The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

An important message from Keith, President of the Lake Sarasota Community Group: Neighbors, we now have a new front on the #SaveLakeSarasota battle: 80 luxury homes proposed for Hand Road, with entrance/exit near the blind curve. More about this here and here . 80 Luxury Homes on Hand Road  Planned exit at blind curve A planning commission meeting is being held Thursday and very few people from Lake Sarasota received notice of a neighborhood workshop held in April 2023. Please, your neighbors need EVERYONE to email the following letter, with your name ***BY WEDNESDAY 9/20*** To Email these planning commissioners, send the letter below, or use your own words. To the Planning Commission: We are asking the commission for a delay on Agenda Items #4 ( SE 1875) and #5 ( RZ 23-19 ) of the 9.21.23 meeting , as the Lake Sarasota community has not had adequate notice of the plans nor of the meeting. Due to clerical errors and to the county's highly restricted notification range of 750 fee...

As seen on Hand Road: Site Plan for 80 homes on Hand Road  The Baptist Church on Hand Rd. plans to sell some 26 acres north of its church and school to a home builder who plans to build 80 single family homes. The layout calls for two entrances/exits onto Hand Rd. from the new cluster, to be built by David Weekly Homes .  The development proposal, which can be found in full here , raises questions. For example, what will be the impacts on traffic on Hand Rd., a narrow two-lane road which has two schools - Lakeview Elementary and Oak Park - that attract large numbers of cars and buses on weekday mornings and afternoons? In addition, Lake Sarasota is currently facing another developer's initiative - a 208-unit condo proposal called West Bridge that would squeeze into the wooded land between Molokai and I-75. This project. would add some 400 cars to Lake Sarasota's internal streets, primarily Jarvis, which leads to Hand Road.  The Sarasota County Planning Commission will re...

  Dear Neighbors, Thanks to everyone who attended the LSCG meeting on 7/27. The information to be distributed is too much for a post or an email. Please, read the summary of the meeting and the next steps moving forward. If you wish to help or have questions, please email  keithcrusso@gmail.com Thanks. First, an open letter, then more details below. To no one’s surprise, the attendees of the Lake Sarasota Community Group meeting on July 27th unanimously decided to fight the new development proposed by developer Josh Graber and his agents. We are opposed to this type of development, not to the current zoning for single-family dwellings. No number of amenities or concessions offered by the developer in the neighborhood workshop were persuasive to the twenty-thirty people who came or attended via video last night.  The community  wanted me to share this message, too: please, know that this and other developments in the area will affect every one of us, from Molokai to B...

Thursday, June 17, 2021: The Sarasota County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of TerraCap's proposed mixed-used project on North Mauna Loa Blvd. The Commission is a volunteer board appointed by the Sarasota County Commission. It reviews proposed plans and offers comments before deciding whether to recommend approval or denial of the project, which then goes to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners for final approval. Planner Brian Lichterman presented an overview of the project, which is called The Enclave at the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce (BRPOC), which will be behind, and to the left and right of the RaceTrac at Bee Ridge Road and Mauna Loa Blvd. Lichterman shared some artistic renderings of what it can look like when completed. Here are three captures: Artistic rendering of commercial and residential buildings seen from the West Aerial view of the Enclave on the right and the area already built out (left) Rendering of The Enclave with Commercial i...

Letter to the Planning Commission June 11, 2021: Andrew.Stultz@ sarasotaadvisory.net , Colin.Pember@sarasotaadvisory. net , Kevin.Cooper@sarasotaadvisory. net , Laura.Benson@sarasotaadvisory. net , Teresa.Mast@sarasotaadvisory. net , Neil.Rainford@ sarasotaadvisory.net , Drew.Peters@sarasotaadvisory. net , Justin.Taylor@ sarasotaadvisory.net , Frank.Strelec@ sarasotaadvisory.net , The community of Lake Sarasota consists of more than 1,600 homes along and to the south of Bee Ridge Road immediately east of I-75. The Lake Sarasota Community Group has had constructive communications with TerraCap, the developer of the Bee Ridge Park of Commerce (BRPOC), since 2013. The developer voluntarily signed a 2014 Covenant by which it committed to certain constraints upon uses to avoid nuisance issues. The original of that Covenant and a newly revised version of it are in your packets for this public review, and a document with both the original Covenant and the developer's proposed revised vers...

