Editor’s note: This is a condensed version of a longer article comprising further history of the process and detail of the various proposed plans of the past and today. The full article can be found on the SRQ magazine website.

With near 200 folks at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium and unknown more watching live via Facebook, Bill Waddill of the Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization and Sasaki Designers Gina Ford and Susannah Ross presented the latest plans for the Bayfront yesterday evening, before opening both up to community input. Using the previously released Bridge the Divide plan as a foundation, Ford cited many advantages, including slight community preference, centrally located but unobtrusive parking, simplified phasing for inevitable construction and a great opportunity for iconic architecture to enhance the Bayfront. Also, in response to a very vocal minority (roughly 10% of respondents to April’s survey) concerned with the future of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, this plan takes that into account.

The refined plans have taken more solid shape in the south, says Ford, where changes to the design reflected concerns about pedestrian access from the Boulevard of the Arts area, activating the space with shaded recreation and capturing and preserving Bay views from the Bayfront and surrounding areas. The current plans incorporate the previously planned three pedestrian bridges, but revamp the southernmost one to arc over the coming roundabout at Boulevard of the Arts and Tamiami Trail, before looping out over the water, becoming its own destination. The rest of that corridor will then be filled in with options like casual dining, athletic courts and picnic spaces. These plans also leave options open for the Van Wezel, though it will likely be repurposed in some way. Additionally, both plans leave ample green space in the west and southwest areas for “adventure playspaces”—highly engineered open-air parks that emphasize connectivity with nature.

One area where the community and the designers disagree lies in the possibility of a waterfront drive. Respondents expressed concern over the presence of streets and resulting traffic, but Ford and the rest are “holding steady” on that point. Access remains king, she says, and a leisurely driving route—nothing high-speed—can help avoid inactivated areas and the “undesirable activities” they often contain.

But that’s where the plans—known as The Bridge and Canal District—begin to diverge, and Sasaki and SBPO want more input from the locals.

The Bridge calls for a performance arts hall spanning the canal, which keeps the current boat ramp where it is, in turn pushing dining to the south side of the 10th Street canal. An outdoor amphitheater takes the southwest corner of the Bayfront, with the Van Wezel being repurposed into the design. Canal District moves that performance arts hall south of the waterway, and migrates the boat ramp north, freeing the canal from utilitarian use and creating a wraparound dining district. For iconic architecture, the plan imagines a pedestrian bridge beginning at an elevated position in the north and ramping down over the canal to end at a sea-level pier jutting out above the water, all flanking a larger outdoor amphitheater.

Before moving forward with either, SBPO and Sasaki are asking for another round of community input by launching another survey. Open through 11:59pm, Wednesday, May 30, those interested can access the website below, peruse the plans and cast their vote as planning continues. “We’re facilitating this community conversation and reacting to what we hear,” says Waddill. “It’s important that we hear your voices, and that we continue to hear your voices.” 

Pictured: Renderings of both The Bridge and Canal District plans. Images courtesy of SBPO and Sasaki.

The Bay Master Plan Survey

Habitat for Humanity Sarasota excitedly kicked off its capital initiative, Lives Transformed: The Campaign for Hammock Place, by announcing a $3 million commitment through a partnership with The Kolter Group and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County—hurtling Habitat Sarasota that much closer to its $7 million goal. The profoundly impactful campaign is the first of its kind in this area, aiming to fund construction of 40 new affordable homes in a safe, secured neighborhood.

The Hammock Place has been designed to look like a market-rate community—each house featuring three or four bedrooms, and including two-car garages. It will be deed-restricted, include lawn maintenance and have a gated entry. And Habitat Sarasota is continuously improving its sustainable construction methods with the incorporation of an insulated concrete form (ICF) system. This innovative interlocking system for reinforced concrete is made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent substrate for walls, floors and roofs. Because of this, ICF homes have a significantly higher fire-resistance rating, are more energy efficient and have a hurricane safety rating that exceeds 150 miles per hour. “This cutting-edge construction method is also extremely volunteer-friendly, which allows us to reduce building costs while exceeding green building standards,” says Renee Snyder, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Sarasota.

Through Habitat Sarasota’s fundraising efforts, and the support of community partners and volunteers, the organization will be able to provide housing with a zero percent interest rate mortgage to qualified candidates. Hammock Place’s stable neighborhood will soon transform the lives of 40 families and more than 100 children—alleviating financial hardship and providing a sense of community pride.

“A Habitat Sarasota home relieves two main stresses for families: time and money. Parents with an affordable mortgage have more quality time to spend with their children, by often eliminating the financial need to work multiple jobs. Parents are available to help with homework, cook healthy meals and provide better healthcare for their children.” says Habitat Program Director Rhonda Leiberick. “Children that grow up in a Habitat home even see improved grades in school and have a better opportunity to go to college than those that live in substandard/overcrowded living conditions.”

