HOLMES BEACH – Leaders from state, county and city governments are coming together to find solutions to ongoing public parking and beach access issues on Anna Maria Island.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth hosted a May 4 meeting with participants including Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie, Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, Florida State Sen. Jim Boyd and Florida State Rep. Will Robinson. While the meeting was closed to the public and press, Titsworth shared what was discussed and the ways that participants are working together to address beach access issues, particularly in Holmes Beach.
Titsworth agreed that city leaders and staff would publish a new parking map to identify areas in the city where beach parking is available, including at the county-owned public beach and along residential city streets. She also said that city staff would physically mark all beach access parking spots to make them easily identifiable.
City leaders also said they will reach out to area churches to see if they’re interested in opening their parking lots for use by beachgoers and, if so, assist them through the process to get any approvals needed from city commissioners. A suggestion was made during the meeting that Manatee County leaders provide portable restrooms and trash receptacles at any parking lots offered for beach parking to assist in keeping them clean and providing needed amenities for beachgoers.
At the suggestion of Boyd, Titsworth said city leaders will look at the Holmes Boulevard corridor to see if there is any opportunity to safely add more parking without creating a hazard for the pedestrians and bicyclists who often use the road.
Van Ostenbridge committed to looking further into the possibility of building a parking garage at the public beach and submitted a proposal to city commissioners for the project. Since a parking garage is not an approved use in the recreational zone, the project would need two public hearings along with consideration by the Holmes Beach Planning Commission to add the use to the zoning district. If an increase in height limitations in the city is required for the parking garage proposal, it would have to be approved through a charter amendment by Holmes Beach voters before permits for construction could be issued by the city building department.
Another project that Van Ostenbridge agreed to work on is reviewing all public beach access points in the community and determining if they can be acquired through eminent domain for the benefit of the county. He said he’s identified four beach access points with existing easements and wants to avoid conflicts like the one ongoing at 78th Street in Holmes Beach. Private property owners recently closed a long-used beach access path at the end of the street without notice to area residents, stating that the path is located on their private property and an easement that previously existed on the property is not enforceable.
City Attorney Erica Augello said that the easement on the 78th Street property for the path does not specify who the easement benefits and therefore cannot be enforced for public use.
Chappie asked Boyd during the meeting to look into broadening the use of tourist tax funds to see if they can be used to fund infrastructure and safety needs in the Anna Maria Island cities. Right now, those funds can only be used for projects benefitting tourism, such as the creation of a park.
Titsworth asked that state leaders consider giving a percentage of the bed tax funds back to the cities directly rather than restricting the use of the funds through the tourist tax program.
BRADENTON BEACH – A recent incident involving a stolen car, a stolen gun and a skirmish brought residents and police to city hall to tell commissioners about fear and inadequate funding.
On April 26 at 8:50 p.m., Bradenton Beach Police Officer Kyle Orms responded to a report of a possible fight in progress at the Summer Sands condominium complex near the 1100 block of Gulf Drive North. On the way, Orms was advised that a gun and 10 or more people were involved.
“Upon arrival, I observed approximately 10 subjects gathered in the street around one male subject on the ground. The male subject, later identified as Jonathan France, 17 years old, appeared to be being held down by a female subject later identified as Laketa Taylor. After the group parted and Mrs. Taylor let Mr. France go, Mrs. Taylor began yelling that Mr. France had stolen her vehicle and a gun and was trying to get away; and that she had been holding him there for the police,” Orms stated in his report.
While speaking with Taylor, Orms learned she had previously filed a report with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office in which she alleged France stole her vehicle and a gun from her residence.
“While attempting to detain Mr. France, he began slamming his head into a nearby vehicle. I then took Mr. France to the ground and was able to secure him in handcuffs. After securing Mr. France, multiple subjects began getting into their vehicles and leaving the scene,” Orms stated in his report.
Officers from the Holmes Beach Police Department arrived to provide additional assistance. Bradenton Beach Police Officer Thomas Ferrara also later responded to the scene.
Taylor had learned on Facebook that France was on the Island and brought several people with her to confront him, according to the report. When confronted, France tried to run, the group stopped him and he fell, “yelling that he wanted to kill himself” and slamming his head into the concrete.
Taylor held him down while her husband, Dwight Evans Jr., grabbed a gun that was laying on the ground. Evans left, returning when Orms asked Taylor to have him bring the gun back to the scene, according to the report.
According to Ferrara’s report, Taylor’s husband found his stolen handgun – a loaded 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol – while searching for the stolen vehicle that was found parked at the nearby Bridgeport condominium complex. Ferrara’s report notes Taylor’s car had a dead battery but was otherwise undamaged.
Orms ran a check that revealed France had been reported as missing and was the subject of multiple arrest warrants issued by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and one warrant issued in Sarasota. France was placed under arrest and transported to HCA Florida Blake Hospital in Bradenton. After being medically cleared, he was transported to the juvenile assessment center.
“I was advised that due to Mr. France’s statements, he would need to be transported to Centerstone for Baker Act,” Orms stated in his report.
Residents’ concerns
Addressing the commission on May 5, Bradenton Beach resident Ken McDonough said, “What happened that night was a wake-up call to us on 10th, 11th and 12th Street North. Five carloads of individuals came to the neighborhood.”
McDonough said many of the individuals wore “dark hoodies” and some tried to enter the Summer Sands pool area, which was locked.
