Newsletter 141

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

WHEN WILL FLORIDIANS SEE INSURANCE RELIEF?

Over the past year, state lawmakers have made changes on paper through several attempts to cure Florida’s property insurance crisis. But a homeowner in Florida who opens their annual renewal and sees their premium has increased, or finds out their carrier has suddenly dropped them, may not have noticed anything different.

That was the expectation, after all. State Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, noted during the first of last year’s special sessions to address insurance that relief from any measures taken by lawmakers wouldn’t be realized for at least another 18 months. That session took place in May 2022. Since then, two hurricanes hit the state. Lawmakers then held a second special session on insurance in December. Six property insurance companies were declared insolvent last year. Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run “insurer of last resort,” continues to grow with more than 1 million policies. And now the annual, 60-day regular legislative session is underway. The session is largely where party-line battles are taking center stage, but not insurance. And those homeowners with delayed or unfulfilled property damage claims may find their legal recourses slashed, owing to legislation approved in the special sessions to limit what the insurance industry and lawmakers said was too much litigation over property insurance claims and disputes between homeowners and their insurers. The story remains the same as it was a year ago: it’s lawyers, contractors and public adjusters versus lawmakers and insurance companies. Some have lauded the measures passed in Tallahassee as necessary to lure insurance carriers back to the state and target the cause of the crisis, so-called “frivolous lawsuits.” But others say that homeowners with legitimate damages are left with fewer rights to ensure they receive their claims, and are left wondering how, if at all, the measures will lower property insurance bills. For more on this story, courtesy of The Palm Beach Post, please click here: Insurance Relief?

FPL CUSTOMERS TO PAY MORE IN APRIL

Florida Power & Light customers will pay much more for their electricity in April after regulators approved the utility’s request recently. Just how much depends on where you live. For customers in northwest Florida, where Gulf Power operated until 2022: A residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of energy will pay $163.30 that month, an increase of about $3.50 from February, when the previous bill increase occurred. For every other FPL customer who uses the same amount of electricity, the April bill will go up by $14.79 to $144.38. Bills are proposed to drop slightly in May to $158.86 for a northwest Florida customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and $139.95 for all other FPL customers. Additionally, all FPL customers outside of northwest Florida will be paying slightly more on their bills over the next 12 months compared to the amount that was initially proposed in January for hurricanes that hit the Panhandle. Regulators with the Florida Public Service Commission approved a request to spread out leftover costs of recovering from Hurricane Michael in 2018, as well as Hurricanes Sally and Zeta in 2020, to all FPL customers, not just those in former Gulf Power territory. The increase amounts to roughly $1.50 for a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of energy. Northwest Florida FPL customers will save compared to what was proposed earlier this year. “The alternate plan, which divides all storm costs across all FPL customers, leads to fairer and more reasonable rates for FPL customers and avoids charging over $10 a month to Panhandle customers alone,” said Jordan Luebkemann, an attorney with Earthjustice, a public interest environmental law nonprofit. To read more on this story, please click here: FPL Rates To Increase In April

LEGISLATURE NEXT FOR MIDNIGHT PASS ISSUE

When Sarasota County commissioners agreed unanimously at their December retreat that cleaning-up Little Sarasota Bay was a priority, and that restoring Midnight Pass was central to that, Midnight Pass Society II sprang into action.

The group, which for more than a year has been fighting to gain support in restoring the waterway, has raised funds, held informational meetings, made public presentations, sold merchandise, and otherwise beat the drum in every which way. Now, it has more than just desire and enthusiasm on its side. During the Jan. 12 Sarasota County Legislative Delegation meeting, state Sen Joe Gruters (who represents Sarasota County as part of District 22) asked for support to take the cause to Tallahassee during the upcoming session of the Florida Legislature.

