Anna Maria Island Study

While locked in the ongoing deep-freeze in the Northeast this week, I am studying Florida's Anna Maria west coast barrier island south of Tampa bay in preparation of a ULI Advisory Services assignment next week.

The island wants ULI to advise on matters of tourist management, permanent residents versus seasonal renters (sounds familiar, Ocean City?), parking management and traffic congestion. Curiously absent from the issue list provided in the briefing book is resilience, sea-level rising and climate adaptation.

I previously participated in Advisory Panels for the Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU) and healthy community panel for Arvada, CO. The about six person multi-disciplinary panels of national experts are great learning experiences and have a record of providing meaningful advice since 1947.

Ghost development Villa Rosa: Living on the canal proved to be a flop in light of the great
Florida real estate bust. It is Anna Maria's last new development and apparently now ready to take off.

Diagram from a ULI Advisory Panel for Manatee County in 2013