Site development recently launched, including building infrastructure such as roads, and with the first three to four homes undergoing construction August 2018. Within the next two and a half years, the remaining of the 40 homes will become ready for families to move in and start their new life.

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is proud to partner with SRQ Media Group to highlight stories about community impact powered by philanthropy in our region, thanks to the support of donors and our local nonprofit partners. The Community Foundation is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org  

Rendering provided by Habitat for Humanity Sarasota

Habitat for Humanity Sarasota, 1757 North East Ave., Sarasota, 941-365-0700.

The resident manatees at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium have been swimming against an Endless Pool water flume—a swimmer’s “treadmill” used by human athletes—for the first study of energetic costs in continuously swimming manatees.

Manatees Hugh and Buffett participate voluntarily in this project co-led by Mote and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The manatees were trained, using positive-reinforcement rewards like apples and carrots, to rest or swim at specific speeds and then breathe under an acrylic dome connected to an oxygen analyzer. By calculating the manatees’ oxygen consumption every minute and converting to calories burned, the researchers are investigating the energetic cost of healthy manatees in a controlled setting.

 “We want to better understand how much energy a healthy manatee burns, which gives us a better idea of the caloric intake needed for an animal of a given size,” said Senior Mote Aquarium Biologist Kat Boerner.

This baseline data can help inform wild manatee rescue, rehabilitation and research.

Wild manatees must swim to warmer waters during cold weather. “It’s important to know how much energy manatees expend while swimming to or between warm water refugia, and how that might affect the amount of food they need to maintain body condition during those times,” said Jason John, Ph.D. Candidate in the lab of Dr. Terrie Williams at UC Santa Cruz.

Williams and Dr. Joseph Gaspard initiated this project, in collaboration with a manatee expert at Mote, the late Dr. John Reynolds. 

Full Story

Manatee County Government and the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast has announced the permanent protection of a 44.5-acre preserve on the Braden River that will be named the Floyd C. Johnson & Flo Singer Johnson Preserve at Braden River. Located on the Braden River east of I-75, the 44.5-acre oasis of nature is home to a diversity of plants and animals not normally seen in similar suburban areas, with mature live oaks, tall long leaf pines, important wetlands that store water preventing flooding, imperiled swallowtail kites and gopher tortoises. The land’s riverfront and floodplain forests are part of a corridor linking natural habitat along the Braden River, which supplies drinking water for the City of Bradenton. Empowered by the Floyd C. Johnson & Flo Singer Johnson Foundation’s challenge grant of $500,000, the Conservation Foundation raised more than $1.29 million toward the $3 million purchase. County Commissioners agreed to fund the remaining $1.7 million. The land purchase was completed yesterday. 

Manatee County Government

Barnes & Noble has named Lem Andrews from Booker High School in Sarasota, FL, as the 2018 national winner and “Teacher of the Year” in the Barnes & Noble My Favorite Teacher Contest. Andrews was nominated by his former student, Ellen Bausback, and was chosen from more than 4,700 entries nationwide. From January 2018 to March 2018, Barnes & Noble invited students to nominate their favorite teacher by writing essays, poems or thank you letters that share how their teacher has influenced their life and why they appreciate and admire their teacher. Entries were accepted at Barnes & Noble stores, and were judged on the compelling nature of the teacher’s qualities, the sincerity of the student’s appreciation and the quality of expression and writing. Along with the title of “Teacher of the Year,” Andrews received $5,000 and was recognized at a special community celebration at his school. Andrews’ school, Booker High, also received $5,000 for a total prize of $10,000. 

Booker High School

At the DeSoto County Tobacco Free Partnership Annual Meeting, Gulfcoast South AHEC’s Xenia Rosado-Merced became the proud recipient of the Tobacco Free Partnership Member of the Year Award for her outstanding dedication towards a tobacco free future. Rosado-Merced is an active contributor of the Partnership and has offered tobacco cessation services to the DeSoto County area for the last eight years. The mission of the Tobacco Free Partnership of DeSoto County is to mobilize community partners to establish long-lasting system and policy changes that promote tobacco-free social norms in order to prevent usage of tobacco products by youth/young adults, encourage and support tobacco cessation, eliminate the hazards of secondhand smoke and decrease the number of deaths due to tobacco products. 

Gulfcoast South Area Health Education Center

Norman Vaughan-Birch, a member of the full-service law firm Kirk-Pinkerton, has been re-nominated to serve on the advisory council for Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium. In this capacity, he will continue to serve as an ambassador for positive community relations through informed and targeted communication of Mote’s research and education programs, initiatives and events. Vaughan-Birch also serves on the research committee, a sub-committee of the Mote Marine Laboratory’s board of trustees. Vaughan-Birch is certified as a civil mediator and an arbitrator by the Florida Supreme Court and Federal Court. He has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1969 and was also a representative of the board of governors for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto Counties of the Florida Bar. A Florida resident since 1950, Vaughan-Birch has been working at Kirk-Pinkerton for 49 years. 

Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium