BRADENTON – Holmes Beach Superintendent of Public Works and City Engineer Sage Kamiya was back in front of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) at its Oct. 16 meeting. Kamiya appeared to answer questions and concerns brought up by TDC members after his initial presentation requesting tourist tax funding for a city-long multimodal path at an Aug. 21 meeting.
Kamiya noted that there is a path for walkers and bicyclists that runs along a portion of Marina Drive, but it needs improvement. The proposed new path would begin around the 2800 block of Gulf Drive and continue almost the entire length of the city to where Gulf Drive and Marina Drive merge in the 8000 block. The proposal calls for the path to be separated from the road by a grassy buffer area to keep people using the path further separated from the road, improving safety.
Connecting the path to the city’s 30 beach access points is also part of the plan, which would begin with the 65th and 66th Street access points near the center of the city. The city would also like to see the installation of educational signs along the path, allowing users to learn about the wildlife they may encounter, such as shorebirds and sea turtles, as well as Island flora.
The budget estimate for the entire project totals $2,436,727 with half of the money going to the Gulf Drive path improvements, $1,293,238. The remainder would be designated for Marina Drive path improvements, engineering design, flashing crosswalks and educational signage. Although the plan is ambitious, Kamiya told the TDC that it would be implemented in phases, with the first phase focusing on the city center area on both Gulf Drive and Marina Drive. The phase one estimate is $1,133,401, with $399,460 coming from the city and the remaining $733,948 being requested from the TDC.
The TDC’s recommendation of whether or not to allocate funds collected through the 5% tourist “bed tax” on vacation rental units for projects such as this often leads to county commissioners’ approval.
Rather than approve or deny the funding at the Aug. 21 meeting, the TDC unanimously chose to have the matter brought to the Oct.16 meeting in hopes of getting answers to questions multiple board members had, such as whether or not the path would eliminate public parking spots, and more specific answers as to which side of the street the path would be and a more specific timeline, among other concerns and questions.
Kamiya confirmed that no part of the project would take away public parking spaces, something more than one TDC member showed concern about at the Aug. 21 presentation, nor would any future phases. He also assured the TDC that the city would seek other funding sources for future phases.
Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown echoed concerns he had at the Aug. 21 meeting regarding the multi-phase proposal.
“Sometimes I’m not in favor of projects being done in phases, because sometimes the next phase doesn’t get done,” Brown said. “I don’t think you addressed that. What was that million dollars you were talking about?”
“The city did receive a Resilient Florida grant to look at the entire Gulf Drive that could include funding a path,” Kamiya responded. “We are not just here holding our hands out asking for funds. We are looking at every case we can to get as much done as we can.”
After a lengthy discussion on the multimodal path project, a motion to defer to the Dec. 4 TDC meeting was passed unanimously.
