County approves changes for Mote aquarium

The Sarasota County Commission voted unanimously in favor of a series of changes that will permit an aquarium to be built on land in Nathan Benderson Park, clearing a regulatory hurdle for Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s planned construction of a new facility on the site.

On Tuesday, the commission approved amendments to its comprehensive plan and unified development code that attempt to outline the location and character of Mote’s aquarium. Mote intends to build a four-story, 110,000-square-foot facility called Mote Science Education Aquarium on land south of the Mall at University Town Center.

Tuesday’s meeting marked the latest in a series of approvals county officials have granted to the project, a concept the commission has spoken effusively about since Mote announced plans for the aquarium in 2018. The county has set aside 11 acres of county property and agreed to commit $20 million in tourist tax funding toward the project.

Mote has not yet secured site plan approval or a building permit for the aquarium, and county staff said there are not any applications for the project under consideration. The county has not finalized its funding commitment toward Mote, as officials conditioned their support on the organization raising the balance of its fundraising goal first.

As of summer 2020, Mote said it had secured $75 million in commitments toward a $130 million goal. In May, aquarium officials declined to provide an up-to-date fundraising total. Mote hopes to wrap up preliminary site work by the end of the year, too, beginning construction in 2022 and completing the project two years later.