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All roads lead to parking

All roads lead to parking

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach, Manatee County.

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.

All roads lead to parking
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.

All roads lead to parking
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.

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No solutions found to parking issues

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

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.

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County commissioner proposes beach parking garage

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Featured, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge wants a new parking garage to be built on Manatee Beach’s sand parking lot, but the mayor of Holmes Beach so far appears unlikely to sign off on the project.

During a Manatee County Commission meeting last week and in a letter to Holmes Beach city officials, Van Ostenbridge said he would like to look at the possibility of building a parking garage on the county-owned property at the beach at the end of Manatee Avenue to provide more public parking for beachgoers. The garage would potentially be built in the primary parking area in front of the snack bar building at the entrance to the beach on Gulf Drive.

Van Ostenbridge also stated he wants Holmes Beach city leaders to dismantle their permit parking program for residents, opening up more street parking in residential areas for public use. He also has demanded that public beach parking be allowed at the Island Branch Library and Anna Maria Elementary School when those facilities are not otherwise in use. Providing public parking at the school requires permission from the School District of Manatee County and either a special permit or site plan amendment approval from the city of Holmes Beach. Public parking at the county library branch would require an amendment to the lease between the city and county for the land under the building.

If city leaders refuse, Van Ostenbridge said he’d consider refusing to provide beach renourishment funds for the Holmes Beach coastline. However, Manatee County commissioners have limited control over the disbursement of beach renourishment funds, which come primarily from federal and state resources – including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection – and a portion of Manatee County Tourist Development Tax collections.

Though Van Ostenbridge has repeatedly said he would pull beach renourishment funds from the city to try to force Holmes Beach leaders’ hands regarding parking, it could be a double-edged sword for Manatee County, opponents say. Any reduction in beach renourishment could shrink the county’s beaches on Anna Maria Island due to rising sea levels and erosion, potentially reducing tourism to the area and damaging businesses throughout the county. Anna Maria Island generates the majority of tourism funds for Manatee County.

Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said a parking garage is not an approved land use in the city and would potentially require the approval of an ordinance to allow the use or a special exception from city commissioners. The parking garage also would have to meet city requirements concerning maximum height (three stories), setbacks, stormwater retention and drainage and other building codes.

Titsworth has said while she’s happy to have conversations with county leaders about parking, she doesn’t feel that Holmes Beach and its residents should bear the majority of the responsibility for providing beach parking for the entire county and its visitors.

While the mayor has mentioned the possibility of the county building a parking garage in past talks concerning beach parking, she suggested building that garage off of 75th Street in Bradenton and using public transportation to get beachgoers to and from Manatee Beach.

Parking program scrutinized

Van Ostenbridge is among those who led the charge against the city of Holmes Beach regarding the public parking available for beachgoers in the Anna Maria Island city. The disagreement between county commissioners and Holmes Beach city leaders has gone on for months, stemming from a decision on the part of city leaders to enact a residential permit-only parking program on some residential streets located next to beach access points following a COVID-19-related shutdown of beach accesses in early 2020.

The permit parking program was planned for several years before becoming a reality and was designed to help lessen the negative impacts of large numbers of beachgoers in residential areas. Some issues that residents reported include people trespassing on their property, damaging property and landscaping, using exterior water hoses and pools without permission and leaving trash and other debris on lawns.

Despite Van Ostenbridge’s claims that city leaders have reduced the number of public parking spots by about 2,000 spaces, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer, who helped implement the parking permit program, said that claim is false.

Tokajer has stated that before the COVID-19 parking closures, which have been lifted, the city had about 2,400 parking spaces, including those at beach access points, public parking areas and along the side of streets within a quarter of a mile of the beach. Now there are 1,261 parking spots that do not require a parking permit and 642 on-street parking spots that require a permit but become available to the public daily after 5 p.m. About 497 on-street parking spots were removed by city leaders in residential areas as a part of the parking changes.

Under an agreement with the county, the city provides many more spaces than the 500 or so that are required to receive beach renourishment funding, according to city officials.

