Newsletter 145

Beach Yard Picture

The summer season has arrived with a vengeance! As with many parts of the world, we are experiencing record-breaking heat on the Suncoast! There are also a completely different set of weather patterns this year for coastal and in-land areas.

Under normal circumstances, the oppressive heat is offset by daily afternoon rains, which can temporarily cool us down amid the high humidity. This year however, the afternoon rains are not touching the coastal areas, so the heat intensifies. Yuck.

Another concern is that the Gulf of Mexico water temperature also continues to rise. Water temperatures in the mid-90’s are threatening delicate coral reefs. depriving swimmers of cooling dips and adding a bit more ick to the Sunshine State’s already oppressive summer weather. We have been experiencing temperatures that with humidity feel like 110 degrees! The record heat in the Gulf and Atlantic is especially concerning since we are at now in the dreaded storm season and we know that warm waters fuel storms. Ugh. All we can do is hope and pray … a lot!

Adding to the intense heat … there have been reports of malaria in Sarasota County. What? The first case was reported the week of May 21-27, according to the Florida Department of Health’s weekly arbovirus report. The good news is that the reported cases are declining. Please continue reading for more on that story.

Sarasota County has recently banned smoking at parks and beaches, excluding unfiltered cigars. There’s more on that story below. While I certainly don’t like smelling cigarette smoke, the concept and promotion of bans seems to be growing in popularity. Somedays you have to check the calendar to see what year we are living in.

So we hydrate, do our best to stay in the shade or in cool air conditioning and enjoy the summer season.

Please continue reading for more news from the Suncoast.

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

NO NEW MALARIA CASES

No cases of locally acquired malaria were found in Sarasota County last week, according to a newly released Florida Department of Health report. It’s the first week since the week of June 4 that no new cases were confirmed. Separately, the manager of Sarasota County Mosquito Management Services shared some positive developments with members of the media last Monday. One was that all of the local malaria cases have been in one general area, the Desoto Acres and Kensington Park areas of northern Sarasota. “Which is very good news,” the manager, Wade Brennan, said in an interview with local journalists. Six cases of locally acquired malaria have been reported in Sarasota County over the last two months. The term “locally acquired” means that the individual contracted malaria from a mosquito in the Sarasota area. This is very rare, as the vast majority of malaria cases in the U.S. are in travelers or other people returning to the country from nations where there is transmission of malaria. The first case was reported the week of May 21-27, according to the Florida Department of Health’s weekly arbovirus report. The second case was reported the week of June 11-17, and the third and the fourth were confirmed the week of June 18-24. The fifth and sixth cases were reported the week of June 25-July 1, and none were reported the following week. The next arbovirus report – which will show whether any cases were reported this week – is expected to come out next week. Another positive development is that none of the mosquitoes trapped by Mosquito Management Services have tested positive for malaria since early June, Brennan said on Monday. He emphasized, though, that local residents still need to continue to take precautionary measures. He said people should reach out to their family members and tell them to apply insect repellant and wear long, loose-fitting shirts and pants when outside at nighttime. Sarasota County is spraying insecticide in the “area of concern” and nearby areas. They’re using planes and trucks to spray chemicals that target adult mosquitoes. And they’re using foot crews to spray larvicides – insecticides that target larvae – in ponds, canals, ditches and swamps, Brennan said. Sarasota and Manatee counties have been under a mosquito-borne illness alert since June 19. For more on this story, courtesy of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: No New Malaria Cases

SARASOTA COUNTY BANS PARK, BEACH SMOKING

Smoking cigarettes and filtered cigars will be banned at all Sarasota County beaches and parks beginning Oct. 1. Sarasota County commissioners agreed to impose the ban on Tuesday. The county will run an outreach campaign in August and September to tell the public about the new ban. In late April, commissioners directed county staff to prepare an ordinance that would prohibit smoking at county-owned beaches and parks, and they passed the ordinance on a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Mike Moran dissenting. In 2007, Sarasota County banned smoking at public beaches and recreational areas where youth athletic activities take place, except in designated areas. But in 2012, a Sarasota County judge ruled that regulating smoking is a task left solely to the Florida Legislature, which essentially invalidated local public smoking bans. Last year, the Legislature gave some power back to local governments. State legislators passed a bill that allows cities, towns and counties to ban all forms of smoking — except from unfiltered cigars — at public beaches and parks. Many local governments in Florida have since approved bans, including the city of Venice, the town of Longboat Key and the city of Sarasota. Sarasota County staff said violators could incur a fine of up to about $75. The county hopes to seek voluntary compliance on smoking and other park rules, though. Nicole Rissler, the director of the county’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources department, told commissioners that county staff developed an extensive marketing and communications plan for the ordinance. They plan to post on social media and on the county website about it, put up banners at certain parks and alert media outlets about it. To read more on this story, courtesy of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Smoking Bans

