The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

Click on an image to make it larger: About 60 Residents of E. Bee Ridge Communities attended Peter Dailey of Dailey Design represented TerraCap Plan for Offices, retail restaurants, and Racetrac

UPDATE: The rep for TerraCap, the Dailey Design Group , has postponed the Neighborhood Workshop on rezoning the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce .  They expect to announce a new date soon - the earliest date would be Wed. Feb. 20th. The date for the "Neighborhood Workshop" for the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce Rezoning has just been announced. It will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13th, at the Disabled American Veterans Hall, 7177 Bee Ridge Rd., which is a small building east of Aberdeen, on the north side of Bee Ridge opposite Middlesex. This meeting is the one point in the development process where the neighborhood has the chance to listen to and speak to the developer, TerraCap , a Canadian investment firm . The developer will present his plan, which was outlined for the County in December. It involves a rezoning that would allow larger and more intense development of the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce, a 54-acre site at Mauna Loa Blvd. and Bee Ridge Rd. that up to now h...

As of yet there is no word as to when a Neighborhood Workshop on Terracap's proposal to rezone part of the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce will be held. We'll send out an email as soon as we know. It's easy to get on the email list  -- just send a note to lakesarasota@gmail.com . The Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee , which for several years has worked with planners on the widening of Bee Ridge Rd., has written to Racetrac Inc., noting several concerns with the large, 24-hour gas station the company wishes to build opposite the front entrance to Lake Sarasota, at Mauna Loa and Bee Ridge Rd. The full text of that letter is here . The key concerns noted in the letter that relate to Lake Sarasota were: The Committee recognizes that Racetrac will be a large, tall, highly visible and active presence on East Bee Ridge Road., a road consisting mainly of bedroom communities that has heretofore been completely without commercial activity after 5 p.m. In view of the desire of ...

The long-planned improvements to Bee Ridge Road Road east of I-75 have been given the go-ahead. Here is a statement from the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee, with a project timeline: At their regularly scheduled meeting of April 24, the Sarasota County Commissioners voted (5-0) to have staff proceed with the necessary bonding requirements to insure all funding is in place for the Bee Ridge Improvement project when the next County Construction Improvement Program is published. There was approximately a $10 million gap between available funding and anticipated requirements. The gap has now been closed via bonding. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the original schedule will be followed: 60% Low Impact Design Plans available for Public review -- approximately June 2012 Design, Engineering and Permitting completed -- approximately April 2013 Right of way purchases -- ongoing Bids for Construction and selection of Contractor -- approximately 2nd Quarter 2013 ...

Greetings! Welcome to the Sarasota County Community Connections e-newsletter. Please share this e-newsletter with family, friends and neighbors. Contact us if you have questions, ideas for articles, or feedback on the system, at communityconnections@scgov.net Presidents Day closings Most Sarasota County government offices will be closed Monday, Feb. 20, to observe Presidents Day.  Here is a complete list of closings , along with two centers that will remain open.   Test our new website! We're updating our website, scgov.net .  Take a look around , then  take our survey  and tell us what you think.   Energy rebate program ends Barely six months after Sarasota County began helping local homeowners install energy efficient upgrades, the " Get Energy Smart" retrofit program  is ending with $1 million awarded.  One man's trash Feel like freeing up some space while yo...

The Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee -- a volunteer group representing home owners along Bee Ridge Rd. east of I-75 -- met with county officers Friday to review plans for Bee Ridge Rd. Here's a summary of the most prominent features of the widened road plan: Four streets in Lake Sarasota will be end-stopped in order to improve traffic flow along the four-laned corridor: Maui Allan PL Chaucer Coleridge Three street openings on the south side of Bee Ridge are being slightly turned so that they are directly aligned with roads north of Bee Ridge: Tora - opposite Sarasota Golf Club Blvd. Berkshire (next to Coleridge) - will be opposite Aberdeen Wake - will line up with Wake north of Bee Ridge. The signalized intersection at Mauna Loa and Bee Ridge will remain signalized, but will be reconfigured to serve the four-lane road. The signals at Bent Tree/Laurel Oaks and at Tora/Sarasota Golf Club Blvd. will be replaced by roundabouts. A total of 4 roundabouts are plan...

