Landscaping effort focuses on beautifying city gateway

For the past few weeks, drivers near U.S. 301 and Mound Street have seen construction crews remove palm trees, only to replace them with different palm trees.

Those landscaping efforts are the conclusion of a project that began three years earlier, when U.S. 301 was widened from Myrtle Street to Mound Street.

The construction is part of a joint participation agreement between the city and the Florida Department of Transportation. Altogether, the project’s landscaping and irrigation costs total $842,640. FDOT is providing $448,851, while the remaining $393,789 comes from the county penny tax.

Project manager Neil Gaines said the landscape designs were selected through community meetings, and residents placed a high priority on beautifying the gateway to the city at U.S. 301 and Mound.

As part of that process, trees already present near the intersection were removed due to poor health and replaced with trees that match FDOT guidelines and are better suited to live in that environment.

Washingtonian palms in Luke Wood Park, which had already been moved from Osprey and Mound Streets, were struggling to survive, which led to the decision to replace them, Gaines said.

“A lot of them had penciled out, and a lot of them were dying of disease,” Gaines said. “Native species palms will be installed that can handle the cold and are allowed to be planted closer to the highway.”

Other trees are being shuffled around. Sylvester palms were removed from in front of Sarasota Ford and placed near the Senior Friendship Centers on Brother Geenen Way; Royal palms are being installed in place of the Sylvester palms.

Altogether, the new palm trees along U.S. 301 from Mound to Myrtle will cost about $94,000. Maintenance costs for the entire landscaping project will total $48,237 in the first year. That cost is covered in the overall project price tag, but, going forward, the city will foot the bill.

Gaines said the input the city received regarding the landscaping efforts indicated any increased maintenance cost was a price many people were willing to pay.

“It's part of the budget for the city of Sarasota to maintain our roadways and our gateway entrances,”

Gaines said. “There will be some increased costs, but the public has wanted that gateway enhanced for a long time now.”

Contact David Conway at [email protected]