The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

Welcome to Sarasota County's community e-newsletter. If you have questions, ideas for articles, or feedback relating to this newsletter, contact us at  communications@scgov.net .  Caragiulo chosen as 2017 commission chairman The Sarasota County Commission selected Paul Caragiulo, District 2, as chair and Nancy C. Detert, District 3, as vice chair for 2017 during its annual retreat. Michael A. Moran will serve as Pro Tem. Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan wins Outstanding Planning Project Award Sarasota County's Comprehensive Plan has received the 2016 Outstanding Planning Project Award from the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association. County parks get even more dog friendly The Sarasota County Commission approved a resolution on Tuesday, Dec. 13, designating 71 Sarasota County parks and preserves in north and south county as "dog friendly." These are sites where dogs are welcome, but must be leashed a...

Longtime editorial writer and managing editor of the Herald Tribune Waldo Proffitt Jr. died Dec. 6. This reflection was shared with us by Dan Lobeck: Waldo Proffitt Jr. October 8, 1924 - December 6, 2016 As Managing Editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune from 1961-1998, and as a columnist and editorial writer, Waldo Proffitt  helped shape Sarasota County for the better (together for most of that time with Publisher David Lindsay).   He always favored carefully managed and controlled growth, as reflected in these interview excerpts. Waldo Proffitt is greatly missed. From an Interview – 10/16/2013:  … growth is not necessarily good, it’s only the right kind of growth that will help the community remain a good place for people to live and that is the product that Sarasota has to sell: that this is a good place to live. And I believe that that idea has become fairly widely circulated, I certainly hope so. ... Well, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by d...

We asked a representative from FDOT to update us on plans for the Bee Ridge interchange. Here's the latest as of today: The Florida Department of Transportation anticipates conducting informational meetings in late-January/early-February 2017 where display boards will be set up in an open-house format in which attendees will have the opportunity to view the project and ask questions of FDOT staff and its project engineering consultant team. A video presentation will also be provided that will review the history of the project, a detailed description of the current design and hopefully address many of the questions you and others may have about the project. Check for updates at the project website . Two questions: 1. Does the plan for the continuous flow intersection at Cattlemen call for two legs or four?      The slide attached, of the Bee Ridge Road/Cattlemen Road intersection, was taken from the presentation given during the July 26, 2016 public hearing. As s...