SAVE SIESTA: THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS IN ON

The Friday before Memorial Day, the Save Siesta Key Board of Directors gave these marching orders to its two lobbying groups: Go find out what happened to House Bill 923 – the measure calling for the incorporation of the island that died mysteriously at the state capitol. “The residents of Siesta Key deserve answers,” Tim Hensey, chairman of Save Siesta Key, said. “These people helped us raise $265,000 and delivered an 87% approval for incorporation in a straw vote. The community has come through and, again, all it wants is the right to vote on this.”

The lobbyists will be interviewing both members of the legislature and those close to the scene, Hensey said. Their findings could play a role in whether the incorporation group applies again by Sept. 1 for a third shot at its endeavor, Hensey added, but he noted that the makeup of the legislature in January of next year (when it next meets) would be mostly the same, which could prove daunting. Elections and/or term limits don’t come into play until next fall. Still, the search is on for an explanation. “That’s all we want,” Hensey said. “We have no idea what happened.” The incorporation bill stalled during the recent meeting of the Florida Legislature in the hands of the second committee to which it was assigned, not even making the agenda of the Ways & Means Committee during a span of the final five weeks of the session. And not once were Save Siesta Key representatives given any type of communication or progress report. That perceived snub came on the heels of a March 29 favorable vote by a 17-0 count by the Local Administration, Federal Affairs, & Special Districts Subcommittee. The bill appeared to have momentum with the Ways & Means Committee up next. State Rep. James Buchanan, who is chairman of the Sarasota County Legislative Delegation, serves as vice-chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. Twice locally he voted against the bill reaching Tallahassee – in January of 2022 when a 3-3 tie halted the process, and again this January as the only no vote in a 3-1 win for Save Siesta Key.

It was Buchanan who suggested the incorporation group conduct the straw vote, which took place in December of 2022 among registered voters residing on Siesta Key and saw a 42% response rate. It cost Save Siesta Key in excess of $40,000.

Please click here for more, courtesy of Siesta Sand: Save Siesta Search For Answers

REALTORS EXPECT AREA TO STAY STEADY

Despite the highest mortgage rates seen in more than 20 years, the collapse of three large banks last spring and a persistent belief the economy will experience a recession, the Sarasota-Manatee real estate market has not seen price decreases or a sharp drop-off in demand, according to local real estate professionals.

Craig Ceretta, managing broker with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty in Sarasota, said over the past five quarters the median price of a home sold in the two-county area has stayed remarkably steady, hovering between $500,000 to $525,000 for a single-family home. “That’s pretty darn stable,” he said. Median prices have stayed near record highs for more than year, even as more homes came onto the market and the time it took to sell them sharply increased. At the height of the real estate frenzy in the summer of 2021 the median time to contract for listed homes was less than a week. Now, that figure for a single-family home stands above 50 days. Brian Tresidder, the president of the Realtors Association of Sarasota and Manatee and sales manager at William Raveis’ Siesta Key office, called the current market “healthier” than the breakneck sales pace following the onset of the COVID pandemic. Tredsidder said the number of homes on the market has doubled, but because inventory had dropped so low, even doubling the number of properties for sale has left sellers with the advantage. “The market resembles what we would consider a good real estate market before COVID,” he said. “Our numbers resemble what they were in 2019.” “Right now, I would say it’s a healthier environment for all involved,” he said. While the median price for a property has not changed significantly for more than 18 months, the average price has dropped about 9.4%, Cerreta said. Cerreta said the average price for a home sold in Sarasota-Manatee came in at $669,461 in the second quarter of 2023 while the average price was $669,500 at the end of the first quarter of 2023. Those two almost identical average price points were off from the peak when the area’s average price came in at about $713,000 at the end of the second quarter of 2022. In some ways, the local real estate market’s success has become its biggest challenge going forward. Robert Goldman, a Realtor with Michael Saunders & Co., said that about 50% of all the properties in Sarasota County have had some form of price adjustment. Stellar MLS data, the local multiple listing service used by Realtors, does not break down price adjustments by increase or decrease, but it is likely that the vast majority of those price adjustments were price decreases, Cerreta said. Robert Goldman, a Realtor with Michael Saunders & Co., said that about 50% of all the properties in Sarasota County have had some form of price adjustment. Stellar MLS data, the local multiple listing service used by Realtors, does not break down price adjustments by increase or decrease, but it is likely that the vast majority of those price adjustments were price decreases, Cerreta said. Goldman said that 48% of properties had price decreases, while Cerreta was able to verify 54% of Sarasota County properties currently for sale have had a price adjustment at some point since being listed. Goldman said that many sellers do not have a realistic outlook on the value of their home coming out of what had been the strongest sellers’ market in years. “The housing market is strong but pricing strategies need to be in accord with a more normative market,” Goldman said. “Sellers need to align their expectations with current market conditions.” There’s more on this story here: Market To Stay Steady

