Newsletter 150

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

COUNTY TO PURSUE AGGRESSIVE GROWTH

A controversial developer’s proposal to rewrite key growth management policies for Sarasota County’s barrier islands and pave the way for unprecedented intensive hotel development on Siesta Key will proceed after Sarasota County commissioners gave the Benderson Development Co. the green light to pursue the changes recently. The commissioners chose Benderson’s more aggressive growth plan changes but rejected allowing public consideration of two others that would have allowed more modest hotel development. All three proposals − technically called privately-initiated growth plan amendments − come after developers and the county lost a two-year legal battle at an estimated cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars that stemmed from another effort to allow big hotels on Siesta Key.

In that case, the county sought to accommodate developers proposals for larger hotels on the world famous Siesta Key by simply changing the development code to remove a long-standing density cap on the number of hotel rooms allowed. That effort was thwarted by a Siesta Key resident who challenged the move in court and won. In one of the key rulings, a judge concluded the code change ran afoul of the county decades-old growth management policy limiting development on flood-prone barrier islands. That growth policy effectively froze for decades any increase in intensity of development on Siesta Key, resulting in the low profile, laid back, beach town vibe that exists today where the largest hotel on the island stands at just over 50 rooms. But developers proposed four projects on Siesta Key in 2021, calling for more than 400 hotel rooms on the island including an eight story, 170-room hotel in Siesta Key Village on less than an acre, a 112-room hotel on Midnight Pass Road and a 120-unit project near the island’s south bridge. Benderson Development, one of the largest active developers in the region, was not involved in the previous Siesta Key hotel projects, but the influential local company owns several properties on the island, including just under an acre in Siesta Key Village, where it seeks to build 147-room hotel, according to the most recent development application. For more on this story, courtesy of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: County Pursues Benderson Aggressive Growth Plan

ISLAND HOTEL DEVELOPERS DODGE FEES

An effort by Siesta Key resident Lourdes Ramirez to force hotel developers to pay part of her legal fees in her successful lawsuit against Sarasota County was rejected by a circuit judge, leaving county taxpayers on the hook for a bill that could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sarasota Circuit Judge Stephen Walker allowed the hotel developers to intervene in the case soon after Ramirez sued the county in 2021 after the County Commission removed a hotel size cap on the barrier island that would have paved the way for the first hotel development on Siesta Key in decades. Walker later recused himself from the case due to a conflict of interest with one of the law firms representing one of the developers. Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll took over the case in March 2023, according to the court docket, ultimately siding with Ramirez. However, the intervenor’s secondary status in the case allowed the developers’ attorneys to file motions, participate in depositions and request documents — all actions that Ramirez argued increased the costs in an already expensive two-year legal battle. “There was a huge cost associated with the case that now falls on the county taxpayer to unfairly pick up,” Ramirez told the Herald-Tribune. Also, when the developers entered the suit, they put Ramirez on notice that if they prevailed she would be required to pay their fees. The judge did not weigh in on that assertion, but did rule earlier this month that the intervenors would not be liable for court costs given their secondary status in the case. A final order had not yet been filed on that decision as of recently.

Ramirez’s lawsuit accused the County Commission of violating longstanding growth policies that limited increasing development density or intensity on the barrier island, with the judge siding with Ramirez in October. A 2019 change to state law requires the judge to award attorney fees and court costs to the prevailing party in a challenge to a development order — a move that critics warned would discourage citizens from participating in local land use decisions. To read more, please click here: Island Hotel Developers Dodge Fees

COUNTY TO INVESTIGATE COMMERCIAL BOATING

They decided it required a “deeper dive.” During their Oct. 24 meeting, members of the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners reached a consensus to pause and consider the best way to handle commercial boating businesses — such as charter fishing, tour boats and scuba diving — using county recreational water accesses as points for loading and unloading clients. On Siesta Key, Turtle Beach Park on Midnight Pass Road and Nora Patterson Bay Island Park on Siesta Drive are examples of such locales. This comes on the heels of the county’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources researching and possibly developing a permit program for such commercial boating businesses. However, commissioners determined it would be difficult to regulate and the parks do not have enough parking to support such a program. Nicole Rissler, the department’s director, gave a presentation requesting an amendment to the county code due to an increase in unauthorized use of these water access points and asked the commission for updated language delegating authority to the county administrator or designee to issue and change fees associated with this use. While charter fishing businesses are subject to the proposal, it does not include commercial fishing boats, such as ones which provide wholesale seafood. Those are exempt through a separate section of the county code. “This is clarifying language,” Rissler said. “Right now, today, our county code in Chapter 90 prohibits commercial activity from occurring in our parks. So, what we are proposing to change today does not affect that this activity already is prohibited within our parks.” Rissler also said she has heard people saying that the county is trying to regulate commercial businesses launching from the boat ramps. “That is untrue,” she said, adding that it does not regulate the types of vessels launching from the ramps but doing business in county parks without a permit is currently prohibited. Lastly, she said that even if there was a permit program allowing this type of use, the recipient would still have to possess a business-use permit and, to operate in the Marine Park District, it must have an “abutting lease” which means a slip at a marina in the district or some other type of ownership within that district. A concerned District 3 Commissioner Neil Rainford said charter fishing, tour boats, and other water recreation activities bring tourism to Sarasota County that affects all branches of the industry, including restaurants and vacation rentals. “I think the unintended consequences might be significant,” he said. Rissler responded, “This is not just about fishing charters. This is across the board … You can’t operate a business without a permit in our parks.” Please click here for more, courtesy of Siesta Sand: Task Force For Commercial Boating At Public Access

