Van Ostenbridge Opposes Holmes Beach Parking Garage Prohibition

HOLMES BEACH – Manatee County Commission Chairman Kevin Van Ostenbridge suggested the city of Holmes Beach could suffer financial consequences if the city commission enacts a prohibition on parking garages. Van Ostenbridge also suggested it was no accident that Gov. Ron DeSantis recently vetoed the city’s $2 million appropriation request for state-funded stormwater and resiliency projects.

The potential parking garage prohibition was discussed during the Holmes Beach City Commission workshop on Tuesday, June 14. During public comment, Van Ostenbridge shared his views on that potential city commission action. The following day, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth issued her response in a video posted on the city’s YouTube channel. Click the video below that begins with Van Ostenbridge’s workshop comments and ends with the mayor's response.

When contacted later in the week, Titsworth said the allowed uses contained in the city’s codes and regulations do not include paid parking and multi-story parking structures as allowable uses. As a result, the city planner currently interprets those uses as non-permitted according to city code. Titsworth said she requested the workshop discussion to get more clarification on these matters. She said no date has been set yet as to when the city planner will bring forward a proposed draft ordinance pertaining to parking garages for the commission to consider.

When contacted, Van Ostenbridge said he was disappointed and surprised when he learned a parking garage prohibition was going to be a workshop discussion topic. He said he was under the impression that Titsworth and the city would allow him time over the summer to develop a proposal for a parking garage at or near the county-owned Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Holmes Beach reduced the number of on-street parking spaces available to the public–an effort that resulted in parking permits being issued to city residents and property owners in certain areas.

During his very first county commission meeting in November 2020, Van Ostenbridge suggested the county might withhold future beach renourishment funds sought by the city of Holmes Beach if the city’s street-side parking allowances were not restored to pre-COVID levels. Since then, Van Ostenbridge, County Administrator Scott Hopes, Titsworth, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer, and others have engaged in multiple discussions and email exchanges regarding beach and public parking in Holmes Beach.

In February, State Senator Jim Boyd and state representatives Will Robinson Jr. and Tommy Gregory sent Titsworth a letter asking her and the city to reexamine their on-street parking reductions. Written on Florida Senate letterhead, that letter can be viewed here.