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65th Street sidewalk plans discarded

65th Street sidewalk plans discarded

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

HOLMES BEACH – Due to public opposition, the city of Holmes Beach’s multi-use path enhancement project along Marina Drive will not include a brick paver sidewalk along 65th Street.

According to the initial plans presented to the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) members in October, the now-discarded brick paver sidewalk would have been at least 5 feet wide and would have extended from the Marina Drive/65th Street intersection to the beach access near the Gulf Drive/65th Street intersection.

The proposed 65th Street sidewalk was intended to enhance pedestrian access between the Marina Drive multi-use path and the 65th Street beach access.

The revised project plan diagram obtained from the city now includes a new sidewalk to instead be installed along 45th Street, between Second Avenue and the 45th Street beach access. The new sidewalk will connect to an existing sidewalk that extends from Second Avenue to Gulf Drive.

65th Street sidewalk plans discarded
The city provided this revised one-page project document that includes a new sidewalk along 45th Street that is highlighted in yellow, toward the bottom of the diagram. – City of Holmes Beach | Submitted

On Oct. 30, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) recom­mended county commission approval of the city request to use $395,011 in tourist development tax revenues to install a section of 8-foot-wide, concrete multi-use path along Marina Drive between 56th and 66th streets. The new section of multi-use path will replace the last remaining section of a narrow sidewalk that connects to the wider and newer multi-use path at either end.

65th Street sidewalk plans discarded
The proposed project calls for the replacement of the last remaining section of narrow sidewalk along Marina Drive. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Holmes Beach resident Julie Andrews was among the residents who sent emails to city officials expressing opposition to a path or sidewalk being installed along 65th Street, where no sidewalks exist.

On Nov. 14, Andrews received an email from Holmes Beach Commissioner Steve Oelfke that stated the 65th Street component was no longer included the plans. In his email, Oelfke stated he was pleased with this outcome and appreciated the efforts of Andrews and others to bring their concerns to the city’s attention.

65th Street sidewalk plans discarded
The new segment of sidewalk now included in the plans will connect to this existing sidewalk along 45th Street. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

When contacted on Nov. 20, Mayor Judy Titsworth confirmed the plan revisions and she said she didn’t expect the changes to impact the city’s TDC-supported funding request that has not yet been presented for final county commission approval.

Tourist tax increase one step closer to ballot

Tourist tax increase one step closer to ballot

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Taxes, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) again discussed raising the tourist tax at its June 10 meeting at The Center of Anna Maria Island.

A revised Manatee County ordinance would include a measure to increase the 5% tourist tax, often referred to as the bed tax, to 6% on the general election ballot in November to be considered by voters.

The increase was unanimously approved by the TDC at its April 15 meeting. The TDC is a recommending board to the Manatee County Commission.

County commissioners were set to vote on increasing the tax at their April 23 meeting, but the item was removed from the agenda due to a recent change in state law that requires voters to approve the increase.

“So, what happened was we met the revenue criteria for calendar year 2023,” Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione said. “The short-term rental tax has to generate $30 million and we generated $30,091,000, making us eligible to increase the tax from 5% to 6%, which is the maximum allowed in Florida.”

Falcione said after meeting the criteria, they sent a request through the county’s Office of Financial Management to the Florida Department of Revenue, which had to issue a letter certifying that the county had met the required criteria. The letter was issued and the county attorney’s office staff drew up a new ordinance at 6%.

“On the Friday before the Tuesday, April 23 BCC meeting, the Department of Revenue notified the county that the Florida Statute on tourism changed in 2023,” Falcione said. “It now requires any additional bed tax levy to go through a referendum process and can no longer be voted on by the BCC. It took the vote out of the hands of the BCC and now requires the residents to make the decision by a vote.”

Once the county was made aware of this change, the vote was removed from the commissioners’ April 23 agenda.

Falcione said that Manatee County would be the first county in Florida to be subject to this new law, as no other county has reached the required criteria to increase the tax since the change was made. He said he believes had another county hit this roadblock before Manatee, word would have reached his office and the TDC would not have moved forward with a recommendation to the commission.

Discussions continued and a plan was formed at the June 10 TDC meeting.

“Since we were notified about the changes, the county attorney’s office revised the ordinance to apply the new state law,” Falcione said. “That extra 1% will generate $7-8 million dollars for the community. It’s important that me, as your director, continues to educate the residents about the value of tourists and the value of the tax. I need a recommendation today so we can present this to the board of county commissioners and hopefully, they can vote on it by late July. They would then be able to put this on the general election ballot in November.”

Falcione told the TDC that they would then need to register with the Supervisor of Elections by Monday, Aug. 19 to be on the ballot. He also said that if they did not meet the deadlines, or it made the ballot and failed, it would have to wait two years, because the increase is required to be on a general election ballot.

TDC member Jiten Patel brought up concerns about how they would educate the voters on the increase.

“When voters see a tax on the ballot, they don’t want to see an increase,” Patel said. “When we educate them on the ballot, that might impact their decision.

