A prohibition on parking garages in Holmes Beach is one vote away from becoming reality.
City commissioners voted 4-0 July 20 to send an ordinance prohibiting multilevel parking facilities to a second, potentially final reading and vote.
Commissioner Kim Rash was absent with excuse.
The ordinance would prevent a parking garage at the Manatee Public Beach, 4000 Gulf Drive, which Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge has proposed to make up for parking spaces lost to the city’s park-by-permit system.
City officials stand by the system, which they say protects residential quality of life by reducing roadside parking on certain residential streets.
Van Ostenbridge and other county commissioners argue city’s parking plan is unfair to off-island residents and have threatened to withhold beach renourishment funds.
Mayor Judy Titsworth said the city already provides its fair share with 4,783 spaces between beach access, public parking, vacation rental and motel parking.
“We’re on the team and hopefully someday Manatee County will understand that,” Titsworth said.
Commissioner Pat Morton expressed doubt that a parking garage would make the difference county officials think it would.
“They’d have to add four or five of them just to change things a little bit,” Morton said.
Commission Chair Carol Soustek said the city’s beaches are already at or over capacity, an issue that a parking garage would only worsen. She said the county should seriously explore the creation of a water taxi to shuttle people between the island and mainland.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer moved to send the ordinance to a second reading and final vote.
Morton seconded the motion, which passed.
While there were no public comments, Dan Diggins, a commission candidate in the Nov. 8 election, wrote a July 22 email to The Islander explaining that Van Ostenbridge’s proposed parking garage would not solve the island’s parking and traffic issues.
Diggins wrote that Coquina Beach provides more parking than Manatee Public Beach, but also includes multiple restroom facilities and lifeguard stations stretching along the shoreline, while the Manatee beach facilities are centralized in a small area.
“Certainly, matching or exceeding Coquina parking capacity with a third or a quarter of available facilities seems like a bad way to treat visitors,” Diggins wrote.
Van Ostenbridge also chimed in on the matter in a July 22 email to The Islander.
“Public beach access must be provided to Manatee County taxpayers,” Van Ostenbridge wrote. “Either via on-street parking or a parking garage, I support whichever option is preferred by the citizens of the city of Holmes Beach.”
In other matters…
City commissioners also:
- Unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance and approve a resolution removing the fee schedule and establishing a resolution-based master fee schedule;
- Reappointed Deb Sneddon to the planning commission as a second alternate for a three-year term ending Aug. 1, 2025, and Mary Lange as a member of the parks and beautification committee for a two-year term ending Aug. 1, 2024;
- Unanimously voted to send an ordinance prohibiting automobile rentals in the C-3 district, the city’s most intensive commercial zone, to a second and potentially final reading;
- Reached consensus to approve an addendum to a contract with Bradenton-based C-Squared CGC to include the replacement of a pair of failing stormwater drainage pipes for an additional $154,649.30;
- Reached consensus to approve an addendum to a contract with Bradenton-based Superior Asphalt to pave two sections of roads with asphalt for $47,199.
The commission will meet next at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive. Directions to attend via Zoom can be found at holmesbeachfl.org.