“He’s 150% on board, and wants this pushed,” said Scott Lewis, a local resident who reignited the Midnight Pass effort by creating a RESTORE MIDNIGHT PASS NOW Facebook page that has more than 5,200 followers. “Social media has made all the difference in the world,” he said. A previous effort by the original Midnight Pass Society never got much traction, and Lewis said a lack of public awareness played a role. The pass, which was a natural waterway between Siesta Key and Casey Key that connected the Gulf of Mexico with Little Sarasota Bay, had sand brought in in 1983 in an effort to change the path of the flow. Two homeowners — Syd Solomon and Pasco Carter — had homes along the pass and they were at risk of water damage. Sarasota County approved the measure, with the homeowners promising to pay in part for the rerouting of the pass, but efforts failed and the parties gave up on the effort. Eventually, the pass closed up and subsequently choked off Little Sarasota Bay. Now, Gruters will take the cause to the state in an effort to get commitments on studies and permits with a cure as the goal. Please click here to read more, courtesy of Siesta Sand: Legislature Next For Midnight Pass Issue

TRIP ADVISOR RANKS SIESTA BEACH AT #2 IN U.S.

Sarasota County’s most popular beach has again been ranked among the best in the country and world by a national website. Tripadvisor announced its Best of the Best Beaches for 2023 lists as part of its annual Travelers’ Choice Awards.

Siesta Beach on Siesta Key ranked No. 2 among the Top 10 Beaches in the U.S. The famed Sarasota County beach just missed the Top 10 on Tripadvisor’s list of Top 10 Beaches in the World, placing No. 11 for 2023. Ka’anapali Beach in Maui, Hawaii, topped the U.S. list while Baia do Sancho in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, ranked No. 1 on the global list. In 2022, Tripadvisor also named Siesta Beach No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 14 in the world. Ranked at No. 17 in the country the previous year, Siesta Beach did not place on the world list in 2021. “Travelers have been raving about the white powder sand in Tripadvisor reviews, calling it a ‘great beach for people watching, sunsets, breakfast/morning walk on the beach and finding sand dollars,'” a Tripadvisor spokesperson said in an email issued to the Herald-Tribune in 2022. In addition to Siesta Beach, Tripadvisor’s Top 10 Beaches in the U.S. list for 2023 included Henderson Beach State Park in Destin at No. 6. Other Florida beaches on the Top 25 list are nearby Tampa Bay favorites St. Pete Beach (No. 14) and Clearwater Beach (No. 23). St. Augustine Beach (No. 13), Panama City Beach (No. 18), Pensacola Beach (No. 20) and Sombrero Beach in Marathon (No. 22) bring Florida’s total to eight. The Sunshine State tied with the Aloha State for the most winners overall in the Top 25. If you are interested in reading more, courtesy of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, then click here: Siesta Beach #2 In U.S.

SARASOTA BAY CONTINUES TO LOSE SEAGRASS

Seagrass acreage in Sarasota Bay dropped by 26% from 2016 to 2022, according to the head of the bay’s estuary preservation program. This new information comes from aerial maps the Southwest Florida Water Management District made of the bay’s seagrass meadows. The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program is able to learn about the health of the bay by tracking these plants. When water quality is poor, seagrasses die. Manatees, which rely on that vegetation for food, will then starve.

Dave Tomasko, the program’s director, said the devastating red tide outbreak from 2017 to 2019 and the Piney Point disaster both contributed to the decline in seagrass since 2016. The estuary program and local governments say they are addressing the loss by informing members of the public of steps they can take and by improving wastewater and stormwater management. Every two years, the region’s water management agency creates maps of seagrass meadows in an area from Tarpon Springs to Boca Grande, Tomasko said. The most recent mapping took place from December 2021 to February 2022. The mapping results, which were released last month, show that there was a 5% decline in Sarasota Bay’s seagrass acreage from 2020 to 2022. During the previous two-year period – 2018 to 2020 – the acreage dropped by 18%, or about 2,000 acres, according to Tomasko. Some seagrass isn’t visible from an airplane, so that vegetation didn’t appear in the aerial maps. But Tomasko said that that seagrass isn’t thick enough to serve as food for manatees. He attributes the 2018-2020 drop to the ride tide outbreak that occurred then. The bloom, which lasted 18 months, caused breathing problems and damaged local tourism. There’s more on this story here: Sarasota Bay Seagrass Loss