TDC Chair Ray Turner responded to Patel, explaining that he and Falcione had discussed that concern.

“Elliott and I have talked about this, and Elliott has a plan for that,” Turner said. “If a regular resident that’s not up on all these details sees an increase in taxes, they will automatically assume it’s at a cost to them. In this particular case, it’s a real benefit to residents.”

Falcione said he’s statutorily handcuffed and can’t place ads to “sell” the tax increase, but the TDC, county commission, chambers of commerce, local businesses and others with influence in the community can help educate the community. Falcione also doubled down on a statement he made at the April 15 TDC meeting, as well as when he spoke to The Sun about the issue in May.

“There are no plans to market the destination harder with this additional money,” Falcione said. “Shame on me if I ever did that, but you won’t have to worry about that because it won’t happen.”

Falcione said the additional money from the tax would go to community improvements, not bringing more people to the area, especially to AMI, which he admits at certain times of year is at capacity.

Falcione explained where the money goes and how it benefits both visitors and residents by offering maintenance, upgrades and marketing for the following and more:

• Coquina Beach parking lot

• Bridge Street Pier and Anna Maria City Pier

• Grassy Point Preserve

• Anna Maria Bayfront Park

• Beach renourishment (currently 1% out of the total 5%)

• Cortez Village Historical Society

• Myakka History Center

• Bradenton Area Convention Center

• Bishop Museum

• Manatee Performing Arts Center

• Premier Sports Campus

• The Sarasota Bradenton Airport (SRQ) partnership

• Gulf Islands Ferry (water taxi)

The TDC approved the recommendation unanimously and it will be sent to the county commission for a vote.

Data shows tourism drop after spring break

Data shows tourism drop after spring break

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA – Tampa-based Research Data Services (RDS) consultant Ann Wittine presented her state of tourism update to the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on June 10, pointing out the latest available statistics related to the tourism industry in Manatee County from April 2024.

Total visitors and economic impact were down compared to April 2023, as well as room nights spent, with 91,500 visitors (-6.4%), 203,300 room nights (-7.9%) and $134,036,500 in economic impact (-6.9%).

“I want to peel back the onion a little bit,” Wittine said. “Partly, these numbers are down because last year Easter was April 9 and this year it was March 31, and that does impact April business. Having that early Easter compresses business into March and we saw a very good March this year.”

Wittine added that if these numbers are compared to pre-COVID 2019, there is a 43% increase in visitors, a 37% increase in room nights and a 65% increase in economic impact.

Room occupancy for April was down slightly (-3.4%). The average daily room rate was also down from $265.70 per day in April 2023 compared to $260.62 in April 2024.

RDS also keeps track of where visitors are coming from when they visit the area. The largest increase in any visitor origin domestically is Florida, which is up only .5% over the same period in 2023. All other regions of the U.S. are down, with the Northeast being the largest drop at -14.6%. The only visitor origin with an increase was Europe, which was up 12.3% from April 2023.

Wittine says she forecasts a summer where the numbers go down slightly. RDS does extensive surveys with people who have shown interest in visiting Manatee County, many of whom will be coming to AMI, and she is beginning to see a trend of people concerned about rising prices for travel to the area.

RDS’s fiscal year-to-date (October-April) numbers are close to their projections. At 625,600, total visitors are down 3.3% and, at $1,140027,800, economic impact is up 0.3% from the same period a year ago. Wittine has said many times that a great deal of the large increases in visitors and economic impact since pre-COVID 2019 are directly related to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) adding dozens of new direct flights from all regions of the country.

TDC recommends $75,000 for ferry marketing

TDC recommends $75,000 for ferry marketing

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News.

ANNA MARIA – During the Manatee County Tourist Development Council’s (TDC) June 10 meeting at The Center of Anna Maria Island, TDC members supported more marketing efforts for the Gulf Island Ferry.

The service runs from downtown Bradenton to the Anna Maria City Pier and the Bradenton Beach Pier. TDC member and Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione gave the TDC an update on how the ferry service is progressing.

“It’s been exciting. I think our communications manager rode out to the Island yesterday and the ferry was full,” Falcione said. “We’re doing really well with the water ferry running Wednesday through Sunday, and we’ll continue that through the month of June. The goal is to run it 12 months a year. We’ll see how that goes.”

Falcione said that Research Data Services, which provides the TDC with tourism data and statistics, said that a Memorial Day survey of beachgoers showed 60% were aware of the ferry. He said they are still learning month-by-month through surveys. He told his staff that they should be in the public’s face in the region with tourists, then requested an additional $75,000 from tourist tax funds for marketing the water ferry. Falcione said some of that money would be for a local survey and a brand awareness campaign that would give the ferry a push through the end of summer into fall.

“My wife and I live at the end of the dock in Bradenton, and we sit and look out the window and wait for the water ferry to come back,” Bradenton Mayor and TDC member Gene Brown said. “It is unbelievable to us because it’s a 49-seat boat, and we see 49 people get off and 49 people get on.”

The motion to approve the recommendation for the $75,000 was passed unanimously and will be forwarded to the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners for final approval.

Idalia nudged tourism down slightly

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA – Hurricane Idalia caused many travelers to cancel their trips to Anna Maria Island in August, Research Data Services’ Ann Wittine told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Oct. 16.

The Tampa-based consultant’s report featured the latest available statistics related to the tourism industry in Manatee County from August 2023 compared to August 2022. In August, the total number of visitors was down by 2% and economic impact was down slightly, by .01%. Room nights were also down slightly from August 2022, by .2%.

“The important thing to know is that even though visitors are down slightly, the economic impact remains flat, so the visitors that came, on an economic basis are leaving more of an economic impact on their destination,” Wittine said.

Room occupancy for August was down slightly by 3% after being down 2.6% in the last report, which quoted data from June 2023. The average daily room rate, was up 4.2%, at $183.63 per day in August 2023 compared to $176.22 in August 2022.

The consultant for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau also tracks where tourists are coming from when they visit the area. The largest increase in any visitor origin came from Canada, up 40% over the same period in 2022. Travel from Europe has risen 5.8%. The largest domestic visitor origin was the Northeast, which was up 5.3% over the same period in 2022.

“Opportunity markets, which are essentially markets west of the Mississippi, are seeing growth,” Wittine said. “The biggest of these markets is Texas, where we’re seeing a lot of growth.”

She said the number of visitors in fiscal year-to-date in Manatee County was 983,900 as of the end of August. The economic impact of those visitors was $1,579,797,500, up 6.4% from the same period in 2022.

Holmes Beach proposes multimodal path to TDC

Holmes Beach proposes multimodal path to TDC

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

BRADENTON – Holmes Beach Superintendent of Public Works and City Engineer Sage Kamiya was back in front of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) at its Oct. 16 meeting. Kamiya appeared to answer questions and concerns brought up by TDC members after his initial presentation requesting tourist tax funding for a city-long multimodal path at an Aug. 21 meeting.

Kamiya noted that there is a path for walkers and bicyclists that runs along a portion of Marina Drive, but it needs improvement. The proposed new path would begin around the 2800 block of Gulf Drive and continue almost the entire length of the city to where Gulf Drive and Marina Drive merge in the 8000 block. The proposal calls for the path to be separated from the road by a grassy buffer area to keep people using the path further separated from the road, improving safety.

Connecting the path to the city’s 30 beach access points is also part of the plan, which would begin with the 65th and 66th Street access points near the center of the city. The city would also like to see the installation of educational signs along the path, allowing users to learn about the wildlife they may encounter, such as shorebirds and sea turtles, as well as Island flora.

The budget estimate for the entire project totals $2,436,727 with half of the money going to the Gulf Drive path improvements, $1,293,238. The remainder would be designated for Marina Drive path improvements, engineering design, flashing crosswalks and educational signage. Although the plan is ambitious, Kamiya told the TDC that it would be implemented in phases, with the first phase focusing on the city center area on both Gulf Drive and Marina Drive. The phase one estimate is $1,133,401, with $399,460 coming from the city and the remaining $733,948 being requested from the TDC.

The TDC’s recommendation of whether or not to allocate funds collected through the 5% tourist “bed tax” on vacation rental units for projects such as this often leads to county commissioners’ approval.

Rather than approve or deny the funding at the Aug. 21 meeting, the TDC unanimously chose to have the matter brought to the Oct.16 meeting in hopes of getting answers to questions multiple board members had, such as whether or not the path would eliminate public parking spots, and more specific answers as to which side of the street the path would be and a more specific timeline, among other concerns and questions.

Kamiya confirmed that no part of the project would take away public parking spaces, something more than one TDC member showed concern about at the Aug. 21 presentation, nor would any future phases. He also assured the TDC that the city would seek other funding sources for future phases.

Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown echoed concerns he had at the Aug. 21 meeting regarding the multi-phase proposal.

“Sometimes I’m not in favor of projects being done in phases, because sometimes the next phase doesn’t get done,” Brown said. “I don’t think you addressed that. What was that million dollars you were talking about?”

“The city did receive a Resilient Florida grant to look at the entire Gulf Drive that could include funding a path,” Kamiya responded. “We are not just here holding our hands out asking for funds. We are looking at every case we can to get as much done as we can.”

After a lengthy discussion on the multimodal path project, a motion to defer to the Dec. 4 TDC meeting was passed unanimously.

Tourism numbers stay strong on Anna Maria Island

Tourism numbers stay strong on Anna Maria Island

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA – Research Data Services’ (RDS) Ann Wittine presented an optimistic state of tourism update to the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Aug. 21 at The Center of Anna Maria Island.

She began by addressing her company’s research into public sentiment on the new water taxi service that is slated to begin operation soon.

