What in stagnation?!
Bradenton Beach has not taken a significant step in its Cortez Bridge negotiations in more than eight months.
In 2021, the city sought concessions from the Florida Department of Transportation in return for not joining a lawsuit threatening the agency’s plan to construct a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge to replace the 17-foot-clearance Cortez drawbridge in 2026-27.
The Cortez Bridge spans the Intracoastal Waterway and links Cortez on the mainland to Bradenton Beach on the island.
The city’s chief request in its negotiations with the DOT was for the DOT to foot the bill to bury utilities within and near the footprint of the high bridge.
In June 2021, the DOT rejected a $4.8 million undergrounding proposal advanced by city attorney Ricinda Perry and asked the municipality to scale down the request, as well as demonstrate how the construction of the high bridge would necessitate buried utilities.
Bradenton Beach public works consultant Mark Porter reworked the proposal, reviewed by Florida Power and Light, before sending it to the city in September 2021. The project’s $4.8 million price tag remained the same.
When City Commissioner Jan Vosburgh asked for an update on the negotiations at a Feb. 17 commission meeting, Perry said she had not sent the second proposal to the DOT.
She said she had, however, spoken with DOT attorney Angela Tucker to tell her the proposal’s cost had not changed.
Perry said she reached out to Tucker the week of Feb. 7 to schedule a phone call.
Since mid-August 2021, Perry and Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie have not responded to The Islander’s inquiries about the status of the negotiations.
Perry told commissioners Feb. 17 the DOT placed a gag order on city staff and officials.
“What’s going on is the DOT did ask that the city kind of take a step back from addressing media inquiries until DOT and the city have had an opportunity to communicate on the questions that come in so that we both know what the other one’s thinkings and concerns are before we put them out there in the public as a lopsided thought,” Perry said.
“And I thought that was a fair, healthy way to keep the communication healthy and open. So, I haven’t responded to the media but I have been trying to keep the communication going with the DOT and the mayor,” she said.
In July 2021, before the city opted not to join the lawsuit, Perry repeatedly referred to the municipality’s horse-trading with the DOT as negotiations.
“I want to be very careful, because we’re in negotiations, understanding that the reason for the negotiations is (the DOT) did not want to see the city of Bradenton Beach become a party to the lawsuit. That is the appeal of us working together. To avoid all that,” she said at a July 1, 2021, commission meeting.
After the July 1 meeting, Perry and DOT District 1 Secretary L.K. Nandam began characterizing the negotiations as informal discussions.
“As far as whether or not DOT has rejected the proposal and are the negotiations over, one, I want to be abundantly clear — and the DOT has emphasized this a million times over — these are not negotiations. These are not settlement proposals. That is not what this is about. This is a working relationship between the city of Bradenton Beach and the FDOT as it relates to the impacts that are coming from this bridge,” Perry said at the Feb. 17 meeting.
Perry told commissioners she has advanced the city’s interests to the best of her ability.
“I never made a commitment to any of you commissioners that I would guarantee you that we could get this money for the city out of that bridge proposal. I said that I would advocate for that,” Perry said.
In addition to the utility undergrounding, commissioners directed Perry to negotiate for other concessions, including street lights for Gulf Drive.
“I promised and made a commitment to you that I would make those concerns known. I fulfilled my promise to you. If you feel misled that I painted a bright picture of we could get some really great things out of this bridge and I have let you down that I haven’t been able to make that happen, I’m sorry. I will say I’ve done my best and I’m continuing to pursue it,” she said.
“It’s a slow process. We know government is not rapid-fire on working through things. But the mayor and I are both still in communication,” she added.
In March 2020, four complainants — former County Commissioner Joe McClash, former County Commissioner and Cortez resident Jane von Hahmann and Cortez residents Linda Molto and Joe Kane — challenged the DOT’s decision to build the high bridge in federal court.
In March 2021, Bradenton Beach commissioners unanimously voted to make the city party to the lawsuit but, some officials reversed their positions in the months to follow.
On Aug. 5, 2021, days before the Aug. 13 deadline to join the suit, Chappie and Commissioners Marilyn Maro and Ralph Cole indicated they would vote against joining the complainants and favored continuing discussions with the DOT.
Chappie, Maro and Cole highlighted the expense of the lawsuit as a chief concern.
Vosburgh and Commissioner Jake Spooner said they were in favor of joining the suit, though the commission did not formally vote on the matter.
At the Feb. 17 meeting, Chappie and Perry reiterated their rationale for keeping Bradenton Beach out of the suit.
The mayor and attorney maintained the city would have spent money only to find out the city could not join the lawsuit, citing the megabridge fighters’ unsuccessful attempt to add the nonprofit Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage to their complaint.
In August, the foursome erred when they filed an amended complaint that named FISH a party to the suit instead of filing a separate motion to include the Cortez nonprofit. After a judge ordered the document stricken from the record, the complainants opted not to pursue motions to add FISH to the dispute.
Cortez is in unincorporated Manatee County and Chappie and Perry also pointed out that the complainants never formally asked the other island municipalities or the Manatee Board of County Commissioners for support.
“They just wanted Bradenton Beach. And that was the other driving reason for, I think, why this commission decided not to go forward in that regard,” Perry said. “Like, if you want one government, you should ask for all the governments, especially the main one that is impacted by this, Manatee County. It’s their residents who are asking for help.”
In August 2021, McClash said he had spoken with county commissioners, most of whom indicated they had no interest in challenging the DOT.
He has also said the complainants intended to first secure the support of Bradenton Beach, the island municipality at the bridge’s western terminus, before reaching out to Holmes Beach and Anna Maria leadership.
Bradenton Beach, which passed a resolution against the high bridge in 2019, is the only island municipality to formally oppose the structure, though Mayor Dan Murphy of Anna Maria and Mayor Judy Titsworth of Holmes Beach previously have said the megabridge would be a bad fit for Anna Maria Island.