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County commissioners refuse Holmes Beach funding request

County commissioners refuse Holmes Beach funding request

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Featured, Holmes Beach.

MANATEE COUNTY – Holmes Beach city leaders weren’t very surprised but they were disappointed when Manatee County commissioners shot down a funding request recently.

During a June 8 county commission meeting, Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, submitted a request on behalf of all three Anna Maria Island cities for funding from the tourist development tax, also known as the bed tax, collected by hoteliers and vacation rental owners from renters.

The projects proposed by the cities of Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach were approved. One project from the city of Holmes Beach, $41,200 for improvements including boardwalks to be added to an extension of Grassy Point Preserve on land gifted to the city by the Hames family, was approved by county commissioners. However, $282,910 for reimbursement on construction done at a seawall on Marina Drive was not.

County commissioners did vote unanimously to consider a future funding request from Holmes Beach city leaders for bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways leading to a city park if one was presented to them.

Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore said she didn’t support the seawall funding request despite it being approved unanimously for funding by the Manatee County Tourist Development Council because she doesn’t believe it’s tourism-related, which is what the tourist development tax dollars are required by state law to be spent on.

Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said it was disrespectful for Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth to not show up to the county meeting where funding was being requested and to not send a representative in her place.

Titsworth said prior to the meeting that she would be unable to attend due to a conflicting meeting. Holmes Beach Commissioner Jim Kihm was asked to step in for her but was unable to do so due to a conflicting medical appointment and no other suitable replacement could be found in time for the meeting.

Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge said city leaders should consider the consequences of their actions before asking for help from the county. Van Ostenbridge and Titsworth are currently embroiled in a disagreement over public parking for beachgoers in the Island city.

Falcione said the seawall project had been discussed at length with Holmes Beach city leaders and that the TDC had given the funding its full support, a statement echoed by Commissioner Misty Servia who serves on the TDC.

Holmes Beach leaders argue that the seawall is important to tourism because it’s an erosion control seawall that holds up a section of Marina Drive in the city’s commercial center and provides a pedestrian path and access to numerous tour boats and rentals in the adjacent marina. If the funds had been released, city leaders would have used the money to build additional sidewalks and bicycle paths, which also would be used by tourists. Whitmore suggested city leaders come back to the commission for funding of that idea, which was approved by county commissioners unanimously. However, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said that project was previously shot down for funding by Falcione.

Another concern was that the seawall request to county commissioners didn’t explicitly say there was a city match to the funding. So far, Tokajer said the city is spending $1,581,433 on the city center project including the seawall, pedestrian paths, bicycle lanes, lights and landscaping.

During a June 8 Holmes Beach commission meeting, city commissioners discussed the refusal of their funding request, noting that rentals in Holmes Beach have contributed $30,187,388.29 of the total $42,170,953.57 collected in tourist development tax in Manatee County over the past 10 years. That equals about 70% of the total collected bed tax coming from Holmes Beach while the city has received $100,000 of those dollars in funding for Grassy Point Preserve in the past decade.

“They’ve made us into the largest tourist attraction in Manatee County,” Tokajer said. “They should have to pay for enforcement and infrastructure.”

The county gave $50,000 in the current fiscal year to the city for police patrol and response at the county-owned Manatee Beach. More than 30,000 cars a day come to Holmes Beach on weekends during the summer, Tokajer said.

While Titsworth said she felt “the writing was on the wall” with Van Ostenbridge and his lack of support for city funding due to the ongoing parking issues, Commissioner Carol Soustek said that with all the people coming to Holmes Beach the county should have been better prepared to help deal with the resulting issues after advertising the city as a vacation destination.

“There’s nothing being done by the state or county to address the growth they’re encouraging,” she said, adding that she’s tired of issues getting pushed down the line to the next elected official. Rather than worrying about parking, she suggested county and state leaders be concerned about whether the area’s infrastructure, including pipes, clean water supply and seawalls, can handle the extra strain put on it by inviting so many additional people to one place.