The Tampa-based company is the tourism consultant for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We are doing a water taxi survey, and we have been doing that for a while,” Wittine said. “We were out for Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend and we’ll be out on Labor Day weekend. We are hearing more interest now than ever before. Not just a little bit more interest, but a significant interest in the water taxi.”

Wittine says RDS is not just talking to tourists, but also residents and business owners. She told the TDC the surveys are showing an increase in interest from all potential user groups. She said there will be more data available after the Labor Day weekend research is completed. That information will be presented at the TDC’s Monday, Oct. 16 meeting.

Wittine’s report featured the latest available statistics related to the tourism industry in Manatee County from June 2023. Total visitors were up by .8% and economic impact was up 2.9%. Room nights were down slightly from June 2022 by .5%. Wittine says this is due to larger party sizes this year.

Room occupancy for June was down slightly (2.6%) after being down 2.8% in the last report from RDS that quoted data from April 2023. The average daily room rate, however, is up 3.5%, at $216.41 per day in June 2023 compared to $209.19 in June 2022.

RDS also keeps track of where visitors are coming from when they visit the area. The largest increase in any visitor origin domestically is Florida, which is up 7.5% over the same time period in 2022. Globally, travel from Europe has risen 13%, after being down more than 13% in RDS’s April report. The largest domestic visitor origin was the Midwest, which is down 10% over the same time in 2022, but still remains strong.

“We are still double the number of Floridians that we had in 2019 that came this June,” Wittine said. “This is due to the marketing efforts we did during COVID. What this shows is, if we can bring first-time visitors, they fall in love and they come back again. That’s what the Florida number shows us.”

Wittine says the most growth potential for tourism is still Europe, which is down more than 67% since 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, Wittine said the number of visitors to Manatee County was 821,900, up 2.4% from June 2022 and the economic impact was $1,382,734,200, up 7.6% from the same period.

Holmes Beach seeks TDC approval for path enhancements

City seeks TDC approval for path funds

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – City officials are seeking tourist tax funding for enhancements to the city’s multimodal path and the creation of a new path. Public Works Superintendent/City Engineer Sage Kamiya addressed the Aug. 21 Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) meeting, citing the recent death of a bicyclist in the city and the death of a pedestrian who was struck by a truck earlier this year while crossing the street.

Kamiya told the TDC at the meeting at The Center of Anna Maria Island that a functional multimodal path running the length of the city was a matter of “life and death.”

Kamiya noted that there is a path for walkers and bicyclists that runs along a portion of Marina Drive, but it needs improvement. The proposed new path would begin around the 2800 block of Gulf Drive and continue almost the entire length of the city to where Gulf Drive and Marina Drive merge in the 8000 block. The proposal calls for the path to be separated from the road by a grassy buffer area that would further separate people using the path from the road, improving safety.

“Being here on the Island, you see a lot of people have to make use of the road because there aren’t a lot of good options for walking,” Kamiya said.

Holmes Beach seeks TDC approval for path enhancements
Holmes Beach Public Works Superintendent/City Engineer Sage Kamiya addresses the Manatee County Tourist Development Council on Aug. 21 seeking funding for the city’s proposed multimodal path. – Jason Schaffer | Sun

Connecting the path to the city’s 30 beach access points is also part of the plan, which would begin with the 65th and 66th Street access points near the center of the city. The city would also like to see educational signs along the path, allowing users to learn about wildlife they may encounter, such as shorebirds and sea turtles, as well as Island flora.

The budget estimate for the project totals $2,436,727, with half of the money going to the Gulf Drive path improvements ($1,293,238), and the remainder designated for Marina Drive path improvements, engineering design, crosswalks and educational signage.

Although the plan is ambitious, Kamiya told the TDC that it would be implemented in phases, with the first phase focusing on the city center area on both Gulf Drive and Marina Drive. The phase 1 estimate is $1,133,401 with $399,460 coming from the City of Holmes Beach and the remaining $733,948 being requested from tourist tax funds.

The TDC makes recommendations on the use of the funds to the Manatee County Commission.

Rather than approve or deny the funding recommendation, the TDC unanimously chose to have the matter brought to the next TDC meeting on Monday, Oct. 16, in hopes of getting answers to questions that multiple board members had, such as whether the path would eliminate public parking spots, which side of the street the path would be on, and defining a more specific timeline, among other concerns and questions.

AMI tourism numbers remain strong

AMI tourism numbers remain strong

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA – Research Data Services’ (RDS) Ann Wittine presented her state of tourism update to members of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on June 5 at a meeting held at The Center of Anna Maria Island.

As predicted in her April 24 address to the TDC, most numbers continue to be on the rise.

Wittine’s report featured the latest available statistics related to the Manatee County tourism industry from April. Total visitors and room nights were down slightly from April 2022, but economic impact was up for the month in 2023 with 97,000 visitors (down 2.1%), 220,700 room nights (down 4.1%) and $143,973,100 in economic impact (up 3.4%).

