- December 23, 2024
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Early September brought Hurricane Irma to Sarasota, just weeks after the country saw what Hurricane Harvey did in Texas.
In the week leading up to Irma’s U.S. landfall and eventual hit to Sarasota, a state of emergency was declared for the county. Schools were closed. The barrier islands were evacuated. Fourteen public schools were set up to shelter nearly 19,000 people, and hundreds more stayed with relatives or friends farther inland, unsure if the structures they called home would be able to withstand the storm.
After nearly seven days’ worth of preparations and predictions of a Category 4 storm capable of unprecedented destruction, Irma hit the region as a Category 2 storm with 1-3 feet of storm surge.
Immediately after Irma hit, 210,000 or 84% of Florida Power and Light customers in the county, were without power. Over 100 traffic lights were out. Debris littered roadways and trees rested on some homes.
“We were very fortunate,” Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Ed McCrane said simply.
Now, weeks after the county endured the hurricane, officials are trying to learn from the experience. The county hired former head of FEMA Craig Fugate to lead the after-action review, expected to be completed early 2018, to identify areas to improve for next time.
The city is once again grappling with a familiar question: Should there be parking meters downtown?
Last year, the City Commission endorsed a comprehensive parking strategy that recommended creating a paid parking program in downtown Sarasota. After two new commissioners joined the board in May, the city is now reconsidering that policy.
Defending its parking meter proposal, city staff has pointed to a growing deficit in the parking management fund that is budgeted to top $700,000 in 2017-18. Responding to objections from downtown merchants who fear parking meters will hurt business, the commission last month asked staff to further study the impacts of a paid parking program.
The city is proceeding with plans to institute a paid parking program on St. Armands Circle, which will include on-street meters. Paid parking funds will be used to pay for a $15.5 million parking garage project on North Adams Drive.
MTV’s ‘Siesta Key’ reality show aired in July, amid protests from residents who were worried it would give the wrong image of Siesta Key to the rest of the world.
The series follows several young adult residents from Siesta Key as they navigate life with parties, alcohol, trips to the beach and relationship drama. Alex Kompothecras, business owner Gary Kompothecras’ son, is one of the central cast members, as well as Juliette Porter, Madisson Hausburg, Brandon Gomes, Chloe Trautman, Kelsey Owens and Garrett Miller.
The show sparked controversy before it aired, when several videos posted to social media depicting animal abuse surfaced and were linked to Alex Kompothecras.
However, the main concern most residents had with the show was that it would attract the wrong type of crowd to the Key. So far, business owners and officials haven’t noticed any impact from the show, but the jury is still out.
Ten episodes of the show aired between July and October, and MTV renewed the show for eight more episodes to air in winter 2018.
The parking situation on Siesta Key is undeniably bad. Few spots and lots of visitors cause headaches for anyone on the Key. But the County Commission decided in October to move forward with a few possible options to help alleviate the issue.
Commissioners heard a presentation from county staff that explored everything from a paid parking system to the use of a water taxi service, and decided to focus on adding a new parking lot at 6647 Midnight Pass Road.
Preliminary plans for the site show that, after demolishing an existing building, the 1.8-acre parcel could offer up to 39 parking spaces at a price tag of more than $500,000. Considering the state of the county’s budget, commissioners asked to see a reduced price for this.
They also asked staff to continue to explore paid parking options, and come back with more information. Commissioners agreed to take an “incremental” approach to finding a solution or solutions that work.
If you’re just getting back into town, brace yourself for some major construction on U.S. 41 beginning later this month — and continuing for more than two years.
The Florida Department of Transportation will start building two roundabouts along U.S. 41 at 10th and 14th streets in November. The state plans to keep four lanes of traffic open throughout construction, but work is expected to continue through spring 2020.
The city hopes to begin construction on another U.S. 41 roundabout next year at Fruitville Road. The project would be conducted in conjunction with the initial development of the nearby Quay property, but the state has not yet approved that roundabout. An FDOT recommendation is expected in January.
In August, the city approved another design change on U.S. 41 between Gulfstream Avenue and Fruitville Road. At the request of barrier island residents, FDOT plans to add a third left-turn lane from eastbound Gulfstream onto U.S. 41, feeding into a third northbound lane on U.S. 41 between Gulfstream and Fruitville. The changes will also add a signalized pedestrian crosswalk across U.S. 41 near First Street.
The Siesta Promenade project. Gary Kompothecras’ proposed hotel on Siesta Key. A possible Hampton Inn on South Tamiami Trail. These hotels are all in the planning stages, and each of the developers are facing challenges with the county’s regulations.
The 130-room hotel planned as part of the Siesta Promenade, a mixed-use project at Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41, is in limbo. Benderson Development is seeking to increase the property density to get the number of rooms the company seeks. Going through the process of getting an exception for the density requirement could take the developer until December or later.
