BRADENTON, Fla. — The tug of war over a proposed parking garage on Anna Maria Island shows no signs of slowing down as the Manatee County Commission got a first look at what the project could look like on Monday.
This is coming after years of debate and controversy that put the county and most recently the state at odds with the city of Holmes Beach.
In June, state legislators through a bill that was signed into law gave way for Manatee County to override city codes and build its own public parking garage on the county-owned parking lot at Holmes Beach. They have argued that this would help alleviate the parking issues on Anna Maria Island.
"I think anyone who has been to the island on the weekend has driven around and has seen it for themselves. You don't need to take a tour on a rainy Monday to understand that there's not going to be parking on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday," Kevin Van Ostenbridge, chair of Manatee County Commission District 3, said.
County commissioners, most of whom have pushed for the parking garage, discussed a preliminary design that would include retail, concession areas and around 600 parking spaces.
"The parking garage is not going to have a parking space for every single person that wants to go to the beach. Our goal is to try to create as much access to the beach as we possibly can for the residents of the county," Van Ostenbridge said.
While county leaders said the parking garage would add more spaces toward solving the parking problems on the island, Holmes Beach residents, business owners and city leaders see things differently. They are of the position that the parking garage will only add to the problem.
"It is a seven-acre beach so you are going to have about 30 square feet per person when you are talking about having 5,000 people on this little beach," Bruce Myer, who lives in Holmes Beach, said.
"It's a density issue. You're trying to put this massive parking garage with all those parking spaces on one central point of the island," Christopher Sutton, a Holmes Beach business community member, said.
At the meeting, only one county commissioner sided with residents and voiced their opposition to the parking garage.
He said because of other priorities that should be at the fore, the project is not worth the $30 to $35 million price tag nor the inconvenience the two years of construction would bring including eliminating the existing parking.
"Six hundred parking spots isn't going to do any good. All it's going to do is make more than 600 people think there is parking on this beach and it is going to put more cars here when they do come here instead of going to Lido or Siesta," Commissioner George Kruse said.
City of Holmes Beach leaders said they've created ample parking including working with local churches for access to their lots and the garage is simply unnecessary.
"I thought we have done a really great job and setting up where it's safe to park trying to get more people closer to the public beach area where we have the lifeguards, restroom facilities, concessions," Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said. "We've had thousands of letters in and I position 20 supporting it. I don't think it really matters what the constituents think anymore and that's why it's disheartening in our county."
The board has directed county staff to move forward with conceptual designs for the parking garage before approval. In addition, studies to look at traffic and environmental impacts are also planned.