Banan Place residents have flood of stormwater worries

Siesta Key received a moderate amount of rainfall — about an inch or two — Dec. 3, the day Ben Quartermaine, Sarasota County stormwater engineer, presented plans to address flooding to the Siesta Key Association.

Five days later, still water stagnated on Banan Place, a street near the Out-of-Door Academy.

Now, the street’s residents worry the county’s plans that Quartermaine presented won’t improve drainage on their street.

The county plans to install pipes in ditches about one-eighth of a mile away on the west side of Higel Avenue near its intersection with Ocean Boulevard and install drainpipe on Lotus Avenue in separate phases, redirecting water farther east to Grand Canal.

Paul Chadwell and his neighbors wonder why road improvements, including fixing what they say are nonfunctional drains on their street, aren’t part of plans,

Residents also want to see drainage of Lake Banan addressed, as well as grading and raising Banan itself.

“It’s ridiculous for them to be talking about a flooding project and not talking about this street,” said homeowner Barry Greenberg. “It’s the worst in the county.”

Quartermaine wrote in an email to the Sarasota Observer that the project will “provide an improved release (outfall) for the Banan Lake…” and allow it to drain more efficiently.

Quartermaine wrote that Lake Banan has a pipe that drains to Ocean Boulevard, and the goal is to have a piping system along Ocean that sits lower than the pipes currently draining Banan, but higher than tide so water flows “downhill” to Grand Canal.

Chadwell said he is skeptical because he disagrees with Quartermaine about where Lake Banan currently drains.

The project will cost between $300,000 and $400,000 and be done in two phases of three weeks each. No date has been set for construction to begin, but Quartermaine estimated that it would be after August because of permitting requirements.

Because the first phase of the project will cause some delays in traffic at the intersection of Higel and Ocean, merchants at the Dec. 1 Siesta Key Village Association asked county engineers to wait until after Labor Day to begin work.

Quartermaine said he will prepare the project to begin as soon as possible and let county commissioners decide on its timing.

Meanwhile, the county plans to address flooding on Banan next summer using sump pumps.

But residents worry that won’t be enough.

“It’s going to start raining again in June,” Greenberg said. “We’re anxious to get it done ASAP. After Labor Day, we’re going to go through another hurricane season. Tomorrow’s good.”