The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

A future road alignment plan coming up before the County Commission on March 18th could have major repercussions on Lake Sarasota. Basically, county planners wish to justify the eventual creation of a north/south artery that would connect Mauna Loa Blvd. with Fruitville Rd. via a road that right now only exists on future maps, called Spine Rd. The planners' reasoning and details are in a Board Memo available via this link.   Spine Rd. will be the subject of discussion at the Board of County Commissioners sometime during the afternoon session on March 18th. The session begins at 1:30, but will have other items. Public input will be possible. Here is the basic scenario as we understand it: The developers of the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce (TerraCap BR and agent Peter M. Dailey and Richard Fischer) wish to remove Spine Rd. from the future plans, presumably because it will save them money to do so.  The planners wish to retain Spine Rd . because they s...

From the Sheriff : In honor of National Missing Children’s Day today, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is offering information to help parents be vigilant and to encourage them to educate their children about how to stay safe this summer. What parents can do: Know where your children are at all times. Be familiar with their friends and activities. Be alert to someone who is paying an unusual amount of attention to your child. Listen carefully to your child’s fears and be supportive in your discussions. Teach your children that no one should touch them in a way that makes them feel scared, uncomfortable or confused. If so, they should immediately tell you. More - including a video .

A while back some people from the county looked at the space between Mauna Loa Boulevard and Hand Road -- it's a sidewalk with a wooded area, mainly, with a crossing on Jarvis -- and suggested it might be possible to create a kids' walk that would offer a safer, "greener" walkway, and possibly fun-use and educative environment for the many Lake Sarasota kids and parents who use that route to get to Lakeview Elementary, or to the park. So far, the area has been cleared of invasive plants, risks and brush.  What's next might involve getting some input from the community. But first, there needs to be clarity on the question of whether the community does or does not wish to have a road punched through from Mauna Loa to Hand Road. Apparently this issue has never been completely resolved. Please give this some thought and let us know what you think about the road, and the walkway idea. You can email us at lakesarasota@gmail.com , and/or come out to the Lakeview Park Cle...