Patterson receives praise with Siesta park name

Sarasota County Commissioner Carolyn Mason championed the plan to rename Bay Island Park to honor the former county commissioner and city mayor.

By Alex Mahadevan
| 6:00 a.m. May 7, 2015

Sarasota County and city commissioners have come together to honor Nora Patterson, former a commissioner on both boards, by renaming Bay Island Park on Siesta Key. Photo by Alex Mahadevan

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Siesta Key leaders characterized former Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson as a “champion of Siesta” during her time on the board. On Tuesday, Sarasota County commissioners endorsed renaming Bay Island Park to Nora Patterson Bay Island Park after the island resident.

“It’s pretty neat and very exciting,” Patterson said. “It is a park with a history, and it’s well loved by the neighbors.”

The park, which is located at the north tip of the island, is a haven for fishing and a temporary loading zone for boaters, and it offers a view of Sarasota Bay under the Siesta Key North Bridge.

But developers had once proposed building high-rise condominiums and apartments on the parkland, which neighbors successfully opposed with the legal help of Patterson’s husband, attorney John Patterson, who was on the team representing Bay Island residents. The county bought the southern portion of the park for $120,000 in 1977; the city had acquired the northern side in 1973. (See sidebar.)

Battle for Bay Island Park

In 1975, the Second District Court of Appeals in Lakeland effectively killed plans for a 10-story $1.6 million condominium on the south end of what is now Bay Island Park, and soon to be Nora Patterson Bay Island Park.

Bay Island Siesta Association neighbors had lobbied for the four south end parcels to be restricted to single-family construction, after which Bay Island Towers Inc. sued, according to historical legal documents.

Developer E.E. “Gene” Simmons agreed to sell the northern portion of the park for $60,000 two years earlier, which association members raised with the help of the Selby Foundation and the Community Foundation of Sarasota. They gifted the land to the city in 1973.

“We have always cared deeply about that park,” said Bay Island Siesta Association Secretary Tommy Vaughan-Birch.

The Pattersons currently reside a few blocks from Bay Island and have used the park for running and fishing in the past.

“Now we take long walks there and watch people fish,” Patterson said.

The site is currently a work zone. Contractors are replacing portions of the seawall to protect the park from erosion as part of a $1.1 million project. The construction should be substantially completed by early June, said Brad Gaubatz, a project manager with Sarasota County Public Works.

“We love that park, and it’s always a topic of interest with our neighborhood association,” said Bay Island Siesta Association Secretary Tommy Vaughan-Birch. “It is very important.”

Sarasota city commissioners still have to approve the name change, because that municipality owns the northern tract of Bay Island.

“Our decision will be reported to the city, and I imagine at their next meeting they will take official action,” said County Commission Chairwoman Carolyn Mason, who championed the idea. “They thought it was a wonderful idea, and they also unanimously agreed to move forward with it.”

County spokesman Jason Bartolone said it would be too early to tell how Nora Patterson Bay Island Park will be represented with new signage, or how much it will cost.

“I learned a lot from her,” said County Commissioner Christine Robinson. “I was honored to serve with her and look forward to seeing her name as I drive by there almost every day after I drop my kids off at school.”