A future ferry landing in Anna Maria may be coming into focus.
Mayor Mark Short reported his recent conversations with Manatee County officials about plans for a waterfront landing during an Oct. 9 city commission meeting.
The Anna Maria City Pier was a stop for the county’s Gulf Islands Ferry Service until Hurricane Milton destroyed the walkway last October. The pier is not expected to reopen until next fall.
In the meantime, the county is developing plans for a new ferry landing to accommodate a larger third vessel and also two in-service pontoon boats.
The county’s latest plan showed a three-part dock stretching 350 feet alongside a rebuilt walkway, from the T-end of the city pier. The structure would include a dock, a landing area and a gangway for passenger queuing. The plan also includes a wave attenuator to make docking easier.
City officials have expressed concern about a structure encumbering the pier.
Short said he had relayed concerns during two phone discussions with county staff earlier this month and, in response, the county agreed to scrap the extended gangway, cutting down the length of the proposed dock structure by more than half.
Short said the county also would work with the city on other aspects of the landing, such as how it attaches to the pier walkway and the type of wave attenuator to be used.
The pier walkway must be rebuilt with the same footprint as before, so the landing must be a separate structure that can be attached to the pier.
Short said the proposed structure could be positioned away from the walkway to allow space between instead of having the two structures side-by-side.
He added that the city could also “play around” with different builds for a wave attenuator, which can be floating or fixed, as well as consist of different materials.
“They are going to work with us on a lot of this,” Short said. “They know that at the end of the day, you all are going to be the ones that approve anything going out there.”
Commissioner Charlie Salem said he hoped the dock would be open to the public so it would not sit dormant and unused between landings.
Salem also said any fixed structure should use similar materials to the rebuilt walkway, which will use solid concrete pilings, to reduce the likelihood of it breaking off and damaging the pier.
Commissioner Gary McMullen expressed concern with a floating dock structure. He pointed to the floating dock on the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach that has sustained storm damage multiple times since it opened in 2019,
“It’d be destroyed,” McMullen said.