One thing Holmes Beach commissioners agreed on though is that they all support Titsworth as the city’s leader in discussions with the county.

“Thanks, you guys,” Titsworth said. “It’s been a hard week and I really appreciate your support.”

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Holmes Beach mayor declines Van Ostenbridge's meeting request

Holmes Beach mayor declines Van Ostenbridge’s meeting request

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth declined Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge’s request to meet and discuss the city’s past elimination of street-side parking spaces.

Titsworth rejected Van Ostenbridge’s request to meet in part because Van Ostenbridge’s invitation did not extend to Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer.

As the District 3 county commissioner, Van Ostenbridge represents all three Anna Maria Island cities. Van Ostenbridge was sworn into office on Nov. 17. During the county commission work meeting held later that day, Van Ostenbridge threatened to withhold future beach renourishment funding from the city of Holmes Beach because of the city’s parking reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mayor Titsworth and the Holmes Beach City Commission have jeopardized future beach renourishment projects in their city. I will not support county participation in beach renourishment projects in Holmes Beach until on-street parking levels are returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. I am drawing a line in the sand,” Van Ostenbridge said, during his first county meeting.

Meeting sought

Vida Gordon is the executive administrative assistant to the county commission. On Tuesday, March 23, Gordon sent Titsworth an email on behalf of Van Ostenbridge which said, “Commissioner Van Ostenbridge would like to meet with you and staff regarding: Public parking on city streets in the city of Holmes Beach. Manatee County participation in future beach renourishment projects.”

Within 30 minutes, Titsworth sent Gordon her response.

“Please ask the commissioner to take the time to witness the high traffic in our city on our many sunny weekends prior to scheduling this meeting. I see no reason to have a meeting until he takes the time to see it for himself. Saturdays would be a great time, as our rather large resort housing industry turns over each Saturday and traffic is at a standstill. If we are going to have real discussions with real solutions, I find it important that he witness this first-hand,” Titsworth stated in her email.

Holmes Beach Mayor declines Van Ostenbridge's meeting request
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth will not meet to discuss parking concerns without the police chief present. – Kristin Swain | Sun

“I would also ask that he drive through the residential neighborhoods to take note of the beach access parking we currently provide so that he can more easily understand the issues. This may allow him a better perspective to see the limits the city is facing in accommodating all our county residents and tourists who want to arrive by car,” Titsworth wrote.

“As for the Manatee County participation in beach nourishment, I am well advised as to the interlocal agreement we have with the county and the city’s continued participation to provide beach access public parking. If he would like to discuss any proposed changes to this agreement at this meeting, please advise prior, as I would ask that Charlie Hunsicker be present to inform us of any changes in requirements at the state level. The chief and I are available on April 12. Please ask him to come to city hall,” Titsworth wrote.

A short time later, Gordon sent Titsworth Van Ostenbridge’s response.

“I have seen first-hand the traffic challenges on AMI at peak hours. I look forward to hearing from the mayor in our meeting. I am hoping for a constructive meeting that will enable the mayor and myself to lay out our respective positions. The end goal I have in mind is to create a more welcoming environment on AMI and increase accessibility to our public beaches. My hope is that this meeting will be a productive first step,” Van Ostenbridge wrote.

“Mr. Hunsicker has been invited to the meeting as well as county attorney (Bill) Clague. If she would like to remove either of those invitees from the meeting, I will oblige her request. That said, my invitation does not extend to the Holmes Beach Police Chief,” Van Ostenbridge wrote.

Upon receipt of that message, Titsworth informed Gordan that she would not be meeting with Van Ostenbridge.

“If the meeting does not extend to the police chief who has first-hand knowledge on why parking was eliminated on certain streets, then I see no reason to have the meeting. Per the commissioner’s email, he feels he has all the experience he needs on the traffic, congestion and parking constraints. Unfortunately, he does not have the credentials to determine where parking works and where it does not. If I am to accept a meeting with the commissioner to discuss parking in the neighborhoods, I will expect the chief to attend. As for the county attorney, I see no reason why his services would be needed at this time,” Titsworth wrote.

