The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

The March 10th meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group was an opportunity to share some information, meet new residents, and ask new questions. Additionally a new Board was elected. Some questions that were answered:  1. Waste Management Trucks might be backing up streets like Chaucer, where there is a new cul de sac. According to the County, the cul de sacs should be wide enough to allow even WM trucks to do a three-point turn, so they should not be backing up the street - some people are concerned because of small children playing in the road. Chaucer Lane is not a circular cul-de-sac. Because of limited right of way, it has been designed as a T, so bigger vehicles may have to make a 3 point turn in order to turn around. There should not be any reason for the Waste Management trucks to back up the street, they should be making a 3 point turn at the end of the street. (Note: A letter from Lake Sarasota will be sent to Waste Management to follow up)  2...

Full Tent Joe O'Hara and Commissioner Charles Hines (seated) Dignitaries and Citizens Dig In Laughter, speeches and cookies made today's groundbreaking for the widening of Bee Ridge Road an enjoyable moment. The road project, which is expected to take two years to complete, will transform Bee Ridge Road East of I-75 into a gateway to the East.  The road will be widened to four lanes up to Laurel Oaks/Bent Tree. It will have a planted median, bio-swales, sidewalks, bike paths, four roundabouts and buffering -- some 12,000 trees, bushes and plants will be put in with drip irrigation. The project began with a proposal that came from the communities of Bee Ridge Road. Joe O'Hara initially approached Sarasota county officials in 2002, and formed the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee to work with the County to work on every aspect of the project to make sure that in the end -- after the dust settles -- it will add beauty, value to the communities alon...

Status report on Bee Ridge Road project An update on several aspects of the Bee Ridge Road Project from the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee: This article is being written on 1/11/2014 and only reflects information available at that time. Current work Projects Recently, “Start work 1/8/2014” signs went up on Bee Ridge. Those signs have nothing to do with the Bee Ridge widening project. They are related to the FDOT work that has now begun at the I-75 interchange. That project calls for repaving under I-75 and the addition of a sidewalk on the South side of Bee Ridge from the beginning of the State responsibility to Cattleman road. The side walk will connect to side walk being placed by the County under the Bee Ridge project. The FDOT project is scheduled for 120 days, dependent on weather. The sidewalk was not on the FDOT schedule until after 2108, but due to the efforts of the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee, the work is being done now. Verizon is placing conduit on the S...

The sidewalk part of the Lake Sarasota project is 75-80% done, according to Pinky Pakalapati in Public Works. The sidewalk construction has been completed on many streets, including Friendship, Brentford, Middlesex, Wake and others, he said, adding that progress was "a little bit ahead of plans." Along with the sidewalks, the stormwater work is mostly done. A few sidewalks remain to be completed: Jarvis and Berkshire are almost done, Palau, part of Jarvis and Hina remain to be done. For information on the water connections, call Sarasota County Utilities at 861-0629 or 861-0623.

For Lake Sarasota residents on Lago and Jarvis: The water line construction contract with Frederick Derr was approved this morning. The pre-construction meeting will be held next week sometime. The contractor plans to begin right after the New Year. County Utility and Public Works representatives will be at our next meeting at Sarasota Baptist, 6:30 pm January 8. The contractor will be there as well to answer questions. Please come to that meeting.