Curious what's up with the Bee Ridge Road widening ? You'll have a chance to find out what's being planned, to have all your questions answered, and to present your ideas to county planners. Sarasota County staff will be present on Thursday, Dec. 8, from 4:30 pm to 7 pm at Colonial Oaks Baptist Church , 6901 Bee Ridge Road , opposite Tora. They'll have maps and designs of the project, which will be approximately 30% along at the time of the meeting. You can learn what the widening will look like, how the wider road will be buffered from communities along Bee Ridge, where the roundabouts might be situated, plans for trees, bicycle paths, bus stops, and more. Lake Sarasota will probably see access to Bee Ridge Rd. from some of its smaller streets closed off. All this information will be available at this event, so you can discuss the plans with the people who are designing the road, and register your thoughts with the county. The matter of driveway closi...

Thursday Dec. 8 is the date of our next LSCG General Meeting. But we have also learned it might be the date of a very important meeting with the planning and design team for the Bee Ridge Rd. Improvement project . By December plans for the widening will be about 30% complete, and usually at that point the county invites the public in to get acquainted with the concepts, the plans thus far, and offers various ways in which the residents - i.e., you - can offer your thoughts, ideas, concerns to the folks doing the project. The meeting on Dec. 8 has yet to have a definite place, but the time will probably be from 4:30 to 7. It will be informal, so come after work if need be. This post will update as we get more details.

Highlights of tonight's meeting: Treasury [Updated after meeting]: LSCG has $321.09 in its budget, unchanged from last quarter, according to Ellie, who adds, "I believe all required reports have been filed for the year as well." Bee Ridge Rd Update Joe O'Hara of the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee provided an informative overview of the history of the Bee Ridge Road Widening from inception to the present. He offered excellent explanations of the key planning and financing hurdles, the timetable going forward, and the things for all residents to watch for. The current concept is a Low Impact Plan that saves trees, provides ample buffers and water retention, and makes for a safe and attractive gateway. The main upcoming event will be a Community Review of the initial plans for the road. These are currently underway. A meeting with the Community will be held when they are approximately 30% complete -- Mr. O'Hara said this could take place in December. Keep an ey...

The quarterly Lake Sarasota Community Group meeting, normally held on the 2nd Thursday of the month, will occur on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 -- same time, 7 p.m ., same place, Sarasota Alliance Church, 7221 Bee Ridge Rd. The change enables us to have a special speaker - Joe O'Hara. Joe has worked tirelessly on the community needs and wishes and concerns about the coming widening of Bee Ridge from Mauna Loa eastward for most of the past decade. No one knows more about every detail of the conceptual plan; no one has followed the county's own planners and its hired experts more closely. And no one has offered more effective citizen involvement to urge the county to opt for a " Low Impact Plan " that would create an environmentally sound design. The benefits of the design are significant. It provides safety for pedestrians and cyclists preserve important trees creates park-like borders and noise-reducing buffers between the road and communities along Bee Ridge. ...

From Bill Pitts, President of the Lake Sarasota Community Group: Hello Residents of Lake Sarasota: On Tuesday, September 6, 2011 we will have our quarterly meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group. This meeting should be very interesting and informative. We will have a guest speaker, Joe O'Hara, who will speak to us about recent developments regarding the construction and widening of Bee Ridge Road . This is a subject that should be of interest to all of us who live in Lake Sarasota! We would like to invite all Lake Sarasota residents to this meeting. Please come and bring any questions you may have about the future of Bee Ridge Road. Mr. O'Hara has been following the future of Bee Ridge Road and will be very informative. We will also discuss our normal agenda items at this meeting. The meeting is: 7:00 P.M. Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Sarasota Alliance Church 7221 Bee Ridge Road Pl...

Statement from the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee regarding County Commission vote on Bee Ridge Rd. Widening, taken today: The Sarasota County Commissioners approved the proposal and bid amount for the Design and Engineering of Bee Ridge Road at the July 26 Commission meeting. The winning bidder was Cardeno TBE and the amount approved was $1.63 million dollars. The actual Design and Engineering will take approximately 18 to 20 months before the final plan is submitted to the Commissioners for approval. When the initial Design reaches about 30% completion, the County staff will hold a public community review so that residents can view the design and get questions answered. It is anticipated this review will be toward the end of this year. Your Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee will work closely with County staff and Cardeno as the design progresses to insure our previously developed suggestions are incorporated in the design. If there are any questions, please contact your Bee Ridge ...

The Bee Ridge Road Project is still intact with a plan for Low Impact Design (the preferred choice), but due to the turndown in taxes being collected, the project might be delayed. This much became clear at a County Commission today. According to one Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee member who attended recent County hearings: The Design and Engineering and Right of way purchases will continue for Bee Ridge through the end of 2012. The actual construction is scheduled to start in Oct 2013 but is highly dependent on an improving economy which will generate more sur tax revenue. If that does not occur, then the actual constuction will probably be deferred for several years.