After malaria outbreak, Sarasota County starts work on $12.7 million mosquito center

Sometimes, on a particularly humid night outside, it can feel like Florida belongs to the mosquitos, and they just let us borrow it.

However, with last Friday's groundbreaking for a new $12.7 million facility, Sarasota County's Mosquito Management Services hopes a new location and updated infrastructure will help them keep the local population under control.

Wade Brennan, the department's manager, said the new facility's central location at the northwest corner of the Interstate 75/Laurel Road interchange will give his team easier access to the community it services.

"We're literally managing the entire mosquito population throughout all of Sarasota County, Brennan said. "Our crews are heading out to wood lots. They're treating ditches. They're also completing service requests."

Rather than focusing on managing the mosquito population as a nuisance, Brennan said his team views it from a public safety standpoint – like preventing the spread of diseases such as Dengue fever. Of the over 80 species of mosquitos that reside in the Sunshine State, Brennan said the county Mosquito Management focuses on the ones that can harm humans.

The facility is equipped to better store biological pesticides used to kill mosquitos. An on-site aquaculture unit will also allow mosquito services to cultivate more mosquitofish – which eat precisely as their name implies.

"Mosquitofish are at a lot of the existing lakes and ponds," Brennan said. "But when we have developments going on, we will double-check and make sure that the fish are there."

Less than six months ago, Brennan was at the forefront of Sarasota County's rare battle against a locally transmitted malaria outbreak, the worst in Florida in two decades, and one that drew national attention. It was declared over last September.

The new facility will also feature a larger meeting room for Brennan's staff, an observation window for testing of mosquito-borne viruses, and a space for educational events. Brennan was also excited about one underrated aspect of the facility's design: That it's one building.

"We currently have seven separate buildings with parking lots in between them, Brennan said. "There's a lot of lost working time just walking back and forth between buildings, so this new ability will have one solid building to where we can work closer together and have a much better facility."

Designs for the 19,600-square-foot space began in November 2021, and the staff of the Mosquito Control District aims to move into the new facility in the spring of 2025.

The designs were done by Harvard Jolly, Inc. with a contract for more than $820,000. The construction contractor, Halfacre Construction Company, aims to have the facility done by late 2025, according to a county factsheet.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County $12.7M mosquito center meant to protect public health