Next, Gary Kompothecras wants to build a hotel on Siesta Key. He and his attorney are talking with the county to clarify regulations on height and setback from the road. Until those points are clarified, Kompothecras has no plan for the hotel, but his attorney said it will be a “well-designed, compatible boutique hotel.”
Finally, a hotel on South Tamiami Trail is early in the planning stages, but developer Peachtree Hotel Group has tentatively planned for it to carry the Hampton Inn flag. The group was hoping for 100 rooms, but with the plot of land it owns on South Tamiami Trail, county ordinances allow about 60, meaning it’s facing the same problem as the Siesta Promenade developer. It’s now up to the group to decide if that’s enough, if more land is needed or if it wants to seek an exception.
In September, golf architect Richard Mandell completed a master plan for Bobby Jones Golf Club, recommending more than $20 million in renovations to the city-owned facility.
The city is now tasked with deciding how to proceed with Mandell’s report, hoping to reverse the fortunes of a course that has depleted its operating reserves as revenues have dwindled. In the 2017-18 budget, Bobby Jones is getting a $425,000 subsidy from the city’s general fund.
Mandell said the course’s infrastructure is in need of an overhaul if the city wants it to become a successful golf operation again. Still, he said there’s no guarantee the course will ever turn a profit.
After hearing a presentation from Mandell in October, the City Commission directed staff to research potential funding mechanisms to pay for the recommendations. The board also asked staff to engage the public regarding possible improvements to Bobby Jones.
Lido Key and Siesta Key residents remain at an impasse over a proposal to dredge Big Pass, and a judge is scheduled to hear arguments on the issue next month.
Three organizations — the Siesta Key Association, Save our Siesta Sands 2 and the Florida Wildlife Association — are challenging the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s decision to issue a permit for the proposed Big Pass dredge. The city of Sarasota and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to use up to 1.3 million cubic yards of sand to renourish the Lido Key shoreline.
The proposed use of sand from Big Pass, which has never been dredged before, has drawn fierce opposition from Siesta residents who fear the project could negatively affect their shoreline.
Lido residents continue to worry their shoreline is vulnerable to storm conditions, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The city has explored short-term alternatives for strengthening Lido’s shoreline, but staff still believes the Big Pass dredge is the best long-term option.
The Bird Key Yacht Club’s proposal to install a pickleball court on its property has been met with forceful opposition from neighboring residents who fear the recreational space will negatively affect their quality of life.
Although the yacht club has attempted to convince residents the paddle sport is relatively quiet, those in attendance at an August community workshop expressed concern the noise would change the character of the neighborhood.
The yacht club hopes to build six pickleball courts along Royal Flamingo Drive. Representatives for the yacht club have expressed optimism they can come to a mutually acceptable solution with residents ahead of required Planning Board and City Commission hearings. Residents, however, indicated this summer they would continue to oppose the plans absent significant changes.
Paul Thorpe, a man who helped create downtown institutions such as the Sarasota Farmers Market, the New Year’s Eve pineapple drop and the Downtown Sarasota Holiday Parade, died in August at 91.
Thorpe had earned the nickname “Mr. Downtown,” advocating for a more active and vibrant city center in various capacities for more than 40 years. Business representatives, residents and city officials remembered Thorpe as a singular figure in the evolution of downtown Sarasota.
In July, Thorpe’s friend Barbara Strauss led a campaign to name a piece of the downtown after Thorpe to honor his legacy. The city agreed to rededicate Pineapple Park, located at Lemon Avenue and Pineapple Avenue, as Paul N. Thorpe Jr. Park, holding a ceremony later that month with Thorpe in attendance.
“No one in the past half-century has been a champion of downtown Sarasota and contributed more to its successful revitalization and redevelopment than Paul N. Thorpe Jr.,” a plaque in the park reads.
In the days after Hurricane Irma, it wasn’t unusual for neighbors to welcome neighbors without power. It was unusual for a neighbor to welcome a neighbor ... without clothes.
On the morning of Sept. 13, Melissa Tomasso awoke to just that. A woman, clothed solely with a hand towel, in her backyard. Tomasso’s guest had come to watch her brother’s home after Irma. She had arrived after midnight and took a dip in the pool. No swimsuit. And a locked door behind her.
Naked, she knocked on the Tomassos’ front door, to no avail. But the side door was open to the garage, so she slipped in and fell asleep in the Tomassos’ convertible.
In the morning, the woman grabbed a hand towel and found Tomasso.
She welcomed the woman and arranged some essentials: a robe, breakfast, a locksmith. Tomasso said she was the perfect guest. She even returned the robe.
Sarasota County’s historic courthouse is taking a step back in time, as workers steadily strip away almost 100 years of paint and stucco that cover the building’s original features. The changes to the exterior are the final leg of a more than $4 million investment by the county, spanning more than a decade.
