Grassy Point signage, plant survey coming soon
The City of Holmes Beach will be installing a sign acknowledging the grant assistance for the purchase of Grassy Point in 2002. The sign will be placed along East Bay Drive within the next few months.
The Grassy Point acreage is pristine mangrove wetlands on the bayfront south of the Anna Maria Bridge and opposite Walgreens on East Bay Drive.
City Treasurer Rick Ashley confirmed that the city owns a 33-acre parcel of land stretching from the Mike Norman real estate office on East Bay Drive to the bay and north to the Sandy Pointe condominiums.
The city originally had an interest in a parcel beginning at 29th Street and running along the water, as well as another small lot that was under negotiation, which Ashley said the city was not able to obtain.
Ashley said the parcels the city purchased are not easily accessible and there are no plans to develop it for public use.
The city's management plan for Grassy Point includes a survey of the vegetation and removal of exotic plants, which is scheduled to take place during the current budget year. The land will be kept as preservation land, and Ashley said the public won't see a lot of change.
The Florida Communities Trust handled the process of making offers to land owners and negotiating prices.
Holmes Beach lofted the project in 1998, the trust approved Holmes Beach's application for $847,917 in early 1999, and deadlines were extended repeatedly, partly because of problems within the process itself. |
