Sarasota County is spending $65 million to renovate a park. Here are the details.

The 17th Street Regional Park in Sarasota will be the first in the county to include artificial turf fields for football, soccer and lacrosse and will also feature a championship softball field designed to boost the economy by enticing out-of-area tournaments to play in Sarasota.

All that would be part of a Phase 1 of the park, which now carries a $65 million price tag – up $8 million from the last time the Sarasota County Commission reviewed it − to ensure the adult softball facilities are improved, along with the youth baseball, softball and soccer fields.

Half of the added cost will come from money generated through extension of the local option sales tax that voters approved last November. The other $4 million will come from Tourist Development Tax revenue.

Phase 1 deals with the entire athletic complex, which includes eight multipurpose ball fields.

The fields will be built with new 220-foot outfield fences now used by college women's softball and pro softball.

“We’re excited about that and we’re already fielding inquiries of when this will be open, so they can bring their tournament and teams to play,” Sarasota County Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Rissler told the commission Tuesday.

The championship softball field will include a grass berm in centerfield and a playground.

Four multipurpose fields will have artificial turf – two built for football and soccer and two for lacrosse and soccer.

Design work is about 90% complete. Construction could start as soon by May 2024, after the conclusion of the Miss Sarasota Softball and soccer seasons, with completion anticipated by mid to late 2025.

“Since I've been here this is the most satisfying motion I’ve ever made,” said Commission Vice Chair Mike Moran, who noted the project is in his district.

“This thing is going to have success beyond anyone’s wildest dreams,” he added. "If we’re truly talking about economic development and economic stimulus … to use that money to spur more activity, you won’t be able to put it on the chart.”

Marine park ordinance paused

The commission paused a change in a parks ordinance that would have outlawed docking boats and other watercraft at public parks for commercial purposes without a permit.

County staff opted against creating such a permit, or medallion, for commercial vessels because of lack of waterfront parking. Discussion centered on Nora Patterson Park at 946 Siesta Drive, though the overflow parking on Casey Key Road south of the Albee Road Bridge was mentioned, along with Higel Marine Park in Venice.

More than a dozen small business owners – many of them fishing charter captains and tour boat operators – told commissioners they would be put out of business if they could not pick up and drop off passengers at the public park.

“We’re struggling to find a place  where we can take care of the customers,” said Robert Breton, who uses the parking lot in Nokomis to meet customers.

Captains who used Nora Patterson Park stressed they already tell parties to use Uber or Frog Hop – the free ride trolley on Siesta Key – to meet them at the park.

The board declined to vote on the ordinance and instead asked County Administrator Jonathan Lewis to set up a task force to explore options.

An amendment of the current ordinance to suspend the practice of fining captains for current use of public waterfront land may also be discussed.

Nonprofits funded with a caveat

In a pair of separate split votes, the commission approved an agreement with the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County to provide grant oversight of the Tourist Development Cultural/Arts programs and approved funding for Community Assisted and Supported Living (CASL).

The contract with the Arts and Cultural Alliance passed on  4-1 vote with a not-to-exceed budget of $273,500 and Moran dissenting. It is retroactive to Oct. 1, 2023 and runs through Jan. 31, 2924, with the remainder of the fiscal year and the 2024-25 fiscal year scope of work to be revisited in January.

Alliance CEO Brian Hersh took heat from commissioners for giving the go-ahead to spend money to print promotional materials, much of which finds its way to area hotels, prior to budget approval.

Rissler noted that the alliance had a promotional timeline to meet.

Hersh noted that while arts program patronage is typically 70% local, in Sarasota County, the split is 53% local and 47% out-of-county.

Commissioner Mark Smith said, “It’s not lost with me that if we were to lose this relationship with the Arts Alliance we’d be hiring staff to do the same task.”

The CASL funding, totaling $657,303  for four programs – the largest of which was $501,675 for the SHIFTS program, or Sheriff'S Housing initiative Facilitating Transient Services – passed 3-2, vote with Moran and Commissioner Neil Rainord opposed.

Prior to that vote the board discussed everything from homeless shelters to why a local match was needed to provide programs for housing communities that are built using federal tax credit funding.

Rainford wanted to know more about people in the SHIFT program who transitioned to permanent housing that was not otherwise government subsidized.

Commissioner Joe Neunder praised CASL for “wonderful service” but added he was approving the money “only for this year.”

Both votes are emblematic of a mindset in which the commission is attempting to reduce “taxpayer money” for nonprofits in providing matching funds for larger – typically state or federal – grant programs.

Rainford specifically called for more funding from local church communities, as well as area foundations.

“We can fill that need without us making the decision up here,” he added.

Properties deemed historic

The Curione Beach Cottage at 5404 Calle de la Siesta on Siesta Key and Snook Haven Lodge, 5000 E. Venice Ave. were both placed on the Sarasota County Register of Historic Places.

Those two structures are both examples of pre-World War II Craftsman Bungalow style buildings.

The Curione property, at Beach Access No 7, was the perfect example of the concept “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” with Rainford seeing the structure, built in 1932, as an asbestos-riddled nightmare and would have preferred to see it demolished for additional parking.

Smith countered that the historic designation would let Sarasota County side-step the Federal Emergency Management Agency 50% rule while renovating it and perhaps adding needed restrooms.

“We don't have any public bathrooms at any of the beach accesses,” Smith said.

The board voted 3-2 to place the structures on the historic register, with Moran joining Rainford in voting no.

Snook Haven Lodge received unanimous support for a historic designation.

Rainford said he considered the structure – built in the 1930s and used as a fishing camp – historic but advocated elevating above potential flooding from rising waters in the Myakka River.

Once the Venice Pier Group lease to operate the restaurant and concession at Snook Haven expires, Sarasota County plans to replace the existing facility that dates back to 1958 with a new one that would also be elevated to escape Myakka River floods.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County Commission approves $65 million for 17th Street park