Holmes Beach officials didn’t leave happy from a March 1 joint workshop with Manatee County.
The two sides met to workshop solutions to an ongoing disagreement centered around the city’s park-by-permit system, established during the summer of 2020 to reduce streetside parking on some residential streets.
The city created a zone — north of Manatee Avenue and west of Gulf, Marina, Palm and East Bay drives — where permits are needed to park 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.
Permits cost $15 per vehicle and $10 to renew annually, and are only available for Holmes Beach residents.
The issue has been a hot topic since County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, who now serves as board chair, was elected in November 2020.
At his first meeting, Ostenbridge announced his opposition to the city’s parking limits and threatened to withhold beach renourishment funds if they weren’t reversed.
County officials argue the city’s parking limits are unfair to off-island residents visiting the beaches.
City officials contend that allowing streetside parking on residential streets lowers their residents’ quality of life due to crowded streets and waste left by visitors.
After a lengthy back-and-forth, the workshop was scheduled as an opportunity to find solutions, but none were found after three hours of debate.
Mayor Judy Titsworth said she expected the meeting to be fruitless and was not surprised by how it went. She said county commissioners used the opportunity to grandstand instead of seeking solutions.
She recommended staff coordination with the county rather than scheduling another meeting with officials.
“I don’t think we’ll get anything done with them when it’s just theatrics,” Titsworth said. “Nothing we do will ever be enough.”
Commissioner Jayne Christenson said she didn’t want to close the door on meeting again with the county.
She said the city could show the county they mean business without reversing its parking changes, such as allowing after-hour public parking at Anna Maria Elementary and the Island Library.
After the workshop, the county announced a parking agreement with the school district that opens the school parking lot on key holidays, including spring break, but the agreement did not include the city.
Commission Chair Carol Soustek said they could explore those items at future meetings.
Commissioners Terry Schaefer and Kim Rash also said they would like to meet with county officials again, but after city and county staff had time to coordinate.
Schaefer said he was surprised at how little county commissioners knew about the city’s parking situation. He thanked Charlie Hunsicker, director of the county’s parks and natural resources department, for explaining that the city met state and federal standards for beach renourishment with regard to beach access parking despite its parking reductions.
Schaefer said he was disappointed county officials failed to acknowledge what he believed to be the true problem — traffic.
“We have 10,000 new residents every year all coming to our beaches,” he said. “Giving them 480 parking spaces back won’t ease any of our problems.”
Police Chief Bill Tokajer agreed, adding that, according to the city’s license plate recognition system, 9 million vehicles visited Holmes Beach in 2020 and 9.6 million in 2021.
Averaged out over 365 days, about 26,301 vehicles entered the city daily last year.
At the joint workshop, county commissioners broached the idea of building a parking garage at Manatee Public Beach to make up for the 480 parking spaces lost to nonresidents when the parking-by-permit system was established.
The garage likely would exceed the city’s 36-foot maximum height for all buildings established in the city charter. Exemptions require a vote of approval from the city electorate.
Resident Israel Sky was one of two people to comment, thanking city officials for defending the park-by-permit system and residential quality of life. He also opposed a parking garage.
“You cannot pave our paradise to put in a parking lot,” he said. “This is no place for a concrete jungle or a multi-tiered parking garage.”
Sky received applause from other attendees.
“I think they thought we were just going to roll over and die,” Soustek said.
Titsworth-Whitmore squabble on parking garage
Titsworth and County Commissioner Carol Whitmore exchanged emails after the joint workshop, but their communications were as fruitless as the meeting.
Whitmore, a Holmes Beach resident and former mayor, wrote a March 4 email supporting the proposed parking garage.
“I don’t think we can make the cost work or provide the 400+ lost spaces unless this happens,” Whitmore wrote.
Titsworth wrote back March 4, saying if city commissioners allow a parking garage, the county should respect the city’s 36-foot building height limit.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t go anywhere near that,” Titsworth told Whitmore in the email. “Height limitations are the one thing us islanders are most proud of and is what saved the character of this place we call home.”
Whitmore responded March 6, saying Titsworth was “not sounding like a leader who wants to find a solution.”
She told Titsworth, “Never has anyone ever suggested wanting to increase (the height limit) on the islands.”
AME parking lot opens for spring breakers
Manatee County government announced March 11 that it reached an agreement with the Manatee County School District to open the parking lot at Anna Maria Elementary, 4700 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, for public access during spring break through March 20.
Signs stating “Free Public Beach Parking — Dawn to Dusk” were posted to advertise the availability of 46 marked parking spaces at the lot.
The agreement also opens the AME parking lot to the public for Memorial Day weekend, May 28-30; Fourth of July weekend, July 2-4; and Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5.
— Ryan Paice