It’s time to start looking for projects to benefit Anna Maria Island.
There’s more than a $1 million in available funding, but there’s no project list for the surplus of concession revenues from Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach and Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach.
“Any projects that we propose should be focused on improving life here for residents and visitors,” Holmes Beach Commissioner Jean Peelen said during an April 13 city work session.
Manatee County oversees the Coquina and Manatee beach facilities, which it leases to United Parks Service of St. Petersburg, for food, beverage and beach shop concessions. The franchise agreement was approved for five years in 2010 and renewed in 2017 for two additional 5-year terms, ending in 2022 and 2027.
A county resolution sets forth guidelines for how the board intends to use the monthly concession revenues, with 11 percent of sales considered as rent payments to the county and 1.5 percent allotted for county capital improvement projects.
Holmes Beach commissioners discussed April 13 ideas for using the $1 million surplus for projects that serve a valid public purpose and benefit not one entity but all of Anna Maria Island, according to the resolution.
Holmes Beach Mayor Bob Johnson provided a sample list and starting point for projects in Holmes Beach that would benefit the island, including skateboard park upgrades, creation of a kayak launch area and a public awareness campaign for bike trail use.
“This is purely a work-in-progress document,” Johnson said. “We haven’t had any internal discussions yet. This is kind of where the ideas have been flown right now.”
The intergovernmental projects would be selected by a written request from the island city or cities with details of the reason for the project and a description of the matching funds to be provided by the cities undertaking the project. The interlocal agreement also would provide for the county’s funding of the project on a reimbursement basis.
Peelen said she was troubled the money has been sitting there and none of the cities have applied to use the funds.
“Next year that could disappear in a minute,” she said. “This kind of money can just disappear overnight and I think time is of the essence to get stuff in.”
Peelen suggested a project utilizing portable and removable mats similar to the ones installed at Siesta Beach for roll-out beach access for pedestrians and users of wheelchairs, strollers and beach carts.
Another option from Commission Chair Judy Titsworth would be to expand dockage at Kingfish Boat Ramp for passenger or tour boats to bring more people to the island.
“That’s what we need is dockage,” Titsworth said. “There’s deep water there … it’s convenient to the beach. It’s a straight shot to Manatee Beach and we’re looking for ways to park some of these ferries, and it just seems like that’s a great central location for it. It’s a county park going to a county park.”
Manatee County also maintains Kingfish Boat Ramp.
Commissioner Marvin Grossman proposed a mobile phone app for the trolley.
“If everybody had that, they could easily know when the trolley is coming and I think more people would use it,” Grossman said. “It’s very inexpensive and the app puts it on Google Maps.”
Johnson said Manatee County is already looking at installing GPS software on the trolleys.
“It’s in the mill,” Johnson said. “I don’t know when, but it’s in the mill.”
Commissioners directed Johnson on their top three projects to benefit the island — the Coquina Beach exercise trail in Bradenton Beach, the skateboard park in Holmes Beach and providing beach mats for improved accessibility — to be presented at the next meeting of Barrier Island Elected Officials.
The commission will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive.