A puzzle is coming together but a center piece is missing for Manatee County tourism leaders seeking to ease traffic congestion to and on Anna Maria Island.
Perhaps as early as Thanksgiving — the timeline has changed multiple times — the county will launch a Friday-Sunday ferry service with two 49-foot catamarans operating between downtown Bradenton and Anna Maria Island.
The county has agreements for stops on the Bradenton riverfront, as well as at the Anna Maria City Pier and the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.
There are plans to bring the service to the Coquina Beach area and conversations about expanding to include stops on Longboat Key, as well as in Palmetto, Parrish and Sarasota.
The missing piece?
Holmes Beach.
In early plans for the ferry, maps showed the Kingfish Boat Ramp in Holmes Beach as a stop, but the location didn’t work out.
“It’s constant chaos,” Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Oct. 16, referring to the boat ramp. “It would be a long road to hoe to put a water ferry into there.”
He was addressing the county tourist development council at a meeting in Bradenton.
The TDC is an advisory board that reviews projects and recommends funding from the tourist development tax, the 5% tax collected on accommodations of six months or less, and TDT funding is subsidizing the ferry service.
TDC members raised concerns Oct. 16 about the lack of a stop in Holmes Beach during a presentation by city engineer Sage Kamiya on plans to expand the multiuse path system.
The city is seeking $733,948 in tourist development tax revenue to help pay for phase 1 of a multimodal project that involves multiuse paths on Gulf Drive from Holmes Boulevard to 66th Street and on Marina from 56th Street to 66th Street. The total phase 1 cost is budgeted at $1,133,401.
Kamiya asked in August that the TDC recommend county commissioners allocate funds but was invited to return with more information.
Kamiya did so, with Holmes Beach Commissioner Greg Kerchner, emphasizing that the project will not eliminate street parking.
Still, the TDC did not vote to recommend the funding. Instead, the council voted to defer after raising questions about other funding opportunities and the bigger multimodal picture, specifically a connection with the ferry service.
Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, for example, asked whether Holmes Beach should request funding for the full project rather than phase 1 because, he observed, “winds change.”
Brown also pressed about a dock location for the ferry: “Is there going to be a landing point in Holmes Beach for the water taxi? … We’re trying to get people on the island without getting them in a car.”
No one could answer Brown’s question.
Holmes Beach lacks a pier, which means any location would likely involve a private partnership.
“I’d love to see the shuttle have a nice landing spot in the city,” Kerchner said.
Falcione said, “Where might there be a private partner in the city? There has to be some area where we’d be able to do it. … We’re looking for an all-in municipal mindset.”
The ferry service was expected to launch with limited service for the Fourth of July, then was pushed to Labor Day and the most recent goal is to launch for Thanksgiving.
“You should be getting an invite in November for a familiarization tour,” Falcione told the TDC.
The next TDC meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 4, at the Center of Anna Maria, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.
Walk, bike, trolley
Holmes Beach and Manatee County are promoting Mobility Week with a “Walk, Bike, Ride” event Saturday, Oct. 28, from the county’s Kingfish Boat Ramp to city hall.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. at the boat ramp, 752 Manatee Ave. W., Holmes Beach, and people will travel — using a means other than their car, truck or cart — to city hall, 5801 Marina Drive.
Registration is not needed.
A notice from the city invited people to bike, walk, run or ride the trolley in support of safe mobility and transportation choices.
A police escort will help participants reach their destination.
Also, participants will find information and giveaways at city hall and some free bicycle helmets will be handed out.
For more information, go online to mobilityweekfl.com or call city hall at 941-708-5800.
— Lisa Neff
About the TDC
The Manatee County Tourist Development Council recommends to county commissioners how to spend the tourist development tax — the 5% tax collected on overnight rentals of six months or less.
TDT spending must boost and develop tourism.
TDC members include County Commissioner James Satcher as chair, Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, Palmetto Mayor Shirley Bryant, hoteliers Jiten Patel, Ed Chiles, Eric Cairns and Rahul Patel and interested citizens Dave Wick and Norma Kennedy.