FGCU BUILDING REEF TO MONITOR WATER QUALITY

Kimberly’s Reef is finally a reality. Contract divers working for Florida Gulf Coast University recently dropped several large culverts about 8 miles off Bonita Beach to build a reef system that will help FGCU professors and researchers get a better grip on local water quality conditions. The reef is named after Kimberly Rieseberg, who died of cancer on her 4th birthday. Her father, Eric Rieseberg, donated most of the money used to secure the reef structure and place it in the Gulf of Mexico. The family’s loss, though, is being turned into a positive in that FGCU will be better able to monitor various facets of water quality and help government agencies detect things like red tide. “We will have six modules out there and they’re spaced about 150 feet apart,” explained FGCU professor and researcher and Florida Blue-Green Algae Task Force member Mike Parsons. The artificial reefs are in a sandy, relatively lifeless area with a depth around 30 feet. “It will give us a replication, so we can make observations and make experimentations and compare the six sites,” Parsons said. “Like removing lionfish from one area or removing algae from another.” Parsons said the reef network will allow researchers to monitor red tide events as well as how the various organisms and fish recover in the aftermath of a strong outbreak. “This set design, it gives us scientific rigor to better understand the ecological processes and dynamics like red tide impacts,” he said. “We see fish mortalities (along the beaches), but how are shellfish and sponges effected? And just important is recovery? How long does it take with fish and when will we see the reefs recover?” Parsons said the school will place sensors on the reefs that will document things like dissolved oxygen and salinity. There will also be devices to measure chlorophyl, which can be an indicator of algae in the water. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Reef System To Monitor Water Quality

SARASOTA OK’S CHANGES FOR BAY PARK

Local boaters and other community members raised concerns about the Bay Park Conservancy’s plans for the city of Sarasota’s new waterfront park, leading to changes in those plans. The Sarasota City Commission reviewed land-use changes recently that involved The Bay, a 53-acre park that is gradually being built. During the discussion, people with boating interests expressed worries that parking for the boat ramp in the northern part of the park would decrease and that the restaurants planned nearby would cause even more of a parking crunch. But Bill Waddill, the Bay Park Conservancy’s chief operating officer, pledged to expand and improve the boat ramp area. He and his colleagues also made a concession on the allowance for administrative review for structures on the Bay Park property. Under administrative review, a development project doesn’t go before the city Planning Board and the City Commission for approval but can be approved by city staff. Numerous members with boating interests spoke about the importance of the boat ramp at Centennial Park, which is becoming park of The Bay. Some had seen a conceptual drawing and thought it indicated a decrease in boat ramp parking. The ramp location would also change under that plan. “We just need more parking and more boat ramps, not less,” said Jonnie Walker, a retired charter boat captain. Some boaters were concerned that patrons of the nearby restaurants would park in the boat ramp parking spaces. The Bay Park Conservancy is planning for a few restaurants to be created in the northern part of The Bay. Some residents also opposed allowing administrative review for buildings less than 10,000 square feet.

The conservancy made some concessions after the public’s comments. Waddill said the conservancy will plan to have the boat ramps stay generally in the same location and will work to expand the boater parking. Jay Riggs, general manager of Suncoast Marine Group, a local boat dealership, said the concessions are “a move in the right direction.” He preferred the restaurants be farther south and away from the boat ramp area. There’s more on this story here: Changes OK’d For Bay Park

DEAL ENDS AIRPORT APARTMENTS BATTLE

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and the city of Sarasota have agreed to a settlement expected to end their battle over a plan to build apartments on the site of the former Sarasota Kennel Club dog racing track. North Carolina-based developer Aventon Companies was planning to build 372 apartment homes on the vacant property near the airport. But the airport’s governing board strongly objected to the plan, partly because of potential complaints from apartment residents about plane noise. The board, called the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, filed three lawsuits against the city to stop the development. Aventon is no longer going to buy the kennel club property from its current owner, though, so its plan for a multi-family housing development won’t materialize. This news prompted the city of Sarasota, the airport and the property owner to legally settle the matter. The City Commission and the Airport Authority each approved the settlement terms in separate meetings recently. Aventon had entered into a contract to buy the dog track property, but the contract was recently terminated, according to a city document. Attorneys representing the city, the airport authority and the property owner, the Jack G. Collins, Sr. Revocable Trust, then reached a settlement. The City Commission will have to hold a public hearing where it will consider rescinding a growth plan amendment ordinance it approved last fall to permit the apartment complex on the site. If the board rescinds that change, the airport will dismiss the legal disputes, and each party will pay its own attorney’s fees and costs. Please click here for more: Airport Apartments Battle Ends