“While we did see a slight decrease in visitation this April over last April, a big part of this is because last year Easter fell on April 17, but this year it was April 9,” Wittine said. “This is a normal thing. When we see an early Easter, we find the season compresses. While we saw a slight decrease from last year, we see an increase in economic impact, meaning that visitors that are coming are spending more.”

Room occupancy for April was down slightly (down 2.8%) after being down more than 3% in the last report from RDS, which quoted data from February 2023. The average daily room rate, however, was up 7.9% at $265.70 per day in April compared to $246.30 in April 2022.

The Tampa-based RDS also keeps track of where people come from when they visit the area. The biggest increase in domestic visitor origin was the Midwest, which was up 5.1% over the same time period in 2022. Globally, travel from Europe fell 13.6% and travel from Canada was down 25.6% over April 2022. Wittine said the reason for the decrease in European and Canadian visitors was due to April 2022 being the first spring these tourists were not under COVID-19 lockdown orders. She said that current numbers are more in line with what is expected.

“As we have been seeing, we have a slight rollback in the number of people coming out of Florida,” Wittine said. “This is expected. The important thing to note is that we are still up 50% over where we were in 2019, so all of the marketing to the nearby markets has had an amazing ripple effect with the visitors continuing to come back.”

Wittine forecast numbers going down slightly at her last address to the TDC, but said at this meeting that rental agencies and condo owners on AMI have reported solid bookings for June and July.

TDC recommends funding for water taxi

TDC recommends funding for water taxi

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Community News, Transportation.

BRADENTON – Among the many agenda items up for discussion at the April 24 Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) meeting, the soon-to-be operational water taxi service was an issue all TDC members were enthusiastic about.

The water taxi service, planned to begin operation in July, will link Anna Maria Island and Bradenton in an effort to alleviate some traffic congestion and parking issues.

Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Executive Director Elliott Falcione told TDC members last week that everything was going well with the construction of the boats, the three cities that will be on the ferry route and all other aspects of the project.

“The boats are coming along very well and should be complete by mid-to-late June and there will be some branding on them as well,” Falcione said. “We are about 90% there on an operation agreement between Manatee County and the water ferry operator. We hope to bring that to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) in mid-to-late May.”

Falcione said the three cities that will be on the route will be Bradenton, Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach. He said that all three cities have drafted interlocal agreements and the TDC will bring those to the BCC at the same time as the operations agreement.

“If the stars align, and I hope they will, it’s been a long time coming, we’re hoping to start a Friday, Saturday and Sunday service in the month of July,” Falcione said. “Would July Fourth be the perfect scenario, absolutely, and we’re going to try to get there.”

The main focus of the TDC’s discussion was a subsidy to fund the water taxi service for the first year of operation. Falcione said earlier ideas to subsidize the service included the Coquina Beach Market and beach concessions, but those options were no longer on the table. He said the only option for year one would be to use tourism tax proceeds.

Falcione asked the TDC for a recommendation of $400,000 to carry the service for the first year, as well as $25,000 for marketing efforts. After the first year, he said they would look into grant opportunities and other funding sources so the program could ween off of the tourism tax funding. The $400,000 is to fill the gap between projected first-year total operating costs and first-year income from paid water taxi rider fares, which will be in the $8 to $10 range per rider, depending on whether it is a one-way trip or a hopper pass that would be good for the day. Plans are still in place for Island workers to use the service for free to get to and from work, which could help with parking issues.

Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown moved to recommend the $425,000 subsidy as discussed, and Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover-Bryant seconded. The motion was passed unanimously and will be presented to the BCC later this month.

Tourism numbers in for February

Tourism numbers in for February

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

BRADENTON – Research Data Services’ (RDS) Ann Wittine presented an optimistic state of tourism update to the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on April 24.

According to the latest available tourism statistics from February, total visitors and economic impact were up over February 2022, with 88,900 visitors (up 1.6%). Room nights were slightly down, with 218,900 room nights (down 1.1%) and $214,439,600 in economic impact was up 5.4%.

“Some of these numbers don’t seem that impressive on the surface, but this is February, so we were pretty near capacity,” Wittine said. “There just isn’t room for those big growth numbers we’ve been seeing. This is also during a month when some property owners told us they were impacted by red tide.”

Room occupancy for February was down slightly (-3.5%) after being up less than 1% in the December 2022 report from RDS. The average daily room rate, however, is up more than 10%, at $265.02 per day in February 2023 compared to $240.51 in February 2022.

RDS also keeps track of where visitors are coming from. The biggest increase in visitor origin domestically is the Northeast, which is up 10% over the same time period in 2022. Wittine attributes this growth to additional non-stop flights being added from that region. Globally, travel from Europe is up 73.2% and Canada is up 153.7% over February 2022. The largest decrease was from the Midwest, which was down 9.5%, followed by the Southeast, down 3.5% and Florida, down 2.2%.

