An alternative for the arts

Come Sept. 6, the Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization board — the group charged with creating a master plan for the 53 acres of city-owned bayfront surrounding the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall — will make its case to the Sarasota City Commission.

It will ask the commission to adopt its vision — a grand vision and master plan worthy of that priceless waterfront land. And it’s a vision that would catapult Sarasota to a new level, fulfilling much of its potential to be so much more than it is already.

If only money were no object. 

But when Bill Waddill, managing director of the planning organization, and A.G. Laffley, chairman, go before the City Commission, they will not be daunted. Nor will they be unrealistic. With both of them having been involved in similar projects elsewhere, they know these projects often take a decade or more in phases and funding from multiple sources.

For this project, estimated between $100 million and $200 million, not including the cost of new performing arts center, Waddill says it likely will take as many as two dozen sources of funding. Just go down the list: public-private partnerships, philanthropy, corporate sponsors, retail sales, state and federal tax dollars and bond issues. In the end, this is an unavoidable reality:

Sarasota city taxpayers, and perhaps Sarasota County taxpayers, will be asked at some point whether they are willing to carry an increased tax burden to finance this grand vision. They will be asked to carry this obligation on top of the city’s unfunded pension liabilities; rising park costs; beach renourishment; and the capital costs required to maintain aging water and sewer lines. And as we noted, this doesn’t include an estimated $300 million to develop a new performing arts hall — a separate proposition.

Gulp.

With that $400 million to $500 million in mind, and knowing what we all know about Sarasota city commissioners, don’t be surprised if they wither in the face of making a big decision. As it is, parking meters are too much for them.

We have an alternative: Scrap a new performing arts hall at the Bayfront. As we proposed last December, create a cultural arts campus at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds on Fruitville Road. In fact, we recently learned outgoing Sarasota County Commissioner Paul Caragiulo has begun efforts to this end and the Sarasota city administration has made similar inquiries. 

The case for it is convincing.

Start with the financing. If the growth in tourism continues — a big if with red tide — Sarasota County could cross $30 million threshold in annual tourist tax revenue by, say 2025. In fiscal 2016-2017, they totaled $21 million. This means the county will be able to add a sixth-cent to its existing 5% tourist tax.

The County Commission could then revise the formulas for the bed tax so the equivalent of that new money could be pledged to pay the annual debt on a bond issue. This would avoid an increase in property taxes.

Other reasons that site makes sense:

• You can make a strong argument the Bayfront site no longer makes economic or environmental sense. If the talk about rising sea levels is a true threat, why risk making such a large investment in harm’s way? What’s more, the construction standards and costs on the bay (e.g. pilings, hurricane-proof windows, insurance, etc.) would be significantly higher than they are inland.
• Accessibility. Given the amount of new development along Tamiami Trail and downtown, getting to and from the Van Wezel’s existing site will become increasingly difficult. The fairgrounds site already has multiple access points — on Fruitville, Ringling Boulevard and Tuttle Avenue, and would be far easier to reach for those driving in from Interstate 75. 
• Ample land. At roughly 65 acres, the fairgrounds site is large enough to accommodate not only a multiuse performing arts center similar to the Kauffman Center in Kansas City, but also rehearsal facilities for, say, the Sarasota Orchestra and Sarasota Ballet; a parking garage; a replacement for the Robarts arena; and facilities for the Sarasota County Agricultural Association to continue its historical agricultural and fair activities.
• Land costs. Assuming it would be amenable, the agricultural association’s board lease the necessary property to the attendant organizations, thus avoiding the prohibitive expense of acquiring land.

“I could see it happening,” Rory Martin, CEO of the Sarasota County Agricultural Association, told us this week. “Create cultural assets up front and festival grounds on the back. As long as we’re treated as equal partners and not just to make us go away.”

This just may be the time for such a vision to become a reality. All of the association’s buildings are 40, 50 and 60 years old and in need of replacing. What’s more, the association is always short on cash, barely able to maintain its facilities, much less develop new facilities suited for today.

Neither site — the existing Bayfront nor the fairgrounds — is ready to build. But of the two, the fairgrounds could be readied sooner. When you combine all of the factors involved — future growth, accessibility, sources of funding, environmental risk, costs, politics — this is a serious dilemma. What makes more sense: the Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization’s master plan with a new performing arts hall on the bay? Or a new cultural-agricultural campus on the site of the Sarasota County Fairgrounds?

If money were no object, we’d go for the master plan. But for pragmatic and practical realities, there’s a strong case for the cultural-agricultural campus at the fairgrounds and Bayfront master plan without the performing arts hall. 

Imagine the two. A grand vision indeed.