“With all due respect, any comments made by the commissioner up to this point have been threatening in nature. I understand his position, as he does mine. There is no reason to take up any additional time in laying out our positions. Any proposed additional parking in Holmes Beach will require a traffic study by FDOT, including a viable plan for bringing additional cars on and off the Island. Any additional parking will need to include restroom facilities,” Titsworth wrote.

“If a meeting cannot be agreed to, I would suggest the commissioner attend a city meeting so he can express his concerns regarding the ‘unwelcoming environment’ and the accessibility to the beaches. I am certain the board would welcome hearing his suggestions, being that he is our new district representative,” Titsworth wrote.

Titsworth then received an email from Gordon that stated Van Ostenbridge would be happy to meet with the mayor in the county commissioners’ conference room or in his office in downtown Bradenton.

In response, Titsworth wrote, “If he is unwilling to come visit the city he represents, I will have to decline to attend the meeting. I can already see where it is heading. Commissioner Kruse was happy to meet me and the chief at our city. My door is always open.”

Chief’s comments

When contacted Friday, Tokajer said, “For Commissioner Van Ostenbridge to invite the mayor to a meeting that dictates which staff is allowed to attend is another example of his abuse of the perceived power of his position. I do not see our mayor and commission being bullied by empty threats about future beach renourishment.”

Holmes Beach Mayor declines Van Ostenbridge's meeting request
Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer played a significant role in the development of the city’s current parking plan. – Kristin Swain | Sun

“As a city, we’ve more than upheld our requirements set forth in the interlocal agreement with Manatee County on parking. Do you really think the county is going to stop receiving federal funds for beach renourishment for the largest tourist destination in Manatee County? Are they going to stop advertising Anna Maria Island as a tourist destination? If the county is not going to do beach renourishment, they can give the city back the millions of dollars in the tourist tax revenues they collect from the Holmes Beach community,” Tokajer said.

“The city’s residential areas should not be made into a parking lot. The county needs to come up with some other ideas as to where people can park – and the places they come up with need to have facilities such as bathrooms, changing stations and lifeguards. We need to do something to balance the amount of people coming into our residential areas,” Tokajer said.

“Right now, there are 1,264 parking spaces that are open to the public, and 500 of those are dedicated to meeting beach renourishment parking requirements. We have an additional 645 spaces for residential parking by permit. The city’s parking plan is truly working in the manner in which we thought it would,” he added.

Tokajer doesn’t anticipate the city restoring its parking capacity to pre-pandemic levels.

“The commission has already voted numerous times on this parking plan and they unanimously support the plan we have now. No matter what this commissioner does, I don’t see them going back to that,” he said.

Citing data collected by license plate readers positioned along the city’s main thoroughfares, Tokajer said, “From March 1 through noon today, March 26, we had 621,569 vehicles that came on and off Island in Holmes Beach during that 26-day period. That’s an average of 24,675 vehicles per day. Even if we opened up the 2,400 parking spaces we had before COVID, that’s still leaves another 22,000 cars a day that have nowhere to park.

“Commissioner Kruse was willing to come here to Holmes Beach and sit down with the mayor and I to discuss things and learn why we did what we did. If Commissioner Van Ostenbridge wants to dictate who the mayor’s going to bring to a meeting, then I guess we’re not going to have it,” Tokajer said.

Mayor discusses the state of the city

Mayor discusses the state of the city

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Everyone may feel a little disconnected while social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, but Mayor Judy Titsworth is working to make sure that Holmes Beach residents stay connected to their city government.

Titsworth is releasing daily updates on activities at city hall. The March 27 update gives the most up-to-date information on how things are working behind the closed doors of city hall.

While city hall is closed to the public, allowing only essential city employees to enter, the rear entrance at the police station remains open for emergency access to Holmes Beach police officers.

Right now, the only meetings being held are essential meetings, with the city’s parks and beautification committee, planning commission and city commission work sessions all canceled for the first half of April. The April 14 city commission meeting will be held via teleconferencing with login credentials supplied to the public via the city’s website.

