Manatee County is taking steps to create a new Coquina events area — and planting the gridwork for a foundation to hold eventgoers’ footsteps.
Crews the week ending Jan. 29 were working at the southern end of Coquina Beach to build the foundation for the zone.
The footprint will connect to the existing multiuse trail, a path from south Coquina Beach to the northern end of Cortez Beach.
The event location could become a site for a possible Coquina Beach Market, which previously operated alongside a multiuse trail at Coquina Beach.
The market was administered by Nancy Ambrose Services LLC via an agreement with the county for more than nine years, but the county declined to renew the contract Aug. 1, 2022.
Not long after the county canceled the market agreement with Ambrose, it issued a statement saying the market would take a hiatus August-October 2022 as staff reassessed and rebuilt the market under the guidance of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The county, then, also said it wanted to improve the multiuse trail.
Plans to rebuild the market were put on hold when county workforces were redirected to Hurricane Ian repairs and cleanup in the fall.
“Preparations for the new Coquina Beach Market have also been impacted by the storm,” read an Oct. 7, 2022, news release. “As crews have been deployed around the county to clean up and repair other parks properties, the site prep and rehab work to get the new site (farther south on Coquina Beach) ready have been put on hold temporarily. The official opening date has been delayed from Nov. 1, the originally planned opening. Expect further word on market developments as they are finalized and confirmed.”
Jan. 26, in an email, county public information manager Bill Logan said the proposed trailwork will involve removal of the existing trail, repaving the path with root barriers, tree trimming and tree replacement as required.
Logan also said the county is preparing to award the trail remodel work to a vendor by March.
Also, there’s work upcoming in Bradenton Beach for the county’s gravity sewer line replacement project, which needs to be done first to not interfere with pedestrian traffic along the beach.
Staging is underway for the sewer project under the direction of contractor Woodruff & Sons, as safety fencing and barrels were expected to go up the week beginning Jan. 31, after The Islander went to press.