Sarasota County commissioners reject proffered names for Walton Ranch site

Sarasota County called for public name submissions from Feb. 16 to March 16 for the 3,760-acre Walton Ranch site located east of Myakka State Park, but didn’t like the results at Wednesday’s meeting.

The Environmentally-Sensitive Lands Oversight Committee was charged with reviewing the submissions and selecting the top ideas for consideration. The committee received 18 submissions, and narrowed down potential names to “Tween Rivers Ranch” and “Eastern Flatwoods Ranch.”

Brie Ondercin, land acquisition coordinator for the county, explained the "Tween" name for the commissioners: Walton Ranch is located between the Myakka and Peace rivers, and when public access is completed, will serve as a trail hub that connects trails which run to both rivers. The name was submitted by Rob LaDue, a county parks and recreation project manager.

Tween is also slang for a young person between the ages of 9 and 12, and caused some amusement among the commissioners.

“I have a tween at home, and I think Commissioner Hines does too,” Commissioner Christine Robinson. “Naming it ‘tween’ could cause some problems.”

Chairwoman Carolyn Mason said she didn’t like either of the proposed names and preferred to keep the property called Walton Ranch.

“No one seems passionate about these names,” Robinson said.

She suggested the board direct Historical Resources staff to investigate the history of the property further to see if a better name would pop up, and the board approved a similar motion raised by Commissioner Alan Maio.

“Nothing jumped out at me,” Hines said. “Maybe when we use it a little bit more, that will expose a better name.”

The county purchased the Walton Ranch site for $22.8 million in July 2010. The Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) paid the county $12.8 million to put in a conservation easement over the whole property for the Florida Forever Program, which reduced the county’s cost of purchase to $10 million.

Celery Fields replanting contract approved

At Tuesday’s meeting, Sarasota County commissioners approved a $100,555 contract with Aquatic Plants of Florida to replant parts of Celery Field as part if a mitigation project.

Celery Fields provides stormwater drainage into the Phillippi Creek and Sarasota Bay watershed systems. The county received a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2011 to complete 216 acres of wetland, open water and wetland buffers and create an environmental education program.

As part of the corps’ permit stipulations, the county has to monitor the created mitigation areas and publish a report in January each year.

To remain compliant with the permit, the county will contract with Aquatic Plants of Florida to replant 25 acres of wetland species plants. The construction will take about 180 days.