“We had a slight increase in number of visitors, which is why room nights are slightly down,” Wittine said. “At the same time, we have a slight increase in length of stay. We are at 7.7 nights average this year compared to 7.6 last year, but more importantly, we are up from 7.2 in 2019 pre-COVID, which is a huge increase.”

RDS’s fiscal year to date (October through February) numbers are up significantly, echoing the double digit increase in February economic impact. At 437,900, total visitors are up 6.4% and at $743,677,600, economic impact is up 11.8% from the same period a year ago. Wittine has said many times that a great deal of the large increases in visitors and economic impact since pre-COVID 2019 are directly related to Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) adding dozens of new direct flights from all regions of the country. Keeping with the constant growth reported, SRQ is once again up 16.3% from March of 2022 with 1.29 million people traveling through the airport in just the first three months of 2023, which is more than the entire year of 2020 and only slightly less than the entire pre-COVID year of 2019.

Wittine says she forecasts a summer where the numbers go down slightly. RDS does extensive surveys with people who have shown interest in visiting Manatee County, many of whom will be coming to Anna Maria Island, and the consulting company is beginning to see a trend of people concerned about rising prices for travel to the area.

Wittine says there’s no way to exactly predict what the coming months will bring, but she shared some comments from the vendors surveyed, which point to good things to come: “Bookings are up;” “A lot more last-minute, shorter reservations than normal;” “Looking good for summer;” “March was beautiful, more than expected;” and “April reservations are strong.”

Big changes could be coming to the Coquina Beach Trail.

TDC approves proposal to use Coquina Beach Trail for shuttles

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Business, Featured, Tourism.

BRADENTON BEACH – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) is recommending a plan to Manatee County commissioners to widen the Coquina Beach Trail for shuttles.

The trail is a paved path about the width of a city sidewalk that begins at the south end of the Coquina Beach parking lot and runs 1.5 miles along the beach north to Fifth Street South. The plan, discussed at the April 24 TDC meeting, would resurface and widen the trail, potentially for the use of the Old Town Tram golf cart shuttle service owned by Josh LaRose’s Easy Parking Group and partially funded by the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). 

Big changes could be coming to Coquina Beach Trail
Easy Parking Group’s ‘Old Town Trams’ currently service Coquina Beach to Bridge Street, but are not allowed to drive on the current beach trail, making for a bumpy ride for passengers, or long waits in heavy beach traffic. This tram stopped for a break in the shade near 13th Street South. – Jason Schaffer | Sun

“They desperately need a way to get people back and forth from Bridge Street to here without sitting in traffic for an hour,” said Doris Snyder, who comes to the beach from Palmetto on a regular basis. “We like to hit one of the restaurants on Bridge Street for lunch or dinner when we come down here, but it’s impossible to park in that area unless you get incredibly lucky. We use the golf cart service a lot, but even if they drive off the road in the parking area instead of sitting in traffic, the ride beats you to death. A cart path would be amazing.”

Project Manager Mike Stern told TDC members that the trail improvements would cost $1.5 million – including the removal of 96 Australian pine trees whose roots are damaging the pavement – and take about eight months to complete. Stern said a large part of the cost will be building a root barrier, which will require the current trail to be removed so that the barrier can be placed underground to prevent future tree roots from growing under the trail and destroying it, causing more unnecessary cost in the future. With the barrier, the trail should last for many years with little serious maintenance, he said.

“While this sounds like a large investment, we hope this will last much longer than the original trail did because we are fairly confident that there was not as much root barrier, if any, used the first time around,” said Chad Butzow, director of Public Works for Manatee County. “Hopefully we’ll get a bit more longevity this time around.”

The county currently spends between $35,000 to $40,000 a year maintaining the trail, and Public Works says that the steps being taken with the new trail will save that money because the tree roots will no longer be an issue. If this holds true, a third of the cost of the project would be covered by the nearly half a million in repair dollars that wouldn’t need to be spent over the next decade. 

When asked by TDC members if the trail could be widened enough to make ample room for golf carts and pedestrians, Stern explained that as long as they were working from the existing footprint, no new permits would be needed, but because of environmental issues due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, any size expansion proposals would require permits at the state level that could take months or even years, and be potentially costly.

Big changes could be coming to Coquina Beach Trail
Beachgoers enjoy the picnic area and shade provided along the Coquina Trail. – Jason Schaffer | Sun

While not addressing Easy Parking Group’s Old Town Tram by name, TDC member and Bradenton Beach restaurant owner Ed Chiles stated that six-passenger golf cart trams should be allowed to use the path so people could park at the beach and not have to endure the sometimes impossible task of finding a parking space near the Bridge Street shopping and dining area. 

“The biggest single issue in Bradenton Beach is lack of parking,” Chiles said. “Coquina Beach may be the most parking spaces anywhere in one place in the county. This trail offers connectivity. I don’t want to see all the golf carts on there, I want to see one set of trams. That connects 1,200 parking spaces that this county has worked so hard on to what the CRA has worked so hard on in downtown Bradenton Beach.”

Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the trams using the trail would also be a big help for water taxi passengers to get to and from downtown Bradenton Beach when the service begins in July of this year. 

TDC Chairman James Satcher moved that the proposal be presented to the Board of County Commissioners, with the option to expand the scope of the proposal, such as a wider trail with a shell path adjacent, at a later date. The proposal was passed at the close of discussions. 

In other business, it was reported that phase one of the ongoing drainage project at Coquina Beach is now complete, which added 192 parking spaces. Phase two is estimated to be completed by early July, adding 862 additional parking spaces, according to Stern.

Stern said the paving of the parking lot should be completed by the end of May, but there will still be more work to be done. He was pleased to report that fewer of the Australian pine trees that offer shade to the picnic area along the beach and parking area would need to be removed than first thought. This will not only save time and money, but keep much-needed shade in the area.

City seeks partnerships with Shawn Kaleta

City seeks partnerships with Kaleta

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

BRADENTON BEACH – City officials are pursuing two potential public-private partnerships with the Bradenton Beach Marina’s new principal, developer Shawn Kaleta.

One partnership pertains to proposed improvements to the city-owned parking lot next to the cell tower and the Public Works building, adjacent to the marina. Another pertains to the multi-use trail that passes through the marina property.

During a March 1 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, City Attorney Ricinda Perry and Mayor John Chappie referred to Kaleta as the marina’s new owner. A mortgage and security agreement dated Jan. 10 lists the Bazzy Marine Corp. as the mortgagor and the Holiday, Florida-based Capital Property Ventures LLC as the mortgagee. The agreement references “a principal amount of $14 million from mortgagor and Aquabiz LLC.” Kaleta signed the agreement as the mortgagor and as president of the Bazzy Marine Corp.

According to the Florida Division of Corporations, John Porreca is listed as the registered agent and authorized person for Capital Property Ventures LLC. Aquabiz LLC lists attorney Louis Najmy as its registered agent and Kaleta and Daniel Courtney Zoller Jr. as managers.

When previously contacted by The Sun on numerous occasions and asked whether Kaleta purchased the marina from the Bazzy family, Najmy declined to comment. Former marina president Mike Bazzy also declined to comment.

CRA discussions

During the CRA meeting, Perry initiated the parking lot discussion and noted that the CRA members previously authorized Colliers Engineering to put together a parking plan. The plan Perry presented shows 23 parking spaces at the cell tower. Perry said the goal is to create a nicer parking lot and one that’s compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

City seeks partnerships with Shawn Kaleta
This preliminary parking lot plan was presented to CRA members. – City of Bradenton Beach | Submitted

“You have that plan in place. A property owner in the area is desirous of actually building out that parking plan and doing all the landscaping and markers, but they didn’t want to pay for installing pavers,” Perry said.

She identified the property owner as Kaleta and said Building Official Steve Gilbert wants to see an engineered parking plan before moving forward with the proposed improvements.

“We want to make clear that this is a public parking lot. We want to make sure that whatever’s put in there is low maintenance. It’s our parking lot. We’ll be maintaining it,” Chappie said.

“Do you have any objection with my office moving forward with that private individual to develop that parking area with either shell or some type of rock in that area?” Perry asked CRA members.

The CRA members unanimously approved a motion authorizing Perry, Gilbert, Woodard and Chappie to finalize the parking lot improvement plans and coordinate with Kaleta on the parking lot improvements.

Multi-use trail

During the same meeting, Chappie and Perry initiated two separate discussions about the multi-use trail that passes under the Cortez Bridge and passes through the marina parking lot along the south side of the bridge.

City seeks partnerships with Shawn Kaleta
The multi-use trail passes under the Cortez Bridge. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

In reference to the pending Cortez Bridge replacement project, Chappie said the existing multi-use trail under the bridge will be replaced by a new trail that’s hopefully wide enough to accommodate golf carts and other low speed vehicles too.

Chappie said city staff is researching the exact location of the city easement on the marina property that provides access to the trail area under the bridge.

“Working with Ricinda, we can talk with Kaleta to assure that’s part of our scenic right of way. I don’t think there’s going to be an issue,” Chappie said.

City seeks partnerships with Shawn Kaleta
The multi-use trail that passes under the Cortez Bridge also passes through the Bradenton Beach Marina property. – Joe Hendricks
Sun

Later in the meeting, Perry initiated discussion about connecting the multi-use trail under the bridge to the multi-use trail along Gulf Drive South that passes by Cortez Beach. She mentioned the CRA members’ long-held desire to create a dedicated tram path along Gulf Drive South with a potential crossing point at Fifth Street South, which provides access to Bay Drive South, Bridge Street and the trail that passes under the bridge.

“I have talked to Shawn Kaleta about his purchase at the marina – actually, it was Mike Bazzy and Shawn Kaleta together – and walked their property, walked all the way down through Bridge Street and up and down Third Street talking about what the city is doing and what Mr. Kaleta is doing in that area. There was interest by him to work together with the city. He’s also talked to Elliott Falcione with the TDC (Tourist Development Council) about doing a major improvement to the multi-use trail that the city has,” Perry said.

