Bradenton Beach officials continue to explore the possibility of establishing a pay-to-anchor mooring field in collaboration with the Bradenton Beach Marina.
If approved, the city would shift from managing its anchorage, spanning from the southern end of the Cortez Bridge to Eighth Street South, bordered by the Intracoastal Waterway channel to the east and the Bradenton Beach shoreline to the west.
Currently, the city jurisdiction extends 500 feet outside the anchorage area but commissioners are discussing expanding the boundaries to include the entire waterfront of Bradenton Beach east to the border of the waterway.
City attorney Ricinda Perry said during a Feb. 15 commission meeting that a work session is needed for staff to discuss potential regulatory changes, the mooring field concept and the possibility of expanding boundaries.
Perry listed concerns about starting a mooring field without first addressing the boundaries.
“Will those vessels drift into other parts of the city where regulations can’t be put into place or enforcement can’t be made available as easily since they are not within municipal boundaries?” she asked.
Since 2013, the city police department, in collaboration with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, has patrolled and removed derelict vessels from Sarasota Bay. They have removed more than 73 derelict or problem vessels from the bay over 11 years.
Mayor John Chappie said the removal program, spearheaded by Police Chief John Cosby, is a model marine patrol plan studied by other communities.
Now the city is revisiting the idea that dates at least to the 1990s of creating a mooring field.
Perry earlier this year said she was approached by a representative from the Bradenton Beach Marina who proposed a partnership to establish and manage a pay-to-anchor mooring field. The marina would serve as the dockmaster and provide a pump-out station and other boater services.
The marina, 402 Church St. N., came under the ownership of developer Shawn Kaleta in 2023, as did the Pines Trailer Park to the north of the pier. Kaleta, with Jake Spooner, a former commissioner, also is developing a 106-room resort at Bridge Street and Gulf Drive.
Commissioner Ralph Cole suggested the city bring in an agent from the marina during a work meeting to discuss mooring field services.
Commissioner Jan Vosburgh expressed concerns that the introduction of a mooring field might push those unwilling to pay for anchorage to the south.
“We already know what’s going to happen,” Vosburgh said. “I think we have to think about the residents, not just Bridge Street. We have to think about those residents living farther south.”
“If we do the boundary expansion,” Cosby said. “Our area would go from 500 feet out all the way to the Intracoastal, which would wrap all those boats that you are talking about into our ability to enforce. Our code would then take over and we would have the ability to go out and enforce it.”
Chappie said the city missed a window in the 2024 legislative session for presenting a boundary expansion request but the city could coordinate for 2025.
He also backed a work meeting.
“It would give an opportunity to have a work meeting where we not only make decisions, but we can allow public comment if we want to at a work meeting,” Chappie said.
The next scheduled commission meeting — not the mooring field work meeting — will be at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 7, at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.
I am happy the Mooring Fields and issues it presents is seriously being reviewed with hopes for change. I lived downwind on Bayfront property for many years. The norm was to see fecal excrement floating by, pretty much a daily occurrence. At the least, every resident of the Fields should be registered and required to utilize a waste removal service.