Mixed reviews for proposed dining, entertainment spot in Lakewood Ranch

Waterside Place residents made it clear when Wolverine Management first proposed Backyard Social on Professional Parkway to them in March that Lakewood Ranch is not a place for outdoor entertainment until 2 a.m. 

Over the past six months, a sound study was conducted and a compromise on closing time was made.

“We’re only trying to extend the code for outdoor entertainment by one hour,” Wolverine President Mat Baum said. “We dialed it back to be 11 p.m. on weekdays and 12 a.m. on weekends.” 

Sarasota County code states that outdoor dining and entertainment is only allowed until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. A "special exception" is required to operate outside of those hours. 

The application for Backyard Social will go before the Sarasota Planning Commission on Oct. 3. If approved, food trucks will provide the dining. Games and live music will provide the entertainment. 

As part of the application process, the proposal was presented to nearby residents and business owners during a neighborhood meeting in March. 

Home builder Pat Neal dialed into the meeting to tell Baum and his team that 2 a.m. is too late for Sarasota and he would form an opposition group if the hours weren't changed. The Alcove at Waterside by Neal Signature Homes is located between 3,000 and 4,700 feet from the proposed site. 

Since hearing the new hours and visiting Backyard Social's Fort Myers location, Neal said he supports the project.

“(The Fort Myers location) is very popular; people like it. It’s well managed and doesn’t seem to have any troublesome aspects,” he said. “I have confidence that they’re good operators, and it’ll be an amenity for Lakewood Ranch as a whole.” 

However, the Waterside Neighborhood Alliance is not convinced. The group submitted a legal memorandum to the Planning Commission and is launching an email campaign to inform board members of the opposition. 

The alliance’s main points are that there’s no reason to make a special exception, the exception could start a trend of later hours in the area, the noise will carry to surrounding Waterside neighborhoods and the establishment could cause an increase in neighborhood crime. 

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Alliance member Stanley Morrow requested police records from when the Fort Myers location opened in October 2023 through August 2024. He said there were 92 incidents reported.

“Out of the 92, I would say 22 of them were significant in the sense that they were assault, battery, drunk and disorderly kind of behavior,” Morrow said. “There were a couple of hit and runs in the parking lot, where cars got hit.”

Baum remembered one car being accidentally hit in the parking lot but said it wasn’t a hit and run. He also remembered two incidents that would fall under the drunk and disorderly category. 

“On the weekends, past 9 p.m., we have security and it’s 21 and up,” Baum said. “We’ve had tens of thousands of people coming through there, so you’re talking about .01%. I think we have a pretty good record.” 

Most concerning to members of the neighborhood alliance is that a special exception for Backyard Social could mean a special exception for everyone. Morrow fears the “cascading effect” that other businesses will feel a need to compete. 

“A lot of the restaurants have those outdoor patios next to them, and they might want to start playing music until 12 or 2 in the morning,” Morrow said. “How does the county commission stop it once they’ve approved another one?” 

Baum said the alliance is only focused on the late hours, but Backyard Social has a lot more to offer the community. Some of the offerings in Lakewood Ranch will be a Yappy Hour for dog owners, a monthly market and yoga classes on the lawn. 

“Once in a while, we do events with bounce houses for kids, so we definitely have a wide demographic of the audience we’re going after,” Baum said. “We are not a 'club,' as we’re being labeled. We open at 11 a.m. to serve lunch.” 

As for the noise, Baum insists that Backyard Social can’t be louder than any other establishment because there’s no special exception to exceed the noise level that’s stated in Sarasota County’s code.

The sound study was performed by Keane Acoustics in June. The tests accounted for prerecorded music playing inside and a full band of four or more musicians playing outside after 10 p.m. 

The study found that noise coming from Backyard Social "will comply with the decibel levels stated in the Sarasota County Noise Ordinance and will be below ambient noise levels emitted from Interstate 75 and other local roads."

Recommendations included positioning the stage away from neighboring communities and putting a screen or wall behind it, enclosing the subwoofers under the stage and orienting the loudspeakers to avoid a direct line of sight with adjacent properties. 

Stipulations were made to Backyard Social's application that comply with the sound study's recommendations. 

"Our intention is to be great neighbors to everybody because we're counting on those same neighborhoods to frequent our space," Baum said.