The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

One of Sarasota County's project managers for the Bee Ridge Road widening provided some updates on that project at Friday's meeting of the Bee Ridge Neighborhood Committee. State to put in Sidewalk  In a surprise move, the state plans to build a sidewalk on the South side of Bee Ridge from Cattlemen to where the state's portion of Bee Ridge ends -- near the exit ramp from I-75. This project was moved up -- originally it was not expected to happen before 2018, but with this funding, it might be completed before the end of this year. This is great news for those who have had to walk along the roadway, or in the weeds, to get to businesses West of the highway. State's portion of Bee Ridge begins at the dark area marked with the yellow pointer. When the County completes its widening of Bee Ridge, a sidewalk will run along the south side, connecting with the state's sidewalk and providing a continuous walkway from Cattlemen out to the Bee Ridge extension. Ther...

A good turnout at the quarterly meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community this evening. Here are the highlights: Median Beautification A question arose as to when dead trees in the medians would be replaced. Our Beautification Chair will be contacting the county, which had indicated this would be going forward once the rainy season was underway. Community Safety Ted reports that there were an unusual number of incidents in April-May, but things have quieted since then, perhaps because a perpetrator was arrested. Ted also described a "block-watch" approach to neighborhood security - more on this if and when it develops. Meanwhile, Citizens Patrol is still active, and folks are advised to lock cars in driveways, and use alarms. Bee Ridge Improvement on Track The Bee Ridge Widening has been funded by the County , and construction should begin in Oct. 2013. An important meeting with the Community will take place later this summer - possibly in August - offering resident...

A quick summary of the March 8, 2012 meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group (LSCG): 1. A large image-map of the Bee Ridge Road Widening and some other literature was available for viewing and discussion. The history of the project, its rationale and the general conceptual outline was presented by Joe O'Hara, founder of the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee, which has been in dialogue with Sarasota County about this road widening project since 2003. A summary of the impacts on Lake Sarasota can be read here.  An overview of the project as a whole is here.   The general sense was that the project should raise property values and accommodate growth with added values of safety for pedestrians and motorists, and desirable amenities including meandering sidewalks and bio-swales. There is still some fiscal uncertainty about whether the project will begin as planned in 2013.  A second open community meeting organized by the county at the point when plans are 60%...

The Lake Sarasota Community Group meeting at 7 pm on March 8 will be a general community meeting with four items: 1. This will give Lake Sarasota residents a chance to learn in detail about the Bee Ridge Rd. widening project scheduled to begin, as of now, in 2013. A large detailed image map of the project will be on hand for examination. Come find out how more about the project and get your questions answered. 2. A discussion of a grant from the county to improve the entrance medians to Lake Sarasota. 3. Hina Pocket Park maintenance and graffiti issues. 4. The Board will discuss the Lake Sarasota Community Group's future direction, possibly including the election of officers. The meeting begins at 7 pm in the meeting rooms in the back building behind Sarasota Alliance Church, 7221 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, 34241.   View Larger Map

The workday that had been scheduled for Sat. June 25 - to plant trees in the medians - has been postponed. Some details remain to be worked out with grant monies, watering schedules, etc. When a new date is known, we'll post it here and on our Facebook Page.

"We have to get serious about Citizens Patrol," said Ted Cover. He was speaking at the June 9, 2011 meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group (LSCG). Ted should know, he's been getting the crime reports for the neighborhood from the Sheriff's Office for several years. Last month the number of incidents in Lake Sarasota spiked - and it was serious -- six burglaries, along with 5 thefts, and a report of vandalism. Three of the burglaries were on Mauna Loa, and were reported in daytime hours. Three more -- two on Lanai and one on Lago -- occurred in the evening (one was reported at 10:45 pm). Most of the rest of the incidents were reported between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. These included some car break-ins. One person at the meeting noted that there's been a pattern of cars being struck by eggs. "We should be patrolling," Ted said. Those at the meeting agreed. Ted will be calling everyone who ever signed up for Citizens Patrol, and he'll be organizing a sche...

The next quarterly meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group takes place on Thursday, June 9, at 7 p.m. in the meeting rooms at Sarasota Alliance Church, 7221 Bee Ridge Rd., just opposite the intersection of Chaucer Lane and Bee Ridge Rd. One item on the agenda will be the status of trees in the Mauna Loa media. Some have died due to frost and to a disease that affects holly. One question: Lake Sarasota has roughly $530 left in in a county grant. Should the money be used to replace some of the trees?

The Nov. 11 meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group took the following actions: 1. Heard an interesting talk by Sandee Rains of Credability.org on the various forms of Identity Theft, and ways to prevent it from happening. 2. Ray Bresciani reported that $1000 will be divided among five Lake Sarasota families with a total of 10 children this holiday season. Nearly all of that total was cleared from the Adopt-a-Family Festival held last weekend at Lakeview Park. Lakeview School will deliver the gifts (this year in the form of gift cards) to the families, which were selected by the school's staff. The board acknowledged Ray and Connie's extraordinary work in making the Festival a fantastic day for all. 3. The number of incidents reported to the Sheriff rose to 19 in October, according to Ted Cover. There were 6 burglaries, 10 thefts and 4 juvenile disturbances reported, the bulk of them in the middle of the month, tending to cluster around the noon to 2 p.m. and 4 p...

A summary of last evening's General Meeting: County liaison Debbie Marks informed the group that $5,546 remains from an original $10,000 grant from the county. The county would like the community to decide how to best use the funds before year's end. This will be an ongoing topic at future meetings -- if you have some thoughts, come to a meeting and let us hear from you. Some brainstorming took place on how to get more people out to the meetings. Some thought more people might come if the meeting were earlier - 5:30 p.m. instead of 7 p.m., for example. Or, to meet in cool months at the park rather than at the church. Others suggested various sorts of incentives -- raffles, guest speakers, hot-button issues. What do you think? Let us know, either in the comments below or at lakesarasota@gmail.com . Another lively round of discussion turned on how to handle complaints from residents about code enforcement issues more effectively. As foreclosed homes are snapped up by absentee ow...

Tonight's LSCG meeting, ably chaired by Dan Johnson, addressed the question of what trees to put in the medians. The county is prepared to work with us to finalize a plan, and it's hoped we can do the planting before the Spring rains. Come to our next meeting, March 11, to help reach a consensus. To be better prepared, here are some links from the county's web site: Forestry Division New Tree Planting Tree Catalog Highly recommended trees The March 15th Yard Sale is moving full speed ahead. Sandy Allen (sallen11@comcast.net) is in charge of the Map , the hot dogs, etc. Any volunteers contact her. Hot dogs will be sold in the second median from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the day of the Yard Sale. The sale will officially end at 2 p.m., although homeowners are welcome to choose their own closing times. George plans to hold a Citizens Patrol Training Session on Feb. 25 - time TBA. We plan to hand out flyers at the Yard Sale with news, contacts, and a heads-up about our April 14 meetin...