The mayor is continuing to update the city’s state of emergency and re-evaluate the extension on a weekly basis.

HBPD officers are continuing their daily monitoring of the beaches. Currently, all public beaches are closed and city leaders are asking that anyone who does choose to go to the beach during the coronavirus pandemic gather in groups of 10 people or less, maintain a distance of 10-15 feet between groups and park legally. To help with the beach closure, Police Chief Bill Tokajer said that public parking has been reduced by 85-90% for beach parking and that police are enforcing the new restrictions.

Titsworth said that code compliance officers are monitoring occupancy in city hotels, motels and vacation rentals. On March 25, Titsworth issued an official request to all vacation rental owners and agents along with hotel and motel management to ask them to cease taking new reservations at this time. She said that the response to this request has been primarily positive.

Currently, code compliance officers are not conducting vacation rental certificate program inspections. The city’s public works department is working diligently to sanitize city hall, city offices and all city vehicles to help keep employees safe.

The Holmes Beach building department is still open but is only accepting new permit requests through the city’s website. Inspections are still being conducted, with all city inspectors wearing personal protective equipment. Inspectors are considering video submittals for inspections on small permit projects. Contractors have been asked to limit the number of workers on job sites to 10 or less. Anyone with questions about the new policies is asked to contact building department staff by email or by telephone at 941-708-5800.

“I continue to urge all Island residents and guests to continue to practice social distancing,” Titsworth said in her March 27 update. “Everyone in our community has a very important job to do. That job is to assume you have COVID-19 and to not spread your germs. Please continue to wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and stay at home.”

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Manatee County beaches remain open

Manatee County beaches remain open

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Archives.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – As of this evening, there were no plans to close Manatee County’s public beaches on Anna Maria Island.

Sarasota County beaches also remain open as of tonight.

This afternoon, the city of Tampa announced its public beaches were closing tonight at sunset. This evening, the city of Clearwater announced it was closing its public beaches on Monday, March 23.

On Anna Maria Island, Manatee County’s public beaches are the Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach and Coquina Beach and Cortez Beach in Bradenton Beach. The county also maintains Bayfront Park, which is owned by the city of Anna Maria.

There are also numerous public beach access points along the Gulf of Mexico coastline, many of which are located at city street ends in Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach.

Manatee County’s position on keeping the beaches open was first expressed by County Administrator Cheri Coryea on Monday, March 16, in an email she sent to city and town officials in Manatee County. Coryea also stated the beaches would remain open during the County Commission’s emergency meeting later that afternoon.

Today, the status of the county beaches was discussed by county and city officials during the weekly Emergency Policy Group meeting chaired by Manatee County Public Safety Director Jacob Saur.

After today’s meeting, Coryea distributed a written recap of the meeting. According to Coryea’s recap, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth suggested reducing the Manatee Public Beach parking lot to 50 percent capacity – an action that was not taken.

“Holmes Beach Mayor said that today was much better at the beach. All other municipalities agreed,” Coryea’s email recap said.

According to Coryea, an Amber Alert was issued to cell phone users clarifying the social distancing policies included in Governor’s Ron DeSantis’ Tuesday, March 17 Executive Order.

“I direct parties accessing public beaches in the State of Florida to follow CDC guidance by limiting their gatherings to no more than 10 persons, distance themselves by 6 feet and support beach closures at the discretion of local authorities,” the Governor’s executive order said.

Coryea’s email said existing digital message boards would mention the social distancing guidelines and signs would be placed “all over the beach” reminding people about social distancing.

Her email recap said county personnel, as possible, would use four-wheelers to travel up and down the beach using a bullhorn to repeat the social distancing message.

A banner that says, “Make a Difference/Keep a Distance” that would be towed behind a plane flying along the Anna Maria Island coastline was discussed but not implemented.

According to Coryea’s email, there are also no plans to implement a county curfew.

“Not needed yet,” her email said.

Mayor’s suggestions

When contacted this evening, Mayor Titsworth discussed her beach-related suggestions and the conversations that took place at Wednesday’s meeting.