DOWNTOWN PROJECT WOULD ADD HOTEL & CONDOS

Another large proposed development on Main Street has the potential to push more commercial activity east in downtown Sarasota with a planned 16-story hotel and condominium project. SOTA Hotel & Residences would consist of 35 condos and 120 hotel rooms across two parcels of downtown property on the north side of Main Street. Plans call for the demolition of three buildings on the parcels, including the Italian pizzeria Il Panificio. Once constructed, the building will tower high over downtown Sarasota, directly west of the three-story Sarasota Memorial Hospital Support Services building and across the street from the Tube Dude’s storefront.

The company plans to launch a sales gallery at 1734 Main Street, with a groundbreaking expected this summer, a spokeswoman said. The project’s condo units will start at $1.8 million, according to a news release. The project is the first in Sarasota by Trepp Developments LLC, led by the company’s president Rodrigo Trepp. Trepp started his company in Bolivia, but began exploring real estate opportunities in the Fort Lauderdale area in 2018, before he focused on the “charms of Sarasota on Florida’s West Coast,” according to a company news release. Trepp plans to call Sarasota home, with the first step being development of his Main Street project. “My vision for our new Sarasota headquarters begins with the creation of the SOTA Hotel & Residences, which will be our first Trepp Developments project,” he commented. “We assembled what I call a best-of-the best “A” team to design and market a sophisticated mixed-use project to include a boutique hotel and luxury residences located in the heart of downtown.” The hotel will be a Hilton flagged property from the Tapestry Collection and managed by Commonwealth Hotels, the company says. The fifth floor will have a 4,500-square-foot restaurant “offering a unique culinary concept.” Hoyt Architects is the architect of record with New York-based Andre Kikoski providing interior design for the project. Please click on the link for more: New Downtown Project

DOWNTOWN SALE SPURS REDEVELOPMENT PLANS

The Zenith Building in downtown Sarasota has been sold to a central Florida development company for $24 million, according to a commercial broker that negotiated the sale. WMG Development, based out of Winter Park, purchased the about 1.1 acre property that includes a 112,000-square-foot, 12-story office building that was built in 1972. The property also includes a large unattached parking garage that also has about 15,000 square feet of additional office space. Steve Horn and Jag Grewal, both partners with Sarasota-based Ian Black Real Estate, and Jeremy Dee with California-based Kennedy Wilson, negotiated the sale. Horn said he had been working on the possible redevelopment of the property for about 12 years before the “stars aligned.” He said Zenith Insurance has owned the building since 1995 and is the only tenant in the aging office tower. Now, it’s possible that the new owners will knock it down to build something brand new to breath life into the Five Points area of Sarasota. Horn declined to share Zenith Insurance’s long term plans, but noted the company would be making an announcement in the near future. Horn said there was a short-term plan for the company to stay in the building, but how long was not disclosed. Design plans for large commercial redevelopment projects can take years from initial concept to final approval. The buyer indicated in a statement they have a “long-term commitment” to the Sarasota community and will “identify the right development mix and potential partners for the site.” “This project size and location on the historic Five Points Roundabout is immensely important to the Downtown Sarasota community and to WMG Development as we live out our mission and vision of making a positive and lasting impact on the communities we touch throughout the country.” said WMG CEO Curtis Frost. Horn said the project has the potential to be a game changer for downtown. The property is zoned Downtown Bayfront, which would allow for a property to be develop 18-stories on the site. There’s more on this story here: Downtown Sale Spurs Redevelopment

