Ahoy, passengers!
Interlocal agreements are getting inked to launch a long-planned water taxi service between Bradenton, Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach.
Manatee County commissioners, under their consent agenda at a June 15 land-use meeting in Bradenton, authorized Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge, R-District 3, to sign interlocal agreements with Bradenton and Bradenton Beach to use amenities to land the ferry service.
The vote was 6-0, with Vanessa Baugh absent.
A draft interlocal agreement between the county and Anna Maria will be taken up in July.
The water taxi, as proposed, would operate two boats between downtown Bradenton’s Riverwalk, the Anna Maria City Pier, the Historic Bridge Street Pier and Coquina Beach bayside.
Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the lead coordinator on the project, said the parties involved are laboring to get the service launched for Labor Day.
“All three cities have been really cooperative,” he told The Islander June 16.
The interlocal documents, at about 25-27 pages, consist of a map of the planned water taxi route, a timetable and a number of “whereas” statements, including:
“Whereas, the purposes of the water taxi are to relieve automobile congestion coming to and from the island and to provide an alternative and affordable means of public transportation to and from the island.”
Bradenton Beach officials appear good to go on their agreement.
During a June 15 meeting of the city’s community redevelopment agency, Mayor John Chappie read a text message he sent to Van Ostenbridge, which states, in part, “Bradenton Beach is excited about and supportive of the water taxi project building community connectivity and alternative modes of transportation.”
Chappie’s comment followed a motion to approve a payment for a finger dock extension needed for the water taxi at the floating dock adjacent to the Historic Bridge Street Pier, 200 Bridge St.
“Thanks to all involved in this long process to get water taxi service from downtown Bradenton to Anna Maria Island,” Chappie said.
Assistant city clerk Ruth Steif said the interlocal agreement was signed by Chappie June 15.
Bradenton city administrator Rob Perry did not respond to The Islander’s June 16 email as of press time June 19.
Meanwhile, the Anna Maria agreement is not executed.
Van Ostenbridge said the document was pulled from the consent agenda just prior to the June 15 meeting pending a review with Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy.
“We just decided to defer the Anna Maria portion and, when we come back from recess, that will be on a consent agenda when we return,” Van Ostenbridge said at the meeting.
During a June 8 city commission meeting, Murphy said he was disappointed with the draft interlocal agreement, which “doesn’t bear any resemblance to what we sent out.”
In March, the city commission sent a draft agreement to the county that included city-proposed stipulations, which included requiring the county to assume legal liability for the service, to pay the cost of maintenance and improvements associated with the service and also subject to commission approval, water taxi fares between Anna Maria and Bradenton for island workers to ensure discounted rates.
Murphy asked commissioners to review the county proposal and provide feedback.
Falcione told The Islander he planned to meet with the mayor the week of June 19.
County commissioners June 15 also approved an operating agreement for the water taxi with Gulf Coast Water Taxi LLC of Clearwater.
The agreement specifies that Gulf Coast Water Taxi will operate two county-owned boats — expected to be completed this month and built to each carry 49 passengers.
The contract begins July 1 and continues through June 30, 2028, with options to renew.
The county will pay Gulf Coast “$24,851.14, regardless of ridership numbers, from July 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.”
Going forward, ridership would be factored into payments from the county to Gulf Coast, with the annual subsidy not exceeding $400,000.
Meanwhile, Gulf Coast must maintain general liability insurance coverage of not less than $2 million per claim and include the county, Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Bradenton as insureds under the policy.
The agreement also specifies that Gulf Coast employ properly trained, licensed and certified vessel captains and a trained crew as required by U.S. Coast Guard regulations.
To begin, the service will operate Friday-Sunday.
One boat would launch from the island at 10:30 a.m. and the other would launch from downtown Bradenton at that time.
The fare would range from $8 to free.
Robert Anderson, Lisa Neff and Ryan Paice contributed to this report.