"On a weekend day, if you're not there by 5:30 in the morning, you don't get a spot," a Palmetto captain told ABC7 last October. He was describing the Riverside Boat Ramp when it still had an overflow lot. That lot is gone now.
The parking at the Riverside ramp has been part of every downtown riverfront deal Palmetto has made over the past five years: the apartment parcel across Riverside Drive, a proposed ferry landing, and the September loss of the overflow spaces. Each step has taken parking away before putting any back. The city says replacement trailer parking is paid for. As this season gets underway, though, boaters have fewer places to leave a truck and trailer than they had a year ago.
The Lot That Was Never Officially a Lot
The trouble starts at the corner of Eighth Avenue West and Riverside Drive. The Bradenton Times described that 3.4-acre site as one that "once served as unofficial public parking for a popular boat ramp." For years, ramp users treated it as overflow. Then the city chose to sell it.
The sale was opposed early. An online petition started in April 2021 drew nearly 4,000 signatures against declaring the property surplus. In 2024 the parcel sold to developers for just under $3 million, and the plans called for apartments and retail.
By July 2025 the project had a defined shape. Palmetto picked Mosaic Development of St. Petersburg and NDC Development of Bradenton to build a $53 million, six-story building with 152 one- and two-bedroom units, two levels of parking under four residential floors, and a rooftop restaurant and retail space overlooking the Manatee River. The developers planned to finish before the end of 2028. The proposal also covered boaters. The developer would either set aside a half-acre of the site for public boat-trailer parking or buy adjacent land and donate it to the city for that purpose.
How the Promise Moved Off-Site
The trailer parking was the piece of that plan that slipped first. At an October 2025 commission meeting, WWSB reported that the developers, Mosaic and the Community Redevelopment Agency had verbally agreed to add 20 to 30 boat parking spaces on the purchased land and then backed away from that. The term sheet under discussion gave the developer discretion over how many spaces to build and where. The developers said they were considering a site away from the Riverside property.
City Commissioner Tamara Cornwell put the city's position plainly that night. "We made promises to our citizens that we would come up with a way of being able to build or develop more boat parking," she said, according to WWSB. The commission voted 3 to 2 to keep working on the term sheet. A CRA representative described the vote as a framework for the economic incentive, "not committing either side to a deal."
One resident who spoke at that meeting explained that once trailer parking is "more than a block away from the boat ramp," it slows the launch line and adds traffic downtown. At a ramp, a parking space only helps if you can walk back from it before the line behind you stacks up.
The Count, Then and Now
Here is how the parking around the ramp has changed since the first petition.
| When | What happened at or near the ramp | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 2021 | Petition against selling the unofficial overflow parcel draws nearly 4,000 signatures | The Bradenton Times |
| July 2025 | Mosaic and NDC selected, with a pledge of a half-acre or donated land for trailer parking | The Bradenton Times |
| October 2025 | 18 trailer spots at the ramp. The 20 to 30 extra spaces are no longer committed on-site | WWSB |
| May 2026 | 57 total spaces at the ramp, 18 for trailers. A ferry stop is proposed next door | WWSB |
| September 2026 | Overflow lot of about 20 spaces removed for downtown development | WWSB |
For more than a year, 18 trailer spaces have been the steady figure. Overflow capacity is what has changed.
A Ferry Would Share the Same Curb
In May 2026 a second use was proposed for the same stretch of riverfront. The Palmetto CRA was considering a Gulf Islands Ferry stop at Riverside Park West, next to the ramp on the north side of the Manatee River, WWSB reported. One local captain told the station the ramp is "very used and very busy and it's congested already," and said a ferry joining in "would not be a pretty time."
CRA Executive Director Rowena Young said then that parking was a top priority and that the city had recently adopted an ordinance with new regulations. At that point the landing still needed several permits signed by city officials.
Right now the ferry does not stop in Palmetto. Manatee County's ferry page lists service between downtown Bradenton and the island piers and makes no mention of a Palmetto landing. The city's budget does include money that could change that.
What the New Budget Actually Pays For
Palmetto's FY2026-27 budget, marked final on September 28, 2026, shows what the CRA is funding along the riverfront and nearby. These are the riverfront and downtown items listed in the adopted budget:
- Riverside Ferry Landing: $435,000
- Estuary Preserve: $200,000
- Lamb Park perimeter walkways and parking, "40 additional spots": $813,000
- Sutton Park perimeter walkways, parking and pavilions: $916,000
- Monument at 7th Street and 10th Avenue West: $95,000
- 10th Avenue streetscape lights, sidewalks and cameras: $500,000
The Lamb Park line describes its 40 new spaces only as parking. Nothing in the budget says they are for trailers. The ferry landing has its own line item. The trailer lot the boaters have been asking for does not.
That doesn't mean the trailer lot is unfunded. In September, Young told WWSB that the CRA was weighing whether to buy property or lease space near the ramp for boat-trailer parking. She said funding was already in place and the location had not been finalized. City leaders also said the new plan could restore more than the roughly 20 spaces that were lost. Until a site is chosen, the funding doesn't open any new spaces at the ramp.
The broader downtown plan explains why the CRA keeps returning to this corner. The agency, which marked its 40th year this fall, wants Palmetto to be "not a pass through anymore," Young told WWSB. She added that "we are not trying to take away what they believe to be quaint and the character." The state is also contributing. Palmetto received $2 million for the 10th Avenue West Complete Streets project, which will make the stretch from the marina area north toward 17th Street easier to walk and bike. Mayor Dan West said it "will look like hometown America on the main street of Palmetto," WWSB reported in August. A street designed for walkers starting near the marina also adds people to the area right around the ramp.
Where the Trailers Go in the Meantime
For now, boaters are improvising. A resident told WWSB in September that many are parking at the It Works lot and making "that long walk." On a crowded morning, another option is to launch somewhere else. Manatee County's boat ramp directory lists Warner's Bayou, Highland Shores, Coquina South, Fort Hamer, Kingfish, Jigg's Landing, the Captain Scott Moore Boat Ramp, State Route 64 and Palma Sola Causeway among its popular access sites.
The closest of these for a Palmetto boater headed upriver is Fort Hamer Park at 1605 Ft. Hamer Road in Parrish. Overnight parking is not allowed there. If you're going toward the Gulf, the Coquina Bayside North ramp on Gulf Drive South in Bradenton Beach has the same no-overnight rule. Both mean a longer drive. Neither depends on a decision that hasn't been made.
The Riverside ramp's near future depends on three things the city has yet to announce: the trailer lot's location, whether the ferry landing gets its permits, and when construction starts across Riverside Drive. Until then, the earlier changes to Palmetto's evenings along the river come with an earlier alarm for anyone towing a boat downtown on a Saturday.
If launching at Riverside has become a weekly chore, a home with its own dock or lift may be worth a look. Ronnie DeWitt & Associates has spent nearly 30 years matching boaters with waterfront homes across Manatee County, and Ronnie can show you which Palmetto neighborhoods put you on the river without a trailer. Start with a free market valuation and talk with Ronnie today.