BOBBY JONES GOLF COURSE WORK CONTINUES

Last week, a worker drove a yellow construction vehicle around a future putting green, unrolling a hefty roll of sod. Another employee walked ahead of the vehicle, removing the plastic mesh that held the roll together. They and other construction workers have been laying sod on some parts of the front nine holes of the Bobby Jones Golf Club — an important step in a more than $12 million project to renovate the nearly 100-year-old course. The city of Sarasota is reducing the number of holes in the golf complex from 45 to 27 and turning some of the property into a nature park. The complex will have an 18-hole course, a 9-hole short course and a practice facility. Mandell and the construction company, QGS Development, are restoring the 18-hole course designed by celebrated golf architect Donald Ross in the 1920s.

The workers have installed grass on all areas of the back nine holes, except for the putting greens, Mandell said. They also have started to place grass on the front nine holes. The team has also been working on the short course and practice facility. Earlier, workers built a few weirs, which are dam-like structures that control the elevation of water in the golf complex’s ponds. When there’s a heavy rain event, water rushing through Main B Canal will be diverted into the golf course when it reaches a certain elevation, Mandell said. Water will temporarily stay in the golf complex instead of flooding areas downstream of Bobby Jones. The project also has a wetland restoration component. Plants in the wetlands will filter stormwater before it enters Phillippi Creek and eventually Sarasota Bay. The construction crew has created the wetlands, but the plants haven’t been added yet. Mandell had originally hoped that the 18-hole course would open to the public last November, but the project experienced some setbacks. There were delays in the issuance of permits, and then they had to deal with a rainy summer season. Click here for more: Bobby Jones Work Continues

SARASOTA BALLET DIRECTOR GETS EXTENSION

Expecting continued growth and financial stability and concerned that other dance companies might try to steal him away, leaders of The Sarasota Ballet have extended their contract with director Iain Webb to keep him in place for 10 more years. Webb, who joined the company in 2007, is in the middle of a 10-year contract signed in 2017. The new agreement adds another five years to the agreement through the 2032-33 season. “Iain has stretched himself, the dancers and audiences, adding more complex, more interesting and more creative programming and has helped us collectively – the audience and dancers – expand our understanding and pleasure of the craft and the art,” said Richard Johnson, chair of the company’s board of directors. Board president Frank Martucci said it is important to know who will be running the company into the future “because a lot of the programs are planned out 10 years or so in advance. It’s quite frankly a pragmatic reason, but much more than that.” Webb is the third director of the company that was founded in 1987 by Jean Weidner Goldstein, initially as a presenting organization. Eddy Toussaint was hired as its first artistic director in 1990, and he was replaced in 1993 by Robert de Warren, who led it until 2007.

Webb is in his 16th season as director and will pass the quarter century-mark before the end of the new contract extension. Please click here for more: Sarasota Ballet Director Extension

PLAYERS CENTRE EXTENDS ECLECTIC LINEUP

For his first season as artistic director of the Players Centre for Performing Arts, Steven Butler is trying to test the limits of what the community theater can produce in its temporary in-the-round shopping mall space, and provide more time to put productions together. The company’s 94th season will have one less show than in recent seasons but slightly longer runs to give the production staff a chance to regroup between plays and musicals and allow time for word of mouth to build ticket sales. Each regular season show will have a three-week run of 15 performances instead of the current 12-performance run over two weeks. In an interview before the announcement, CEO William Skaggs said with a general shift from subscription sales to last-minute ticket purchases, the extended runs will allow the theater to capitalize on word of mouth. “This year, with nearly all our productions, we see that audiences have been purchasing tickets closer to the show, and we’ve seen a pickup on production nights,” Skaggs said. “The problem this season is that if we open on Thursday, by Tuesday, as word is getting out, there are only four chances left to see it. Now there will be another week. Butler, who grew up in Sarasota and performed in Players productions years ago, was hired as the new artistic director in December and officially joined the staff recently. He said the season came together quickly with input from everyone on the production team. The company will offer a two-show summer season, dubbed “A Summer of Innocence,” that will open June 8-18 with the jukebox revue “8-Track: The Sounds of the ‘70s” and close Aug. 17-27 with Terry Johnson’s stage adaptation of the classic film “The Graduate.” Brandon Wardell, who staged this season’s “Side by Side by Sondheim,” will direct the musical, and Players veteran Elliot Raines will direct “The Graduate.” There’s more to read here: Players Center Extends Eclectic Runs

