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The School District of Manatee County plans to begin work in January on the construction of a new K-8 school in Lakewood Ranch to ease enrollment at overcapacity or near-capacity schools in the area.
The K-8 school, which has a projected budget of $82,440,000, is being constructed on an approximately 40-acre site off Uihlein Road will have a capacity of 1,692 students and serve pre-K through eighth grade.
The developer intends to build a 120,000-square-foot community on 2 acres near Payne Park.
“Sarasota is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and it can benefit from greater housing options,” Scott Meyer, chief financial officer for PTM (a South Florida developer), said in a statement.
The mixed-use development will be at 520 Payne Parkway. The property is zoned as Qualified Opportunity.
Although it was shot down by the Sarasota County Planning Commission in July, parallel parking was back on the table for the Siesta Promenade project when it went before the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 27 for a final vote.
And, like it did back in 2018 when the mixed-use development first went before commissioners, it once again met with their approval.
District 2 Commissioner Mark Smith, a Siesta Key architect, cast the only vote against the plans for the revised project, his decision hinging on negative public testimony.
Several Siesta Key residents were among those who spoke in opposition of the project, citing safety concerns with increased traffic due to its location at the northwest corner of U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road near one of only two bridges – and the busiest of the two — providing access to the mainland.
During the meeting, commissioners approved by a 4-1 vote a set of motions for the development based on a redesign to incorporate two additional parcels totaling 0.78 acres – the final two holdout properties in the development’s footprint. The additional land adds to a project that is expected to boast 414 apartments/condos, a 130-room hotel, 133,000 square feet of retail space, and 7,000 square feet of office space. In total, it will all be contained in about 24 acres.
Planning commissioners on July 20 approved amendments to the plans excluding parallel parking spaces on Glencoe and Crestwood avenues in the neighboring Pine Shores Estates neighborhood, and recommended them as such to the county commission.
However, when project developer Benderson Development brought the matter before the county commission it led with the inclusion of parallel parking spots as part of an alternate set of motions, separate from the planning commission’s recommendation.
Eco-entrepeneur Todd Kleperis, who battled with Sarasota County over the vegetable-growing, solar powered, water-desalinating “pod” he anchored in Siesta Key waters, is weighing his next moves after a standoff in court.
“Small-minded people have a focus on what is in their backyard and not what is better for the planet,” Kleperis fumed in the aftermath of what amounted to a judge’s split decision.
The pod was a pilot test for what Kleperis hopes to grow into a multinational aquaculture venture that cleans ocean water and is self-sustainable. But the 3-by-5-foot, ungainly-looking experimental pod attracted the ire of local residents near its location off Siesta Key Circle. They called it an eyesore, and the county issued a violation that could have netted a fine of up to $500 a day.
The court upheld the violation last month, but sided with Kleperis and his company, Tekmara, on a key point of contention. At any rate they escaped penalty because by then they had voluntarily removed the pod.
Many people agree, the City of Venice is a special place.
“I just wanted to give back to the community for everything they have done for us,” says Banks, a student at Student Leadership Academy.
And what better day to do just that than on “Make a Difference Day”? Jim Foubister organizes the annual event, which brings together around 450 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds.
“You also see a heart of a community coming together. People that are from different groups and different schools all getting together,” Foubister says.
Volunteers helped refresh local parks and beaches, laying new mulch and cleaning up trash.
They provide what Venice City Manager Ed Lavallee says is a significant impact to the city in just half a day.
“It’s equivalent to one of our public works crews working full time for 15 weeks,” Lavallee says, adding he is grateful for the shared pride residents have for the city.“Venice really is the people. It’s the culture, it’s the people, it’s the personality, it’s the inviting atmosphere that we have. This just fortifies that.”
A new trolley service will connect downtown Sarasota with the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport by the end of the year.
On Tuesday, the Sarasota County Commission approved a staff recommendation for fares for a service to routes between the airport and five stops in downtown Sarasota. The primary intent of the service is to provide convenient transportation for visitors to and from the rapidly growing airport.
Sarasota County finalizes fares and seven stops for new airport-downtown trolley
Trolley-bus service between downtown Sarasota and the airport is expected to launch this holiday season, offering travelers a new way to avoid parking concerns at one of the fastest-growing travel gateways in the country.
Sarasota County commissioners last week approved a fare structure for the new service, along with fares for the entire Sarasota County Area Transit network. By late January, riders can begin catching a trolley-style bus from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport to seven stops near downtown hotels for a $1.50 fare – which jumps to $2 in March. Riders over 65, those on Medicare, and anyone with a disability will pay half.
The planned stops are:
· Boulevard of the Arts at the Quay Commons;
· Ritz Carlton Drive at First Street;
· Ritz Carlton Drive at Watergate Drive;
· Second Street at Tamiami Trail;
· Ringling Boulevard at Palm Avenue;
· Palm Avenue at Cocoanut Avenue;
· Boulevard of the Arts between Tamiami Trail and Cocoanut Avenue.
Trolley service will operate daily about every 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., which an airport study has shown is the peak period for arrivals and departures. A fixed route between downtown Bradenton and the downtown Sarasota transit center, via SRQ, will continue to operate from 5:40 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. five days a week.
