Skip to main content

Tag: Palma Sola Boat Ramp

Repairs on tap for local boat ramps

Repairs on tap for local boat ramps

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News.

MANATEE COUNTY – Members of the Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity (CME) met Aug. 12 and discussed what’s going on with the two boat ramps on Manatee Avenue West.

Liza Click with the Manatee County Parks and Recreation Department said that the anticipated changes and repairs at Kingfish boat ramp in Holmes Beach are still in the planning phases.

“Nothing is moving forward until we see a concept drawing,” Click told her fellow CME members. While some trees have been marked at the boat ramp, she said the marking was only done for a survey and it doesn’t indicate that those trees will ultimately be removed.

Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth told her city’s commissioners during a July meeting that she had been given an overview of the planned changes to Kingfish which include the addition of pervious pavement in the parking area, an expansion of the parking area for vehicles with boat trailers, resurfacing of the boat ramps and removal of the Australian pine trees that provide shade to boaters and picnickers who use the park.

Currently, Manatee County has nearly $5 million budgeted for the work at Kingfish with $450,000 in the 2019-20 fiscal year and $4.5 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year.

At the Palma Sola boat ramp, the small craft boat launch area on the southwest side of the Palma Sola Causeway on Manatee Avenue, Click said work is ongoing. The boat ramp, which has been closed since Manatee County took responsibility for it from the city of Bradenton in 2019, has recently undergone dredging and workers have been resurfacing the ramp and are performing repairs to the dock.

Repairs at the Palma Sola ramp are expected to be completed by the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

Related coverage

 

Boaters return to reopened boat ramps

 

Paid parking may be coming to county boat ramps

 

Palma Sola Boat Ramp remains closed

Palma Sola Boat Ramp remains closed

Palma Sola Boat Ramp remains closed

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

PALMETTO – The Palma Sola Boat Ramp remains closed as Manatee County officials seek funding to make necessary repairs.

The issue of the closed boat ramp was broached by Bradenton Ward One Councilman Gene Gallo during a Manatee County Council of Governments meeting. Gallo said he’d received several complaints about the ramp being closed and questioned why no work had been done on the boat ramp since it was taken over by Manatee County officials earlier in the year.

There are several issues with the small boat ramp, typically used for smaller watercrafts such as Jet Skis and small recreational boats. Gallo said one issue is the ramp’s location, located in the southwest corner of the causeway next to a condominium complex on Flamingo Cay. Due to the location of the ramp, it’s hard for a sailboat to get any wind to launch at the site. Sand also washes into the boat ramp, making it difficult to launch any watercraft. Gallo suggested moving the boat ramp to the east side of the parking lot and digging a small channel to the ramp to allow for the easier launch of watercraft.

“If we’re going to do it, we need to do it right,” he said.

Charlie Hunsicker, Director of Parks and Natural Resources, said that to move the boat ramp would potentially require extensive seagrass mitigation, making a move cost-prohibitive for the county. During an Aug. 13 work session on county boat ramps, he said a presentation is scheduled to give a comprehensive report on the project, including immediate plans to make repairs to the boat ramp, lower the docks to ADA standards and reopen the boat ramp as soon as possible.