SALES STRONG FOR LAKEWOOD RANCH

Fears that higher interest rates would cause a real estate slowdown don’t appear to be affecting Lakewood Ranch sales, as one of the newest projects in the master-planned community sold a year’s worth of lots in the first 60 days since the project came to market. Claudine Leger-Wetzel, vice president of sales and marketing for Naples-based Stock Development, said the company has already hit the yearly sales goal, selling 85 of the 94 available lots in Wild Blue at Waterside. The robust sales have the development company looking at how to bring phase two to market later this year, advancing the schedule by six months. “A lot of folks were talking about a little bit of a downturn,” she said of economic worries six to nine months ago. “I’ll tell you that in the first 60 days we sold the whole year’s goal.” While the resale market continues to as a “seller’s market,” according to Realtors, several communities in Lakewood Ranch, Wellen Park and other large home developments throughout the region are competing for buyers willing to wait while a home is built.

Wild Blue is Stock Development’s second Lakewood Ranch community. The company continues to develop The Lake Club, which is planned for more than 700 homes. Leger-Wetzel said once fully built out, Wild Blue will have 505 homes on 550 acres in Waterside Place, one of the first residential Lakewood Ranch developments in Sarasota County. The price point for the homes in Wild Blue start at $1.5 million and go into the high $3 million to $4 million range, she said. Leger-Wetzel, a real estate professional for decades in Southwest Florida, said the quick sales pace can be attributed to Stock Development’s attention to detail and ability to provide buyers the amenities they seek. At Wild Blue the standout feature is a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse. This will be staffed and provide indoor and outdoor dining service, which Leger-Wetzel said helps the amenity package stand out. Please follow the jump for more: LWR Sales Strong

SARASOTA “BEST CITY TO LIVE” RANKING AGAIN

Daytime television show “The Today Show” has named Sarasota as the second-ranked place to live in the U.S. According to the July 10 ranking, released by Frances Katzen, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman, Sarasota ranks just behind Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, for the most growth and is one of the top five “booming” cities in the United States this year. Criteria such as schools, cost of living, outdoor life, job security, and growth and development each contributed to the quality of living for residents choosing to find a spot to live post-pandemic Katzen said. The full list of the top five best places to live in the U.S. is:

  • Round Rock, Texas
  • Sarasota
  • Tacoma, Washington
  • Bridgeport, Connecticut
  • Raleigh, North Carolina

The recent ranking of yet another ‘top list’ for Sarasota follows several other recent rankings for the city of Sarasota and the surrounding area as one of the most desirable places to be in the countryU.S. News & World Report has listed it as one of the top places to retire for several years. There’s more on this story here: Best City To Live Again

ANOTHER INSURANCE CARRIER PULLS OUT

The volatility in Florida’s insurance market is showing no signs of easing. 

Farmers Insurance announced this week its decision to stop offering Farmers-branded auto, home and umbrella policies in Florida. The move is expected to impact about 100,000 policies issued through their exclusive agency distribution channel, the company said. “There is no impact to 70% of policies currently in force for customers in the state, including Bristol West, Foremost Signature, Farmers GroupSelect, Foremost Choice and Foremost-branded policies,” the company said in a statement to NBC6. “Such policies will continue to be available to serve the insurance needs of Floridians.” Mark Friedlander of the Insurance Information Institute told NBC6 the announcement wasn’t necessarily surprising, especially since Farmers announced a pause on writing new business earlier this year.