Other than fly in tourists, who have a 'downtown Sarasota area' destination, I don't quite get what benefit an SRQ to downtown trolley transfer does?
Maybe reduce the Uber/Lyft cars at airport pickup areas, dunno.
For rez and seasonal people flying in/out of SRQ, anyone not living near those Sarasota trolley origins, still has to drive/Uber/walk! J/K, from 'home' to the bus lot.
Even fly in tourists with close in Sarasota or B'ton destinations, will be schlepping their stuff or Uber'ng or hoping a friend delivers them for that 'last mile(s)'.
Not picking on the idea, just don't get the 'coverage' or convenience it really offers...
After two years of courtroom wrangling with opponents of two proposed hotels on Siesta Key and legal bills running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Sarasota County commissioners directed their attorney to finally end the fight.
County Attorney Joshua B. Moye recommended on Tuesday that the commissioners not appeal a judge's recent order in a lawsuit brought by Siesta Key resident Lourdes Ramirez concluding that the board's approval of the hotels on Siesta Key was inconsistent with its growth plan.
He also advised the commission to drop an appeal of a another legal win by Ramirez before Florida's Department of Administrative Hearings, rescind a development code amendment found to be inconsistent with the county's growth plan and to accept the "eventual final judgement" in a second Siesta Key hotel lawsuit.
Hotel proposals seek reversal of Siesta Key legal victories after two-year court battle
The battle over a more than three-decade-old growth policy could soon erupt again on Siesta Key as hotel developers seek to reverse two years of courtroom legal victories by Siesta Key advocates.
Benderson Development, one of the largest development companies in the region, presented plans to develop a hotel on Siesta Key with a proposal that could see 210 rooms built in Siesta Key Village on 1.4 acres of property. The parcels proposed for development would be along Ocean Boulevard and Calle Menorca across the road from the Siesta Key Oyster Bar.
Protections adopted by Sarasota County officials in 1989 stand in the way after a Siesta Key resident sued Sarasota County for violating its growth policies when approving two hotels in 2021.
This week, Sarasota County commissioners dropped an appeal of one legal victory and decided not to appeal a recent circuit court decision that found the previous hotel approvals violated the county's growth plan.
The growth policy at issue effectively freezes development on the popular barrier island to what was allowed in 1989, according to court rulings.
Benderson's proposal is just one of three that seek a workaround.
A second proposal would see the construction of a 110-unit hotel on about 2.15 acres of property on Midnight Pass Road. Dave Balot, the property owner, has proposed doubling the allowable hotel density from 26 units per acre to 52 units per acre.
A third request involves a second Siesta Key Village hotel. This project, a 170-room hotel on Calle Miramar and Ocean Boulevard, received approval in late 2021, but the approval was challenged by Siesta Key resident Lourdes Ramirez.
Another hotel proposed by Gary Kompothecras, also known as "Dr. Gary," near the south bridge on Siesta Key has not submitted a proposal yet.
County staff have received the three proposals, but a date for when they will be discussed at a County Commission meeting has not been set.
Already a popular event venue, the renovation and expansion of the Bradenton Area Convention Center at U.S. 301 and Haben Boulevard will expand the facility’s meeting and banquet capacity, add two outdoor event spaces, and connect the convention center to the new Palmetto Marriott. The eight-story hotel, which is scheduled to open in 2024, will include 252 sleeping rooms, a rooftop lounge, a full-service spa, a ballroom, and outdoor special event flex space.
Throughout Palmetto you can see evidence of investments from city, county, state, and federal funding sources, along with private investment. According to Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant, “Our City Commission and staff have worked hard to determine what projects are most appropriate for various locations. We listen to the diverse voices of city residents, respond to and incentivize market interest from private sector investors and developers, and pursue grants from state and federal programs. Ultimately, we proceed with what is best for the city as a whole.”
The city’s efforts are helping to stimulate more business investment, which is key to creating a more robust tax base to fund necessary infrastructure and services, instead of relying so heavily on residential property taxes.
Sarasota has a YMCA again, behind nonprofit merger announcement
A no-quit group of volunteers and deep-pocketed donors, paired with some like-minded nonprofit executives, rejoice over the news Sarasota is no longer a city without a Y.
After a four-year saga that included multiple name changes, a real estate transaction worth nearly $4.5 million and a small-but-mighty crew of determined donors and volunteers, the YMCA brand is back in Sarasota.
The news — celebratory for longtime Y devotees devastated in September 2019 when the then-Sarasota Family YMCA shuttered its two branches in town — stems from a nonprofit merger announced today. The merger brings together CoreSRQ, which had been operating the pair of Sarasota branches since July 2021, with the larger YMCA of Southwest Florida, based in Venice. Financial terms of the merger, supported and facilitated by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Invest in Incredible (I3) program, weren’t disclosed.
“This is a very exciting time for our community,” said Michelle Mitchell, CEO of CoreSRQ since April 2022. A former advertising executive with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Tampa Bay Times, Mitchell will remain with the combined organization, overseeing the Sarasota branches. One location, 1075 S. Euclid Ave., is near Sarasota High School, while the other location, 8301 Potter Park Drive, is in south Sarasota. The Euclid location will be called the Sarasota City YMCA under the merger and the Potter Park location will be the Palmer Ranch YMCA.
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