“I was wondering if we should cut the public beach to half capacity parking just to make it so there’s not as many people in such a small area, but that would be a hard thing for the police to enforce because there’s several entrances into the beach,” Titsworth said regarding the Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach.

“I was getting complaints that there’s so many people on the beaches. Before the meeting today, I had the Chief (Police Chief Bill Tokajer) go up and down the beach and look for groups larger than 10 and for people staying apart from each other. He was pleasantly pleased that everyone seemed to be in smaller groups, and everyone was keeping their distance. He felt he was comfortable with it,” Titsworth said.

“The café’s already gone to half capacity, so they’re working hard on that,” she said in reference to Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order ordering all Florida restaurants to reduce their capacity by 50%.

“During the meeting today, I said it looked like it was way better than it was on the weekend, but we have another weekend coming up and we’re going to have to keep monitoring it,” Titsworth said.

“The county wasn’t ready to do anything. John Chappie (the Bradenton Beach mayor) wasn’t ready to do anything. So, we said let’s continue monitoring because every day’s a new day. We also said if we find neighboring beaches are going to start closing – which would draw more people to ours – we’ll have to look at that as well,” Titsworth said.

Regarding the Tampa beaches being closed and the St. Petersburg beaches closing on Monday, Titsworth said, “That’s probably going to have an effect on ours, which is too bad. If people can self-disperse it at least gets them outside, which is healthy. You hate to have everybody trapped in climate-controlled environments, especially with all these kids.”

Anna Maria beaches

On Tuesday, March 17, Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said he had no intentions to close the city beaches. He said the city doesn’t have the resources to enforce city-wide beach closures.

Mayor delivers state of the city address

Mayor delivers state of the city address

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Mayor Judy Titsworth’s first of two years in office will come to a close in November. To recognize her first year as the city’s mayor, she took some time during the Oct. 8 commission meeting to discuss some of her favorite accomplishments in the past 11 months.

“This year’s flown by and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” she said.

Titsworth began her address by recognizing the city’s staff saying that she’s proud of the staff as well as their accomplishments and growth over the past year. A goal, she said, was to improve customer service across all departments. To that end, Titsworth created the role of director of development services, a position that Eran Wasserman from LTA Engineers is currently transitioning into. She also marked the change to Code Compliance for former Code Enforcement officers and the promotion of James Thomas as supervisor, along with the creating of another full-time clerk position in that department and their move to the public works annex building among some of the highlights for the year.

Another was the hiring of new Building Official Neal Schwartz. Titsworth took the time to thank John Fernandez, who stepped in to fill the position temporarily after the departure of former Building Official Jim McGuinness. She added that she’s also very happy to bring Planner Bill Brisson on the city staff as a full-time employee. Titsworth also thanked Engineer Lynn Burnett for her efforts on behalf of the city.

She said she’s also excited for the improvements to the city’s vacation rental certificate program to help it run more efficiently.

Titsworth also thanked Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer and his department for their work to help keep the city safe, and credits the newly-installed license plate reader system as an asset to the city’s police officers.

Along with the improvements happening at the city field complex, Titsworth said she’s particularly proud of the dog park expansion and the planned skate park, which will be built with a bowl. She said funds for the bowl were made possible through the efforts of Tom Sanger from Sanger Pools and area contractors who donated materials for the new skate park.

One of Titsworth’s goals for the next year of her term is to see some of the planned improvements throughout the city come to life, including the expansion of a multi-use path along Palm Drive, the widening of the city’s bicycle lanes and continued efforts to improve crosswalk visibility. She said that over the next year, residents can expect to see more stormwater improvements, the addition of fish cleaning stations at the T-end docks rented by the city to residents and that dredging in city canals also will begin.

In her address, Titsworth also took the time to thank each department head for their contributions to the city’s progress over the past year.

“Thank you again and it has been my honor to serve,” she said.

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Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – The quest to hire a city manager in Holmes Beach has suffered a significant setback, but the matter has not yet been officially decided.

