The Anna Maria Island Urban Land Institute committee has created a website.
The site, www.amiuli.com, is intended to provide residents and stakeholders with information about the islandwide study that will be conducted by ULI in February. It includes a schedule of events, major players and information on how to get involved.
The committee also is seeking some volunteers for interviews, although they are past their deadline. Plenty of people have volunteered for the roles, but a few younger participants are needed.
The study will take place the week of Feb. 22, when the ULI panel of experts will arrive to conduct interviews and tour the island.
The panel is hoping to interview people from a cross-section of ages and backgrounds Feb. 24, including islanders in their teens and 20s.
The panelists will conduct group interviews with three to four individuals per group. About 100 people will participate in the interview process.
The committee is asking any interested people to fill out a form available on the website. Forms can be emailed to committee organizer Randy Billman at rkbillman@me.com. Paper copies of the forms are available at the three island city halls.
The ULI is a nonprofit education and research organization focused on land use. Manatee County is paying $130,000 for the study from its beach concession funds.
The questions
The AMI ULI committee drafted nine subjects of “critical importance” to the island community for the interviews, including:
• Evaluate and comment on the redevelopment pressures facing Anna Maria Island: balancing of residential and short-term rentals and strategies to retain and encourage a stable, economically and socially diverse community.
• Evaluate and comment on Anna Maria Island’s positioning as a stable “old Florida,” family-oriented beach community: comment on long-term viability of this positioning given current trends and best strategies to retain and increase full-time and seasonal residents.
• Evaluate and comment on areas where current land use and public policy supports or hinders the objective of a stable “old-Florida,” family-oriented beach community.
• Comment on how the three cities can leverage a shared Anna Maria Island vision and exert greater influence on adjacent cities, Manatee County and the state of Florida.
• Recommend ways to improve connectivity between the Anna Maria Island cities, current and planned mainland land-uses and Longboat Key, including items such as management of public parking areas, existing infrastructure, trolley, mass transit and police support, coordination of drawbridge openings and a third bridge to the mainland and pedestrian, bicycle, watercraft and other options.
• Suggest island design considerations to improve the functionality and beauty of the downtown shopping areas, Gulf beaches, the bay side and its piers and island parks.
• Review and comment on logical steps to gain efficiencies through combined or shared city services.
• What could the island look like 10, 20 or even 50 years from now on its current and alternative paths?
• Provide an action plan that facilitates implementation of accepted recommendations and better prepares AMI for the future.
Great article and information. Thank you!