HOLMES BEACH – The gloves are off in the fight between city leaders and Manatee County Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge after the county commissioner made an appearance during a city commission work session.
With the possibility of a parking garage ban in Holmes Beach on the agenda, commissioners weren’t surprised when Van Ostenbridge wanted to share his opinion on the issue. After being welcomed by city commissioners, he stepped up to the podium during public comment to issue a warning against the potential prohibition of parking garages in the city.
“Think long and hard before you make this decision,” he said, stating that prior city commission decisions have resulted in county commissioners rejecting funding requests.
“How do I say this politely? It’s not an accident that the governor vetoed $2 million in funding for the city,” Van Ostenbridge said, insinuating that the recent cut made by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the state’s budget removing appropriation funds for water quality in the city was related to parking discussions.
“There will be good or bad consequences to what is decided here today,” he said, adding a warning to commissioners to be thoughtful in their deliberations.
After speaking to commissioners, Van Ostenbridge left the June 14 meeting but told Mayor Judy Titsworth later that he listened to the ensuing discussion on Zoom.
“I’m sorry he couldn’t stay,” Titsworth said when the parking garage discussion began on the dais. She noted that with taxable property values in the city increasing over 200% in the current fiscal year and Holmes Beach accounting for 37% of all bed tax funds collected by the county, it’s not in county leaders’ best interests to threaten withholding funding to the city.
“You want to protect the golden goose,” she said.
After the meeting, Titsworth posted a video response to Van Ostenbridge’s comments on the city’s YouTube channel restating her position.
“I too am sorry the commissioner chose to not listen to our response to his threats,” Commissioner Terry Schaefer said. “It’s sad how this county commission is run, putting a gun to our heads.” He went on to say that he feels that with all the tax dollars going to the county from Holmes Beach, the city is getting “a very poor return on our investment.”
In the past 10 years, more than $30 million has been funneled to the county through tourist tax dollars, Schaefer said, adding he believes the city has only received about $141,000 of those funds back for parks projects. He said he’s not in favor of parking garages in the city and felt that allowing them would only serve to help the county solve its issues created by overmarketing of Anna Maria Island and its beaches.
Commissioner Carol Soustek said she wants to see long-term traffic and mobility solutions to address issues and help residents and beachgoers coming from county commissioners rather than threats. She said that she doesn’t think adding more places to park would solve the problems facing city and county residents, primarily traffic congestion, public safety and failing infrastructure.
During his comments, Van Ostenbridge said that he was planning to put together a plan to present to city commissioners over the summer for a parking garage to be constructed at the county-owned Manatee Beach.
While the prohibition of parking garages was on the city work session agenda, parking garages are currently not an allowable use in the city, nor is paid parking. To allow a parking garage to be constructed at the beach would require an ordinance change, site plan approval and potentially an in- crease of the current height limit in Holmes Beach. The height limit now would only allow for a three-story structure.
Despite Van Ostenbridge’s comments, Titsworth noted that the discussion had been placed on the agenda not because of the potential for a parking garage at the public beach but because the property owner of the former Wells Fargo Bank location at the corner of Marina and Gulf drives was seeking city staff guidance to determine what uses could be al- lowed on the property. She said no formal proposal for the site had been given to city staff, which committed to looking at potential ideas for the site and other nearby vacant commercial properties for future commission discussion.
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