Resident Ken McDonough described the April 26 incident to the city commission. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“This wasn’t the normal thing for our neighborhood. As I went up towards 11th Street, I saw a bunch of individuals, one on the ground, and people screaming. At that point, somebody did get a hold of the police,” McDonough said.
“When the first officer showed up, everybody started to run in different directions. I was on the north side of the condominium garage. I went around to the south side and three carloads went out the south side of the garage, up Gulf Drive and crossed over the Cortez Bridge at a high rate of speed. The first policeman that showed up had his hands full. I was concerned for him because there were individuals screaming and running and by this time it was dark. I found out the next day that after the police left, two individuals came back into that garage and were looking for things,” McDonough said.
“In all the years I’ve been here I’ve never felt unsafe in Bradenton Beach. That night, everybody did in our neighborhood,” he added.
Resident Sheryl Blinde described her efforts to contact the police. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Sheryl Blinde was walking her dog as the events unfolded. Blinde told the commission she called 911 and explained what was happening to the operator. After being put on hold, she had to explain the situation again when her call was transferred to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
“I was frightened and I just wanted to get a hold of the police,” she said, questioning whether there’s a more effective way to handle calls for police assistance.
Chief’s concerns
The police chief also addressed the commission.
“There was a young man in town that’s been having some issues and maybe he was thinking about taking his life. He’d been on the Island for a while and was at another condo resort. They knew he was out of place and he was there for a few hours just sitting in his car and nobody called us. This could have been taken care of right then. If something doesn’t look right, call,” Cosby said.
“Speaking with people over the past couple days, they were concerned because after the incident became under control, people were still lingering around and none of the officers appeared to be talking to them. The other officers there were from Holmes Beach. Their job is only to assist our officers if something is physically happening, which at that point it wasn’t.
“I only had one officer on duty. Holmes Beach had three to four officers on duty and that’s why they responded as the backup. Our officer was tied up dealing with the young man and wound up Baker Acting him. Half-hour to 45 minutes later, our second officer, which is our midnight officer, came on duty. He processed the car and processed the gun. So, he also was out of commission dealing with those two things,” Cosby said.
Cosby then addressed the annual budgets for two neighboring police departments.
“The city of Holmes Beach has three to four people on duty every shift. His budget is $3.5 million. The town of Longboat Key has three to four people on duty. They actually have it written in their manual that no less than two people can be working per shift. Their budget is $3.5 million. My budget is $1.36 million. I can’t provide that kind of service, so you’re getting what you pay for. Every year, the department heads are told, ‘We’re not raising taxes. Make do with what you have,’ ” Cosby said.
“As the county grows, and more people continue to move here, these types of incidents are going to become more prevalent. We have to figure something out because we can’t keep doing this. Somebody’s going to get seriously hurt. I only have so many people and I can only do so many things, so it falls back to you,” Cosby told the commission.
Cosby also discussed the city phone system the public uses to contact the police department.
“The phone system has been in disarray for five years. Every year we were told there’s no money to fix it. We paid $30,000 to put a patch in that doesn’t work,” Cosby said.
“The way the phone system’s supposed to work is at 4 o’clock we forward it to the sheriff’s office front desk. The deputies that work the front desk take the call, send it up to dispatch and an officer responds for a non-emergency. You know what happens? When they call the after-hours number, once in a while it will go through to the sheriff’s office. The second option is the call drops or it goes to the voice mail for the police department,” Cosby said.
Cosby said the phone system is finally getting replaced thanks to federal funds the city received as part of the federal government’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.
Regarding the police department budget, Mayor John Chappie said, “Every year we talk about the police department. We know you’ve been short-handed.”
Commission response
Chappie said Cosby recently told him the starting salary for a Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputy is increasing to $62,000. According to Cosby, the starting salary for a Bradenton Beach officer is $47,000.
Cosby said he’s still operating with nine officers instead of 10 because one officer is still recovering from an injury suffered long ago while making an arrest. Chappie said he and Cosby have talked about having two officers on duty at night.
“We’ve got to do something,” Chappie said.
Mayor John Chappie shares the police chief’s concerns. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Chappie said he and the two other Anna Maria Island mayors recently met with state Sen. Jim Boyd and state Rep. Will Robinson. The mayor said he reminded the legislators that the single-family homes once occupied by three or four people have been replaced by large vacation rental homes occupied by 10-20 people, which puts more pressure on the police department and the city’s limited resources.
Chappie said he encouraged Boyd and Robinson to help change the state law that currently prohibits cities and counties from using tax revenues generated by the county’s 5% tourist tax for infrastructure improvements and law enforcement.
“You can’t ask the citizens of Bradenton Beach to be burdened with that extra expense,” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said. “It’s got to be coming from the county or someplace else because Bradenton Beach cannot afford to have a big police department.”
“Since Manatee County is growing so big, they need to contribute a little extra or allow us to take some of the tax dollars for the police department,” Commissioner Ralph Cole said.
Cosby said the city of Holmes Beach has made multiple police funding requests to the county, but to no avail.
Commissioner Marilyn Maro said investor-owned vacation rental homes are placing a greater burden on the police department and those investors should be required to help fund the additional policing needs.
Chappie said he and Cosby have talked to City Attorney Ricinda Perry about the potential implementation of a public safety impact fee for new construction.
“That is something we are going to be looking at seriously,” Chappie said.
Commissioner Jake Spooner said it’s unlikely the city will receive any additional outside funds for the police department.
“There’s not much fat in our budget, but we’ve got to make it happen,” Spooner said.
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