“It’s unfortunate when a major national insurer puts a halt on writing business in Florida and decides to exit the market,” Friedlander said. According to the Institute, 15 companies stopped writing new business in Florida, three voluntarily withdrew from the market and seven were declared insolvent over the past 18 months.

Friedlander said Farmers had a small market share, so he does not anticipate the announcement to have a significant impact, especially in South Florida. “But the overall South Florida market is still very treacherous,” he said. “Limited options, very expensive options.” Farmers notified Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation of its decision recently. The company said in a statement the move “…was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure.” The company said no policies will be canceled, but they are expecting to start sending out non-renewal notices in 90 days. “Affected customers will receive notifications detailing when their coverage will end and will be advised of options for replacement coverage,” the company said in a statement. Please click here for more, courtesy of NBC6 Miami: Farmers Insurance Pulls Out

BUSINESS BOOMS FOR CITIZEN’S INSURANCE

As Citizens Property Insurance Corp. waits for a decision on a plan that would lead to double-digit rate increases for customers, the state-backed insurer remains on a path to grow to 1.7 million policies by the end of the year, President and CEO Tim Cerio said recently. Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, have faced explosive growth during the past three years as private insurers have dropped customers and moved forward with major rate increases because of financial problems. As of Friday, Citizens had 1.322 million policies making it the largest property insurer in the state. Citizens have asked the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation for approval of an overall 13.3% rate increase, with the most common type of homeowners’ policies getting hit with 12% hikes. Regulators are reviewing the plan and could order changes. Cerio and other Citizens officials contend the rate increases are needed because Citizens broadly charges lower rates than private insurers. They say Citizens’ lower rates undercut long-running state efforts to push policies into the private market. “We have to return to being the state’s property insurer of last resort,” Cerio said recently during a meeting of the Citizens Board of Governors. “Instead, we are the state’s largest property insurer with the lowest rates on top of that. That is going to continue to distort the market and impede recovery efforts.” Cerio also pointed to the possibility that policyholders throughout the state — including non-Citizens customers — could be forced to pay what are known as “assessments” if Citizens don’t have enough money to cover hurricane claims. “These policyholders in the private market are already paying more for insurance,” Cerio said. “Most have had to absorb much higher rate increases over the last couple of years of 30, 40, or 50 percent. Now, on top of that, these policyholders in the private market face the risk of having to pay Citizens’ assessments in addition to their already higher premiums. This is fundamentally unfair and why we need a course correction in the market.”

But homeowners in some parts of the state have few if any, other choices than Citizens for coverage. During a hearing held last month by the Office of Insurance Regulation, leaders of the group Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe urged regulators to reject the proposed Citizens rate increases in Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys. Joe Walsh, a member of the group’s board, pointed to the lack of competition in the Keys. “The Citizens rate is the rate. And so if Citizens raises rates, rates go up,” Walsh said during the hearing. Citizens have added thousands of policies a week as private insurers have scaled back in the state. As an illustration of the growth, Citizens had 474,630 policies on June 30, 2020; 638,263 policies on June 30, 2021; and 931,357 policies on June 30, 2022, according to data on its website Please click on the link for more: Citizens Insurance Business Booms

PROPOSAL FOR TALLEST BUILDING ADVANCES

The fate of what’s proposed to be the tallest building in Sarasota is now in the hands of the city’s development services director, after a development review panel partially signed off on the plan recently. “Partial signoff” happens when a majority of the city’s departments have no more comments, meaning there will be no more public meetings for the proposed 342-foot, 18-story condo tower at 1260 N. Palm Ave. that has spurred nearby residents to organize protests and hire lawyers to challenge the project during the administrative process to develop the property. Sarasota’s Development Review Committee includes 16 public officials from various City Hall departments, the county fire department and the school district. The panel reviews projects to make sure the development matches the city’s land-use regulations.The project will be either denied or approved by Development Services Director Lucia Panica. If an “aggrieved party” brings an appeal after Panica’s decision, the project would head to the Planning Board, and possibly then to the City Commission. The DRC’s meetings are often highly technical discussions held between city officials and development professionals discussing the city’s codes that include building design documents created by architects and engineers. The meetings aren’t often attended by a large public audience. However, for the past several meetings when Obsidian Residences was discussed by the DRC during its public meetings, opponents of the project wearing bright red shirts have attended to provide a visual representation of their desire for the project to be denied. There’s more on this story here: Tallest Building Proposal Advances

