- Named Best Florida Newspaper In Its Class -
VOL 23 No. 20
February 22, 2023
Landscaping elements may eventually replace some of the new signs, but no changes are expected in the immediate future. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
BRADENTON BEACH –The city’s Scenic WAVES Committee is concerned about the visual appearance of 61 new “No parking on right of way by order of D.O.T.” signs recently installed along Gulf Drive South near Coquina Beach, Leffis Key and the Coquina boat ramps. The signs were installed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) at the request of Bradenton Beach Police Chief John Cosby, who asked for the signs a year ago. The police department shares the responsibility of enforcing FDOT’s longstanding prohibition on parking in the stateowned rights of way along Gulf Drive/SR 789. The Scenic WAVES Committee consists of citizens and liaisons from FDOT, Manatee County and other agencies. The committee advises the city commission on landscaping and beautification efforts in Bradenton Beach. The committee also initiates and conducts landscaping and beautification projects. The entire stretch of Gulf Drive/SR 789 in Bradenton Beach is designated by the state as a scenic highway and the committee also serves as the city’s scenic highway board.
No parking signs on scenic highway debated JOE HENDRICKS | SUN
More than 60 new “no parking” signs line both sides of Gulf Drive South at the south end of Bradenton Beach.
Tourism up, record set The latest record is in, with more than 1 million overnight visitors to the county last year. BY JASON SCHAFFER SUN CORRESPONDENT | jschaffer@amisun.com
BRADENTON – As the busy tourist season approaches full swing, Manatee County’s tourism consultant delighted tourism officials with a milestone set in 2022. “When we look at the entire calendar year, we see that for the first time ever, we exceeded over a million overnight commercial lodging visitors,” said Ann Wittine, of Tampa-based Research Data Services. “We also had a first time ever economic impact of over $1.5 billion for the year. That’s a 20% increase and a 50% increase from pre-COVID 2019.” Wittine presented her state of tourism update to the Manatee County
Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Feb. 13, featuring the latest available statistics related to the tourism industry in the county. In December 2022, total visitors, number of room nights and economic impact were all up from December 2021, with 73,300 visitors (7.5%), 186,200 room nights (5.8%) and $91,956,200 in economic impact (14.5%). “We gather this information in a number of different ways,” Wittine said. “We have face to face interviewers who are out talking to restaurant and lodging visitors for random surveys. We also talk to management companies, condo associations and others to make sure we get length of stay and party size, so we can calculate these estimates.” SEE TOURISM, PAGE 11
SEE SIGNS, PAGE 23
Bill filed to build beach parking garage Rep. Will Robinson Jr. filed a bill on Monday to build a parking garage at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach. BY KRISTIN SWAIN SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
HOLMES BEACH – Just like the traffic headed to Anna Maria Island on holidays, an effort by Florida legislators to build a parking garage at Manatee Beach is inching forward. House Bill 947 was filed on Monday by Rep. Will Robinson Jr., who represents Manatee County, including Anna Maria Island. If the bill passes, it will allow Manatee County commissioners to erect a three-story parking garage
at the county-owned beach with no approvals from city leaders needed. Previous plans mentioned by legislators were for a four-story garage, which would exceed the height restrictions in the city. Though parking garages were never an allowable land use in Holmes Beach, city commissioners voted in 2022 to formally disallow multi-level parking facilities. At a meeting where that ordinance was discussed, Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge warned commissioners against the action, stating that he had planned to present an application to the city to build a parking garage on the property. SEE BILL, PAGE 16
CHICKEN TACOS
ISLAND GALLERY WEST
with bourbon peach sauce. Yes, please. 17
leaves Anna Maria Island. 6
Page 25 Anna Maria Island, Florida
CORTEZ Commercial Fishing
Festival coverage inside. 8-9 The Island’s award-winning weekly newspaper www.amisun.com