding drivers.
By lowering the speed limit, low-speed vehicles and golf carts are permitted to be driven on all city streets except Manatee Avenue and East Bay Drive, which are state roads, where the speed limit is set by the Florida Department of Transportation. Holmes Beach is the only Anna Maria Island city where golf carts are allowed to be driven. A golf cart is not required to be registered with the state and does not have a license plate.
Commissioner Carol Soustek said the different kinds of vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists and other users on city roads and sidewalks led her to believe that lowering the speed limit to 25 mph would help curb some of the safety issues on city streets.
“We’ve got to do something,” she said, adding that changing the speed limit wouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution but that she thinks it would give drivers more peace of mind on the road. If it doesn’t produce the desired results, Soustek said the decision could be revisited by commissioners in the future.