NEW SARASOTA LIVING ARTS FESTIVAL COMING

In the two years since he stepped down as artistic director of the Players Centre, Jeffery Kin has been playing on a bigger stage, working to bring together as many Sarasota area organizations as possible to take part in a community-wide arts festival with major long-range ambitions. Kin has been meeting for months with arts leaders to get them involved with the Living Arts Festival being coordinated by Sarasota Rising, for which Kin serves as executive director. He also has been working with a small board and a growing number of volunteer staff members and consultants. “It may sound Pollyannaish, but the vision is to elevate and celebrate what our cultural coast has to offer,” he said in a recent interview. “We have the arts organizations, amazing institutions, we have museums, all these things. What the plan has always been is to try to find a way of engaging them, coming together in an all-boats-rise situation and help them brand.” He has a little more than a year to bring those organizations together for the debut festival, which is scheduled for Nov. 10-17, 2024. He said Sarasota Rising plans to start small and build the festival over time by eventually attracting arts lovers from across the state, the Southeast, nationally and internationally. The organization recently announced its first collaboration, “Our Embrace Reimagined,” involving Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and Embracing Our Differences. Panels from Embracing Our Differences’ 2023 exhibit will be displayed at Selby’s Historic Spanish Point Campus in Osprey, accompanied at times by performances from small arts organizations inspired by the panels. In a statement, Sarah Wertheimer, executive director of Embracing Our Differences, said her organization is excited that the artwork will be “repurposed in this meaningful way so that the messages of diversity, inclusion, kindness and respect can continue inspiring others.” There is no clear existing model from which Kin and his growing organization can create their own plan, though it may be most closely compared to the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., which over time developed into a multi-week smorgasbord of performances. He envisions half the festival being “arts organizations producing things in their venues in their own time, the things they’re doing anyway,” Kin said. Community collaborations could make up another 25 percent of the festival program, while the rest will be filled with activities that the Living Arts Festival will produce itself, including pop-up events, opening and closing parties and street fairs to bring people together. Click here for more: Living Arts Festival

MOTE ESTABLISHES SEA TURTLE PROTECTION ZONE

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium has established a voluntary Sea Turtle Protection Zone in waters off Sarasota County, with the hope that increased publicity will help raise public awareness and protect sea turtles from unintended boat strikes. The zone stretches from Longboat Key to Siesta Key, including Sarasota Bay, and extends from the shore to 1.5 miles in the Gulf of Mexico. It makes Sarasota only the second county, along with Palm Beach, where the protection zones have been established. The push for creation of a Sea Turtle Protection Zone started in 2021 through a partnership with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach and the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida. The Archie Carr Center pays for the program with money from the Disney Conservation Fund and in part by a grant awarded from the Sea Turtle Grants Program, which is funded by proceeds from the sale of the Florida Sea Turtle License Plate. “Since the 1980s, sea turtle vessel strikes have tripled in Florida and unfortunately more than 90% of sea turtles with definitive boat strike injuries have resulted in fatalities,” Valerie Nicole Tovar, conservation manager at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, said in a prepared statement. “Our goal with the STPZ is to increase boater awareness and enlist boater voluntary compliance to decrease sea turtle injuries and deaths by creating a united front with our local boating communities. The STPZ has served as a vital tool for sea turtle conservation in Palm Beach County and will continue to do so in Sarasota.” The main purpose of establishing the Sea Turtle Protection Zone is to raise awareness and urge boaters to slow down and stay alert for sea turtles – especially in key locations. In addition to the public awareness campaign, Mote scientists will use a Lidar gun paid for by the Archie Carr Center to track boat speeds within the protection zone. Please click here for more: Sea Turtle Protection Zone

MEET TODD AND HIS OPOD

Move over, farm-to-table. The next hot dining trend may be bay-to-table, if environmental entrepreneur Todd Kleperis succeeds at his ambitious goal.

