Neighborhood meeting scheduled for Siesta mini-golf course

Mike Driscoll has his sights set on expanding his mini-golf enterprise to Siesta Key.

Driscoll already operates a course on Lakewood Ranch Main Street and a sister course on Anna Maria Island. Now, he is proposing an 18-hole mini-golf course in Siesta Key Village on a 10,500-square-foot parcel located at 5160 Calle Minorga.

Interested residents and members of the business community will get their first look at the plans during a neighborhood meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, at St. Boniface Church on Siesta.

According to informal plans submitted to the county, aerial renderings show an available 13 parking spaces accompanied by bicycle and motorcycle parking, bringing the total of available spots up to 16, according to the county’s calculations.

Typically, mini-golf courses are required to provide two spaces per hole and an additional space per 250 square feet of indoor floor area. Based on Driscoll’s  plans, which show a 250 square foot rest house and bathroom area, the course would require 37 spots.

Although Driscoll believes 16 spots will adequately accommodate patrons, he is open to exploring alternative parking options.

“We still believe based upon our numbers from Lakewood Ranch and the sister course in Anna Maria that 16 will be plenty for what we are going to get in traffic,” Driscoll said. “If the county feels we need to have additional parking then we are going to explore alternative parking.”

Driscoll hopes that the development will add additional entertainment options to the key and said business owners have been supportive so far.

“I talked to several of the business owners...and they’re pretty excited about it because they see that it’s pretty good for the community,” Driscoll said. “They see it fits into the mold of what Siesta Key is.”

Driscoll presented preliminary plans for the course, which he hopes will be operational by summer 2017, to the Siesta Key Village Association during their Sept. 6 meeting.

Siesta Key Village Association president and Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce board member Mark Smith said he has no qualms with the project as of now and is interested to see how the plans progress.

“It was not the clown’s mouth and windmill images that often are thought of when thinking of miniature golf,” Smith said about the plans he has seen. “There is not much property there quite honestly so I would be interested to see (more of) what they are saying.”