Manatee County’s Gulf Islands Ferry service is eyeing a return to the city of Anna Maria.
But the route might not be to the city pier.
County officials presented plans May 8 to city commissioners for potential water ferry landing options in the municipality.
The service currently consists of two 49-passenger pontoon boats operated Thursday-Sunday between a downtown Bradenton Riverwalk dock and the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.
The service is set to expand this summer with the addition of a third, larger and enclosed vessel.
The county also has plans to expand the service to South Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach, as well as to Holmes Beach and Palmetto.
The Anna Maria City Pier was a ferry stop but service to the pier ended after Hurricane Milton in October 2024 destroyed the walkway.
While the city is working to rebuild the walkway, it must be rebuilt within the same footprint, which would not accommodate the new, larger vessel.
So the county has explored options for a new landing in Anna Maria.
Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau director Elliott Falcione, county natural resources director Charlie Hunsicker, as well as principal engineer Thomas Pierro and project manager Morjana Signorin of Boca Raton-based Coastal Protection Engineering presented five options May 8 to city commissioners.
The options, also presented in April to the county tourist development council, can be broken down into two main ideas for the landing: it could be an addition to the pier or a separate structure adjacent to the Lake La Vista channel to the north.
Two options involve additions to the pier.
One would feature the addition of a structurally independent landing on the north side of a rebuilt pier walkway, near the shoreline side of the T-end.
The other would involve extending the pier with a landing on the offshore side of the T-end.
Both landings would feature dock structures with double gangways and wave attenuators to limit the impact of choppy surf on docking vessels.
The other three options consist of different lengths of a structure to the north of the pier that would feature the same dock structure and wave attenuator — only extended into deep enough waters by a passenger walkway separate from the pier.
That group of options also involves extending the jetty into Tampa Bay along the Lake La Vista inlet, as well as basin and channel dredging.
Signorin said numerical modeling showed higher wave exposure for a city pier addition on the offshore side of the T-end and the longest of the three separate structure options, so those two options have been excluded from consideration.
Pierro also said of the remaining options, two were best for a ferry landing: the landing on the north side of a rebuilt pier walkway or the second-longest of the three separate structure options.
He said the landing on the shoreside of the T-end would require fewer components, no dredging and would not impede the view on the offshore side. The cost is projected to be about $600,000.
Pierro added that the preferred separate structure option was far enough out into the water that it would require less dredging than the nearshore option, which is projected to cost about $1,210,000.
Commissioner John Lynch asked what kind of impact the third ferry would have on the number of people the service could ship to the area.
Falcione said the service carries almost 400 people to the island daily but lost 46 operating days due to inclement weather in 2024.
However, he said the enclosed vessel is projected to reduce the lost days by about 70% and could transport 40,000-50,000 passengers annually “when we’re running on all cylinders.”
Lynch questioned if the landing area could support such a large increase in ferry passengers.
During public comment, City Pier Grill and Bait Shop owner Brian Seymour said he’s not in support of any landing option separate from the pier because it might take away from pier traffic.
Falcione said he also hoped to bring the ferry service back to the pier, which he said the county would support rebuilding.
The commission will meet next at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 22, at city hall, 10005 Gulf Drive.