Bradenton City Council joins horse debate

BRADENTON – The horseback riding operations along the Palma Sola Causeway on Manatee Avenue West are again under scrutiny, this time by Bradenton City Council members.

During an Aug. 19 emergency meeting, council members voted unanimously to have City Attorney Scott Rudacille look into what the city can do to help mitigate issues caused by the riding operations. Issues discussed include the damage to seagrass, which could potentially lead to erosion and cause damage to the roadway, pollution from animal excrement and safety hazards from having so many horses on the side of the road in an area where families come to relax on the beach.

The same issues were discussed the week before in a Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity meeting when two Palma Sola Bay residents, Robert Lombardo and Clif Gaus spoke. The two also appeared at the Bradenton City Council meeting.

The Sarasota County Water Atlas lists both the north and south sides of Palma Sola Bay as impaired according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s impaired waters rule. Impairments listed include fecal coliform and other bacteria. The latest water tests were done in late December 2019. Seagrass coverage for the area is listed as regressing from continuous to patchy in the north side area where the horses are ridden.

The issue of the horses was brought up in late 2019 before Manatee County commissioners who decided not to pursue regulation. Under Manatee County law, the horses also are labeled as a form of transportation, allowing them to be ridden on the causeway. Though the business is conducted in FDOT’s right of way, the city of Bradenton is charged with enforcement in the area.

While the horses aren’t a new fixture on the north side of the causeway, recent barriers to the practice in Pinellas County have led to more companies moving their riding businesses to the causeway. During the Palma Sola CME meeting, one member stated that 10 companies now advertise horseback riding on the causeway.

Maps from the Florida Department of Transportation show that the department lays claim to the right of way stretching 75 feet from the center of the roadway. A 2012 letter from Lance Grace with FDOT in response to concerns about the riding businesses states that while the department’s concern is for the “safety of the traveling public,” it allows for use of the right of way on the causeway for public recreation purposes and cannot block one recreation use while allowing others to continue. The letter suggests pursuing the issue with local governmental agencies and the Manatee County Department of Health, which monitors water quality in Palma Sola Bay.

View from the saddle

While some of the riding operators who have spoken to The Sun are not opposed to some type of regulation over the businesses using the causeway, they don’t want to see riding banned as it was in Pinellas County.

Carmen Herrmann Hanson of C Ponies, one of the companies offering horseback rides along the causeway, said that she feels the uptick in the number of horses on the roadside beaches is due partially to the COVID-19 pandemic. With people trying to find safe, outdoor activities, she said she feels more people are coming out to play on the causeway, from riding Jet Skis to riding horses or just relaxing on the sand.

As for her business, she said her employees know where the seagrass is and they stick to the harder, sandy areas where it’s not so soft that it could cause the horses to stumble. She suggested that the city or FDOT put signs in the area to specify that horses or small watercraft are not allowed to launch where the seagrass is, noting that the watercraft used on the south side of the causeway at low tide cause serious damage to seagrasses.

Hanson said she’s not opposed to some type of regulation for the riding businesses and even suggested that the horse operators and other companies doing business on the causeway contribute to a seagrass mitigation fund to help repair some of the damage to the area’s seagrass, though she added that the suggestion didn’t go anywhere with area leaders.