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SEPTEMBER 2017 941.349.0194 | ISLAND VISITOR PUBLISHING, LLC
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Siesta Promenade Update
LABOR DAY SIGNUPS The Labor Day BBQ is scheduled for Monday, September 4th. If you are interested in attending this year and haven’t signed up in the Pro-Shop yet, please do so by Saturday, September 2nd.
KIDS CORNER
County staff sends Benderson Development pages of comments citing insufficiencies in latest Siesta Promenade applications By Rachel Brown Hackney Benderson Development Co. has been asked, figuratively speaking, to fill in a number of blanks in the latest materials it filed with Sarasota County regarding its proposed Siesta Promenade project. On July 25, county Planner Todd Dary sent Todd Mathes, director of development for Benderson, two letters detailing numerous insufficiencies in the documents the county received from the firm in late June. Benderson had revised its plans for the mixed-use development at the northwest corner of the intersection of U.S 41 and Stickney Point Road. Among the issues Dary’s letters cited were lack of figures showing maximum building heights and setbacks; no clear plan showing road width and turning radii for traffic patterns within the development; the fact that the material does not indicate which portions of rights-of-way of public streets the firm intends to be vacated; and insufficient data in the company’s updated traffic analysis. The latter was discussed with Benderson staff on June 26, according to one of Dary’s letters. Shannon Rodden in the county’s
Transportation Planning Division wrote that the transportation analysis should address “all Florida Department of Transportation and Sarasota County comments” provided during that meeting. In a section regarding county Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department requirements, one letter said Benderson “should provide a private shuttle service to Siesta Public Beach, Turtle Beach Park, Crescent Beach and Point of Rocks Beach “and/or work with Sarasota County Area Transit to increase the frequency of trips to the beaches and/or look into expanding the Siesta Key Breeze Trolley service to the project site.” The free open-air circulator began service on the island on March 20; county Administrator Tom Harmer and SCAT Director Rocky Burke have vowed to find the funding to ensure its continuing operation. The documents county staff received about Siesta Promenade on June 28 showed a reduction from 506 to 415 residential dwelling units and a hotel with 130 rooms, instead of the 150 originally planned. Continued on page 8
About That New Siesta Drive Fence Meet Avary Hollingsworth (8), 3rd grader at St. Martha Catholic School
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EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
LMA has been at work updating all of the storm emergency procedures
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Motorists heading on and off Siesta Key in mid-August most certainly noticed that a fence and swing gate were being installed along the road just east of the north drawbridge, adjacent to the lookout over Sarasota Bay. In response to a question about the project, Jan Thornburg, senior communications manager for the City of Sarasota, wrote in an email that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is undertaking the work on the site, which is FDOT property. “The City, on behalf of the residents of San Remo and Bay Island/Siesta Association, requested enhanced safety and control/access of the area,” Thornburg pointed out. “FDOT agreed.” The public will continue to have access to the area 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Thornburg noted. However, she added, “Vehicle access will be prohibited between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The surrounding neighborhoods have been kept informed during the discussion.” In response to a request for details from FDOT about the fence, Zachary Burch, government affairs and communications manager for the department, wrote in an email, “The City requested that we install the bollards and the gate and FDOT agreed. We should be finishing the installation this week. The City will be responsible for opening and closing the gate. We explained to the City that it must remain open during the
By Rachel Brown Hackney
daytime hours, and I believe that the agreement was that they would only close it from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.” On June 30, Sarasota Vice Mayor Liz Alpert notified Police Chief Bernadette DiPino and City of Sarasota senior staff members that she had received a phone call from a San Remo resident who had reported a number of attempted break-ins and one car theft. The San Remo neighborhood is on the south side of Siesta Drive, near the FDOT property. “There have been several neighborhood meetings about the incidents,” Alpert added in her email, noting that the San Remo residents questioned the safety of the city.