Inspired by floating farms he saw in Asia, area resident Kleperis has made Siesta Key the testing ground for what he hopes will one day hatch into an international movement: sea-based agriculture that simultaneously produces fresh water and puts awesome foods on our plates. Kleperis has devised an odd-looking contraption, that vaguely resembles a miniature outdoor shower stall, and has dropped it into the waters off Siesta Key Circle, near the north bridge. There it sits, desalinating the water it’s in and using it to grow … mushrooms. Which he then sells to posh restaurants. If it sounds quixotic, hear Kleperis out: “Traditional agriculture is broken,” he says, citing farm soil depletion that drains unhealthy fertilizers into the Gulf where they can cause red tide. “I believe we need to do something to save the planet. “We’d like to show we can grow anything in the ocean.” And make no mistake, Kleperis is thinking big. He’s currently in the midst of a $2 million round of financing, seeking investors looking for a side helping of profits alongside the environmental benefits of sea-based agriculture. It’s not an entirely new premise, but the OPod, as Kleperis calls it, takes aquaponics to a new level. The device is solar powered, and the water it desalinates cools the growing plants. So, there’s no need for the air conditioning or lighting often associated with vertical farming. While it’s just a single pod sitting in the bay today, there is room on the waterfront property Kleperis owns for 10. The current pilot pod is a modest 3 feet by 5 feet, but future models may be as large as 10-by-10. And that’s just the beginning of his vision. This can, pardon the pun, mushroom into a global environmentally friendly business within a few years, Kleperis says. There’s one cloud on the horizon. Sarasota County, thinking more locally than globally, has declared the project a violation of zoning. While Kleperis maintains the OPod is a boat, the county considers it a structure. And that is a problem because, the county says, “Agriculture is not a permitted principal use” at the OPod’s otherwise undeveloped site. It has labeled the project and the OPod “unpermitted,” and is threatening to haul Kleperis into court. Fines could hit as high as $500 a day for multiple violations. After a June 17 enforcement date came and went, the county Planning and Development Services said: “Staff will be preparing an affidavit of violation,” which is a formal charging instrument requesting a hearing before the special magistrate. “We have never been out of any compliance issue as we are a boat registered in the state of Florida,” Kleperis retorted. “We have gone under power on our vessel to the lot next door and have wondered why code compliance is even involved in a maritime issue. Code compliance has zero to do with maritime boats.” For now, the mushrooms continue to grow unimpeded and happily in the OPod, anticipating the day they will end up on diners’ plates, as they have in such establishments as Kojo, Selva Grill, and the Ritz Carlton. There’s more to read here:

Meet Todd & His OPod

ONE FISH, TWO FISH

Mote Marine Laboratory released about 1,800 redfish into Phillippi Creek on Sarasota Bay recently, as part of an ongoing effort to replenish the species in area waters. Mote’s Aquaculture and Fisheries Ecology & Enhancement Programs successfully raised 20,000 redfish, also known as red drum at Mote’s Aquaculture Research Park, on 200 acres off of Fruitville Road, east of Interstate 75. That’s the largest number of fish produced in the program’s 25-year history. In partnership with the fishing club Salt Strong, Mote has been releasing all 20,000 fish during June in waters along Sarasota and Charlotte counties. The fish released by Mote are all between 6 and 10 inches in length. Before release, the redfish are fitted with passive integrated transponder tags, which allow Mote scientists to monitor the fish to learn from their efforts. “We may only ever see a very small percent of released fish again if relying on physical recapture alone,” said Dr. Ryan Schloesser, Mote’s fisheries ecology & enhancement program manager. “We know we regularly get data from 80% of the PIT tagged snook we release, and we can’t wait to see how much PIT tags can show us about red drum stock enhancement.” Already a popular game fish, redfish populations have been reduced by cold weather and red tide. There are a variety of ongoing efforts to restock redfish. This month, the Coastal Conservation Association Florida partnered with the Duke Energy Mariculture Center and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission to release 250 hatchery-reared adult redfish off of Pinellas County. Also earlier this month, Ocean Era made public its plan to raise redfish instead of Almaco jack at its proposed offshore aquaculture demonstration project that would be in federal waters south of Venice and north of Englewood. There’s more on this story here: One Fish, Two Fish

MANATEE OK’S NEW NICK PRICE GOLF COURSE

A new private golf course designed by retired pro golfer Nick Price is slated for development in East Manatee County near Myakka City. The project is among a number of developments considered recently during a county land-use meeting. Commissioners also denied a request for zoning changes that would have allowed another development east of the county’s Future Development Area Boundary and pumped the breaks on a rezone of the Bradenton Tennis Center for the construction of multifamily housing. County commissioners approved a request to rezone a 537-acre property to allow for the development of a new private golf course designed by Price on Singletary Road near Myakka City. The project will include an 18-hole golf course, a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse and spa facility, a 20,000-square-foot golf training facility, 14 resort cottages, and 93 single-family homes. The property is located east of the county’s Future Development Area Boundary, and the project would use potable well water and sanitary septic to service the development.

Please click on the link for more: New Golf Course Coming

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