The proposed Enclave project comes before the Planning Commission June 17. It could add as many as 270 apartments, more than 700 parking spaces, and several thousand square feet of commercial or office space on North Mauna Loa Blvd. on Bee Ridge Road  The developer is Terracap, based in Toronto. Background: Bee Ridge Park of Commerce (BRPOC) Enclave application This link goes to several maps, images and data points . A 2014 covenant  committed Terracap to willingly refrain from certain uses such as a car wash, package store, or outdoor entertainment that could produce noise or light disturbing to nearby homes. TerraCap has submitted a  revised covenant. This link goes to a document containing the original 2014 Covenant of 2014 followed by a clean copy of the proposed update.  To gauge community response,  please complete this quick survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/ r/LHZGHHC

Virtual Neighborhood Workshop Notice: PLEASE NOTE: The previous Zoom Meeting for July 15, 2020 is Cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience. The New Date is Thursday, July 23, 2020 at 6 pm. This Rezoning/Special Exception will allow for the creation of a mixed-use development consisting of a maximum of 270 multifamily units and 8.87 Acres +/- of PCD commercial uses on four parcels fronting along Bee Ridge Road. The entire project is contained within two PID Nos. 0240100030 and 0240140010. Please visit the following scheduled Zoom Meeting: Topic: Proposed Small Scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment; Rezone Petition/Special Exception for the Enclave at BRPOC, Sarasota, Florida 34231 Time: 6:00 PM (Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting :  [Click link above or type the entire link into your browser] https://zoom.us/j/9336201982?pwd=VHA0dFZ3dVRmNS91UUJQeU1qemdLUT09 Meeting ID: 933 620 1982 Password: 123456 Call-In Number: 1 646 876 9923 T...

NOTE: This meeting has been postponed to Thurs. July 23, 6 pm, on Zoom. A plan for the land behind the Racetrac at Mauna Loa Blvd. - and for four commercial parcels along Bee Ridge - has been submitted to Sarasota County.  See the data below for some detail. It appears that TerraCap, which owns the property, intends to build 270 multi-family apartments - with allowance for more than 500 parking spaces. Additionally four commercial buildings on Bee Ridge Rd. are planned - no uses specified. Lake Sarasota and TerraCap have a Covenant that places limitations on lighting, noise, kinds of businesses that are acceptable.  Use this link to ccess the Covenant . A few residents may have received notice of a Neighborhood Workshop on Wed. July 15 at 6 pm. ONLINE. The Workshop is an opportunity for neighbors to ask questions, express concerns. How will this impact traffic, noise, lighting, and more? More details about accessing the Workshop will be posted o...

Residents of Lake Sarasota and nearby communities are welcome to attend a community meeting this Thursday to discuss what kinds of uses would be welcome, and what uses might be unacceptable in the 83,000 square feet of commercial and possible residential space planned for the land behind and east of the Racetrac at Mauna Loa and Bee Ridge Rd. Below is the latest site plan - the buildings would fit behind the Racetrac, between it and the hotel, retention pond, and wetland area. Some considerations:  Traffic generation: S ee table below showing trip generations for different sorts of uses. Nuisance issues : Excessive noise, light (at night), potential for odor or waste. Compatibility with area: A slaughterhouse would probably be incompatible. What about adult entertainment? Package stores, bars, vape shops? Site Plan 

This is it - the final hearing that will decide whether the beautiful face of East County is foreve scarred by a  Construction Demolition Waste Processing Facility .

Do you have children attending Tatum Ridge Elementary? Hearing on the siting of a Waste Processing Plant at the Celery Fields - this will affect traffic throughout our entire road system. June 1st Planning Commission, 5 pm

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Work continues east and west of Mauna Loa and paving begins east of Gary Player. No night work anticipated. Grading, sodding, and excavation continue. Watch for flaggers and special traffic controls.

No night work expected as work on Mauna Loa Intersection continues.

Night work Sunday, Monday and possibly Tuesday April 17-19 will restrict traffic at the main entrance of Lake Sarasota. Drivers should take another way out to get onto Bee Ridge as the intersection is being built up to the proper road level.

Here's the same video that was shown today at the Workshop about Roundabouts at Colonial Oaks Church. We have more than 100 explanatory brochures if anyone would like to have one or share some.

Public Information Meeting I-75 (SR 93) / University Parkway Diverging Diamond Interchange Construction Project Sarasota/Bradenton, FL – The Florida Department of Transportation is hosting a public information meeting from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.on Thursday, July 23, 2015 at Keiser University located at 6151 Lake Osprey Drive in Sarasota. The public may arrive anytime between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. andview an animation of the project design and talk one-on-one with project staff about the I-75/University Parkway Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) project. There will be no formal presentation. Construction begins in August 2015 with completion in fall 2017. Improvements being made as part of this project consist of constructing a diverging diamond interchange, adding an auxiliary lane on northbound and southbound I-75, constructing new bridges on I-75 over University Pkwy., widening of University Pkwy., widening of I-75 bridges over Erie Creek and Foley Creek, realignment of on-ramp...

Beginning Feb. 8 - Mauna Loa at Bee Ridge will be closed for approximately two weeks from 8 pm to 6 am. Signs are already up indicating detour on Brentwood. The contractor will start night work on the intersection for approximately 2 weeks. The lanes will reopen each morning. This is to allow extensive utility work to be done in the intersection. Bee Ridge traffic flow will not be affected except for the right turn lane into Mauna Loa.