She noted Kaleta owns a lot of properties in those areas and said he’s expressed interest in working with the city, and potentially the TDC, in providing some construction assistance to further enhance that corridor that’s heavily used by pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists.

Perry asked the CRA members if they were interested in formulating a workplan and a budget to pursue the trail improvements.

CRA Chair Ralph Cole said, “It’s part of the goal to make this a more walkable community, which gets cars off the road. It’s a nice walk down to Bridge Street from the north end hotels and vacation rentals. I think it’s a good idea any time you can get help with funding. It’s a win-win situation.”

CRA member David Bell expressed concerns about the large number of pedestrians that walk along Bay Drive South between Bridge Street and Third Street South, where there are currently no sidewalks.

City seeks partnerships with Shawn Kaleta
The portion of Bay Drive South between Bridge Street and Third Street South is heavily traveled by pedestrians, motorists, bicyclists and others. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

“Until we resolve that bottleneck, there’s really no point adding more traffic to that area that’s already dangerously overpopulated with cars, pedestrians, bicycles and trams. Until we resolve that, I don’t want to see us add more traffic to that area,” Bell said.

In response, Cole said, “One of our main objectives in the CRA district is to bring people to the CRA district. What we’re doing is going to make it safer and create a pathway so you don’t have everybody walking down Gulf Drive.”

Perry sought and received authorization to formulate a plan to connect the multi-use trail from Gulf Drive South to the Cortez Bridge using Fifth Street South and Bay Drive South as connecting streets, with Bell casting the lone opposition vote.

AMI Historical Society seeks tourism funds

AMI Historical Society seeks tourism funds

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Entertainment, Museums.

ANNA MARIA – The Anna Maria Island Historical Society (AMIHS), 402 Pine Ave., draws more than 10,000 visitors a year to its volunteer-managed museum and is making plans to inform and entertain future visitors.

The museum is housed in a building that dates back 100 years to the 1920s. The building has served many purposes in its long life, including an ice house, turtle hatchery and more, and museum directors want to assure it has a bright future for many years to come showcasing the rich history of AMI.

On Feb. 13, they asked the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) for financial assistance.

According to the TDC, the historical society and its board of directors have explored a partnership with Carter Global, a fundraising agency that helps organizations maximize their philanthropic potential. The goal is to build a six-month plan for AMIHS to generate income that will help support the museum through revenues generated by memberships, admission fees and other strategic planning, rather than just donations from visitors and the community.

The plan presented to AMIHS by Carter Global is a capacity-building project with a total cost of $72,000. Since the AMIHS operates on an annual budget of $40,000, they are not even close to the $72,000 goal but calculated they could delegate $10,000 to the effort. They asked the TDC for an additional $62,000 to complete the project.

As the TDC discussed the request, board member Ed Chiles proposed an amendment to the request in which the TDC would raise the amount to $100,000, with the additional funding going to assist with funding the Historical Society’s first full-time paid employee as the plan moves forward.

AMIHS Board President Elizabeth Hager and Vice President Barbara Murphy addressed the TDC to help clarify the request. TDC Chairman James Satcher asked both Hager and Murphy what the additional $28,000 would fund if they were given the money.

“We are prepared to do this work with a consultant, and we’re ready to go,” Hager said. “We feel it would be wonderful if you voted for Mr. Chiles’s amendment so we could proceed at pace without waiting for agendas and all that kind of thing.”

A unanimous vote from the TDC granted the amended request of $100,000 to the Historical Society. The request will now go to the Manatee County Commission, which has the final say.

TDC recommends $950,000 for water taxi

TDC recommends $950,000 for water taxi

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Community News, Manatee County.

BRADENTON – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) unanimously voted on Nov. 4 to recommend that Manatee County commissioners allocate up to $950,000 in resort tax revenue to help fund a water taxi initiative.

Commissioners unanimously supported the initiative in October. The service is planned to run from its core stop just east of the Green Bridge in Bradenton to the City Pier in Anna Maria, then go south to the Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach and finally to the South Coquina Boat launch. The water taxi will run Friday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

TDC members cited funding from three sources – the county resort tax, beach concession revenues and the Coquina Beach Market, which Manatee County recently began operating.

Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Executive Director Elliott Falcione said the TDC also will be seeking federal and state grants for the project as well, but those may not be available until the service is in operation.

“At this time, we hope to be ordering the vessels within the next few weeks,” Falcione said. “It’s going to be two 49- or 50-passenger pontoon-style vessels that will be about 50 feet in length.”

Falcione said they will be using a Florida-based boat builder, but could not give an accurate estimate on how long the construction would take. He cited supply problems that are causing issues in many construction industries for not being able to give a completion date.

Falcione said they also are working on a service that could transport employees from the mainland directly to the Island, alleviating problems they have with parking, which is especially difficult during the busy spring tourist season.