Switching from a strong mayor to a city manager form of government would require a charter amendment recommended by the Holmes Beach Charter Review Commission (CRC) and supported by the city’s registered voters.

The Holmes Beach mayor’s responsibilities are set forth in Article IV of the city charter.

During the Thursday, April 4 CRC meeting, member Sean Murphy made a motion to leave Article IV as currently written.

“There shall be a mayor who shall be the chief executive officer of the city. The mayor shall be responsible to the electorate for the administration of all city affairs placed in his/her charge by or under this charter,” according to Article IV, §4.01.

“I recommend we make no changes to Article IV,” Murphy said when making his motion.

David Zaccagnino supported Murphy’s motion. CRC chairman Ed Upshaw and members Claudia Carlson and Nancy Deal opposed it.

Confusion then ensued as to what that 3-2 vote meant regarding the potential hiring of a city manager.

According to §13.03 of the city charter, “Any proposed amendment or amendments to the charter adopted by a vote of a supermajority of the charter commission shall be presented to the city commission which shall provide for its submission to the voters in the next city general election.”

A supermajority vote means at least four of the five CRC members must support a proposed charter amendment for it to move forward.

Filling in for City Attorney Patricia Petruff at Thursday’s meeting, attorney Thomas Thanus said, “There may be some confusion about the last vote. There were three ‘no’ votes and two ‘yes’ votes, which means the motion didn’t carry. The motion was to not make any changes to Article IV. That motion was defeated, which means that Article IV is still up for discussion. You’ve haven’t closed the door on any further discussion.”

The CRC members can continue debating the city manager question, but Thanus said any proposed amendment that doesn’t have supermajority support will not be included in the final recommendations presented to city commissioners.

“You still have the option of revisiting some or all of your decisions, but you will get to a point where you will have a final vote. At that point, it would take four ‘yes’ votes in order for something to be presented to the voters at a referendum,” Thanus said.

“You’ve had other 3-2 votes, which means you have not achieved the supermajority,” Thanus said regarding previous votes taken on other potential amendments.

City manager debate

During Thursday’s meeting, CRC members shared their personal views on the city manager issue.

“I think the process works. It is more democratic. Little towns like ours are the community garden of democracy and I think we need to do whatever we can to protect that,” Murphy said of the city’s current form of government.

“We have good strong department heads. I don’t think the chief of police needs another boss – and it’s expensive,” Murphy said of a city manager.

Carlson suggested it was undemocratic to prevent city residents from determining which form of government they want.

“The logic of that escapes me. The citizens have the right to make a choice,” Carlson said.

Zaccagnino said hiring a city manager would add another layer of government and make it harder for citizens to enact change through their elected officials. He also disputes the notion that a city manager can remain politically-neutral.

Zaccagnino and Murphy both noted citizens can still initiate by petition a city referendum if they wish to continue the pursuit of a city manager.

Upshaw said the CRC’s duty is not to set policy, but to present viable options to the public.

“There is a section of our citizens who favor this. Are they the majority, I don’t know? But the question keeps coming up. I think it should go before the citizens,” Upshaw said.

Upshaw said a citizen-initiated city manager referendum that does not fully address all aspects of the proposed hiring could cause “chaos.”

Recent hiring questioned

Deal questioned Mayor Judy Titsworth’s recent hiring of Barney Salmon as the city’s new development services director – and whether Salmon serves as a department head whose hiring should have required city commission approval.

“Some people think it was an end-around to avoid having a city manager,” Deal said. “As to adding another layer to the administration, isn’t that what the mayor just did?”

The charter states the mayor needs commission concurrence to appoint or remove a department head or charter official whose position is listed in the charter. The charter doesn’t reference a developmental services director.

Human Resources Analyst Mary Buonagura defended the recent hiring.

“Mr. Salmon is the director of five developmental services. He coordinates work, period. He reports to the mayor just like the rest of the departments do. Mr. Salmon is not going to be recommended to become a charter member of the city. It’s not necessary,” Buonagura said.