FORECASTER SEES MORE SEA LEVEL RISE

A climate expert warned that Florida is facing a “triple threat from water” in a warming climate at a recent conference in Sarasota. Those three threats are sea level rise, storm surge and extreme rainfall, said Bob Bunting, the CEO of the Sarasota-based Climate Adaptation Center. He forecasted that the sea level will rise in Sarasota by 11 to 12 more inches by 2050. Bunting encouraged local governments to prepare their infrastructure for sea level rise. “When we build a road, have we raised it so that we can get people off the barrier islands? When we build a performing arts center, is it going to survive the 2030’s and 2040’s?” he asked during the Climate Adaptation Center’s third-annual Florida Climate Conference recently. The event, which more than 150 people attended in person, featured talks by professors, business leaders and a former Miami congressman. Bunting and Stuart Waterman, the Climate Adaptation Center’s chief technology officer, described the three ways water threatens Florida – and other areas of the country – as the climate warms. One is sea level rise. Because of climate change, the volume of the ocean is expanding and ice sheets and glaciers are melting, leading to global sea level rise, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Bunting, a former lead forecaster for the National Weather Service, said the sea level has risen about nine inches in Sarasota already, and he forecasts another 11 to 12 inches of rise by 2050. This means that the sea level in Sarasota would be about 20 inches higher in 2050 than it was in 1950. Bunting said there will be more rise in the 2030’s than in other decades because of the moon “wobble.” (The moon’s path around the Earth will cause higher tides in the mid-2030s.) “It’s really time to stop development of land that’s less than four or five feet above sea level,” he said. Hurricanes are becoming stronger and the sea level is rising, so experts expect storm surges to become higher. Bunting said Florida’s west coast has a higher threat from storm surge than the east coast because the continental shelf is shallower on the west coast. Bunting showed a video of the catastrophic surge on Fort Myers Beach in Hurricane Ian. He also urged people to know their home’s elevation. “It could mean your life,” he said. Bunting said local governments need to update their building codes to prepare for climate conditions in 2050. The third “threat” described was extreme rainfall. Climate change is expected to cause more intense precipitation, meaning some inland areas will have to deal with flooding. Waterman, the Climate Adaptation Center’s CTO, said that Orlando had a record amount of rainfall last September – 22 inches – because of Hurricane Ian.

There’s more on this story here: Sea Level Rise

SARASOTA IS ONE OF THE WORST PLACES FOR ALLERGIES

Spring has sprung and so has allergy season. A new study shows that Sarasota leads the country in the most challenging places to live with allergies. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has conducted the Allergy Capitals study since 2003 to explore which cities were the worst when it comes to perpetual runny noses and watery eyes. The study looks at tree, grass, and weed pollen scores, over-the-county allergy medicine use, and availability of board-certified allergists. More than 100 million Americans are affected by various types of allergies every year. Of the top 20 Allergy Capitals, seven were in Florida, including Sarasota at No. 6, Cape Coral at No. 7, Miami at No. 14, Lakeland at No. 15, Palm Bay at No. 17, and Tampa at No. 18. The top three cities were Wichita, Kansas at No. 1, Dallas at No.2, and Scranton, Pennsylvania at No. 3. When allergens, like pollen, are inhaled, the body’s immune system kicks in and responds with physical symptoms. Generally, springtime is known for the resurgence of allergies because of the regrowth in flowers and plants. Since the weather is warm in Florida year-round, allergy season last for 10 months, according to Florida E.N.T and Allergy. Sarasota scored with having worse than average pollen, worse than average medicine use, and average availability for allergen specialists. It ranks No. 3 for worst tree pollen, No. 9 for grass pollen, and No. 16 for weed pollen. Are you interested in learning more? Please click on the link: Sarasota Worst For Allergies