Siesta Village merchants fret about project timing

A small stormwater project will cause some traffic delays at the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and Higel Avenue for three weeks. Just when that will happen is yet to be determined, but several Village business owners would rather it was scheduled to begin after Labor Day. 

The county had already planned to delay construction until after season, but has not made a more specific determination about the date, according to Ben Quartermaine, stormwater engineer for Sarasota County, who presented an overview to members of the Siesta Key Village Association at its Dec. 1 meeting.

“I’m open to a target date that works best for you,” he said to members in attendance.

Everyone who spoke up agreed that the Village remained busy enough until Labor Day that they’d rather the county waited.

Russell Matthes said he preferred waiting until after Labor Day because because, while the mainland dies down a little earlier, the Key is still very active until the first week of September.

Kay Kouvatsos, owner of Village Cafe, said the goal of asking the county to defer is to avoid routing people around the Village instead of through it.

Quartermaine said during his presentation that the purpose of the project is to address vulnerability of approximately 20 individuals whose homes are prone to flooding when more than three inches of rain falls in a short time.

“These folks are in a real hurt right now and we need to address the flooding,” Quartermaine said.

Kouvatsos said her understanding is that flooding at the intersection itself, of Higel and Ocean, was the problem, but that most rain falls during September and October and so she does not believe the delay would soak homeowners.

Sarasota County will need to obtain a permit from Southwest Florida Water Management District to pump water that once drained from Lake Banan and Fiddler's Bayou into the Gulf of Mexico, into Grand Canal. Those bodies no longer drain into the Gulf because of “limited access and shifting sands,” Quartermain said.

The project will cost between $300,000 and $400,000 according to current estimates. It will last three weeks at that intersection, with another three-week phase to follow on Lotus Lane, where the outfall for the project is located.

At Higel and Ocean, the County will install pipe in the drainage ditch, and it will also use the project as an opportunity to enhance the intersection, adding landscaping.