Newsletter 52

THE CASE FOR PAID PARKING: Paid on-street and garage parking is the only way for Sarasota’s parking department to sustain itself in the long term and combat downtown traffic congestion, a new city report concludes. The Citywide Strategy for Parking Management report, created by city staff and the Parking Advisory Committee, suggests the city implement on-street paid parking within the next 10 to 15 months and implement off-street paid parking systems within the next two years. The report followed the commission’s vote Monday to initiate plans to build a new parking garage and paid parking near St. Armands Circle, and just a few months after the city tightened its rules on how long drivers can park free in garages downtown. For more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click on the link: Paid Parking

CITY CONSIDERS SHUTTLE SERVICE: A new electric-vehicle shuttle service could be headed to downtown Sarasota later this year in the city’s latest creative attempt to help reduce traffic congestion. The free service would include six to nine six-seat electric shuttles that could be hailed on a mobile app to ferry residents, visitors and workers around downtown without moving their cars. To help set up the service, the city is willing to spend $548,000 over the next two years with the goal of reducing the number of cars circulating downtown at any given time. There’s no magic fix for Sarasota’s traffic problems, but this could be a start, said Steve Stancel, the city’s chief planner. There’s more on this story here: Shuttle Service

QUAY PROJECT MAY TOP $1 BILLION: What looks like construction activity at the bayfront site long known as the Sarasota Quay is actually a staging area for a hotel-condominium project to the south. But by next year, the development of what is now called “Sarasota Bayside” expects construction to be underway on the first phase of a large-scale residential and commercial venture. The final cost could top $1 billion. Jacksonville-based GreenPointe Communities paid $27 million for the site in late 2014. Company officials say Sarasota Bayside retains the scope of the development agreement approved eight years ago, which calls for 695 condominiums, 175 hotel rooms, 189,050 square feet of retail space and nearly 39,000 square feet of office space in buildings that could reach 18 stories into the Sarasota skyline. Please click here for more: Sarasota Bayside

QUICKEST START SINCE 2006: The Sarasota-Bradenton market had the strongest quarter for growth in new-home starts since the third quarter of 2006, about 15 months before the official start of the Great Recession, according to a national data supplier. Industry Researcher Metrostudy reports that 1,443 single-family units were started in the first quarter of 2016, up 61.6% from the same period last year and a 21.5% increase from the fourth quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, quarterly closings totaled 1,261 units, a 37.8% increase year-over-year and 15.2% higher than the preceding quarter, according to Metrostudy. Follow the jump for more: Housing Market

READY FOR SUMMER: Just in time for summer, Sarasota County is rolling out the “blue carpet” for beachgoers on Siesta Key, and Turtle Beach is looking buff. Last week, Sarasota County unveiled the new Mobi-Mat, which looks like a blue, carpet-like pathway running straight out to the ocean on top of the sand at Siesta Beach’s West Concession Area. The 450-foot polyester mat may not be Hollywood’s red carpet, but it is now the star of the area around the county’s new Siesta Key beach pavilion by improving access for beachgoers with disabilities, pushing strollers or simply hauling beach carts full of toys and supplies. The path will also be cooler and easier to traverse than the sun-scorched, powdery sand. The $42,000 pathway was purchased as part of the county’s extensive improvements to the Siesta Beach public access area. There’s more here: Beach Improvements

RETIREES ENJOY ONE BIG BRUNCH: With a behemoth named Tonka leading the way, the elephants of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus brought a 145-year tradition to a close recently before a gallery of media cameras. Still in trunk-to-tail performance mode, 11 of planet Earth’s biggest land-dwellers were lead single file to a sprawling buffet table at the 200+ acre Center For Elephant Conservation where, moments later, they were joined by an additional 10 pachyderms. A few raised their trunks in salutation before being given the green light to wolf down on a smorgasbord of bread, lettuce, celery, carrots. apples and hay. Assistant animal superintendent Ryan Hemming said he expects the new retirees will continue “doing headstands, digging holes in the sand, knocking over tree branches, stand up on balls, rolling around – everything you would see in the show is based on playtime activities.” There’s more here: Elephant Brunch