HOME INVENTORY IS UP

Sarasota-Manatee had more homes on the market in October than at any other time this year, and in some neighborhoods more than at any time since early 2020, according to statistics maintained by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee.A slowing national real estate market has been attributed to the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation. The Fed has repeatedly raised interest rates, which increases the cost to borrow money, weakening demand in the housing market as fewer people take on mortgages. Mortgage rates also hit the highest levels seen in more than 20 years this fall. Despite the slowing national market, local real estate agents in Sarasota said the rising inventory of homes for sale is actually creating a healthier market than what occurred over the past few years. “Inventory has been on this steady increase since 2022, and while we’ve hit the highest it’s been all year,it’s still not quite back to pre-pandemic levels,” Brian Tresidder, 2023 RASM President and Vice President of Operations at William Raveis Real Estate, said. “The good news is that we’ve been trending upward and we’re getting closer to the benchmark for a balanced market, which is a 5.5-month supply.” Realtors calculate months of supply by dividing the total number of listings by the total number of closed sales to get how long it would take to exhaust the existing inventory of homes for sale. Currently, the months of supply in the Sarasota-Manatee single-family housing market is 3.5 months. At points in 2021 and 2022, there was less than a month of supply. There were 6,710 single-family homes, condos or townhomes for sale in Sarasota and Manatee counties in October, compared to the 4,568 residential properties for sale in October 2022, according to the RASM data. The median sales figure for a single-family home sold in October in Sarasota and Manatee counties was $490,000, 10% less than the $544,343 the median home sale received in October 2022. While inventory is up like much of the U.S. real estate market, the total number of closed sales were also up in October when compared to last year. Data from the National Association of Realtors notes that home sales across the country in October experienced a 4.4 percent decline in closed sales. “Compared to the rest of the country where home sales are declining in most markets, our housing market is telling a different story,” Tresidder said. “This month’s data showcases an increase in sales, a rise in new listings, a leveling of the time from listing to contract, and strong inventory growth – all signs that point toward a more balanced market in our future.” There’s more on this story here: Home Inventory Is Up

FLORIDA ON PACE FOR RECORD TOURISM NUMBERS

With international travel clawing closer to pre-pandemic levels, Florida is on pace for a record-setting year for tourism. The tourism-marketing agency Visit Florida recently estimated 35.066 million people traveled to Florida during the third quarter of 2023, 1.4 percent more than during the same period of 2022 and 7.9 percent above the total in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The new numbers showed a rebound from a slight second-quarter dip, which industry leaders attributed to increased competition from other states and countries that were closed longer than Florida because of the pandemic. Visit Florida said Florida had 105.2 million visitors during the first nine months of the year, up from 104.478 million during the same period in 2022. Florida posted a full-year record of 137.4 million tourists in 2022. In 2019, Florida attracted 131 million visitors, with 100.267 million coming to the state during the first nine months of the year. Florida’s July-through-September totals this year were dominated by visitors from other states. But they were also helped by the federal government’s lifting of COVID-19 vaccination requirements for international air travelers on May 11, the same day a COVID-19 public health emergency ended. International tourism, however, continues to face issues with non-migrant visa delays, which have been blamed, at least in part, on staffing shortages at embassies. The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs website recently showed London wait times at 110 days, up from 90 days on June 7. Paris was at 200 days, up from 180 days in June. Rio De Janeiro was at 162 days on Thursday, down from 477 days in June. Florida’s tourism industry was hammered in 2020 because of pandemic-related shutdowns. But state officials have contended that early efforts to reopen the economy led to a quicker tourism rebound in Florida. Tourism from other parts of the U.S. accounted for 92 percent of the third-quarter totals, but it was slightly below the level from the same period in 2022. Overseas and Canadian tourists, however, showed year-over-year increases — though they are still not at pre-pandemic levels. Visit Florida estimated the state had nearly 2.23 million overseas visitors in the third quarter, up from 1.93 million in the third quarter of 2022. In the third quarter of 2019, the total was 2.5 million. Also, Canadian travel — traditionally the top international country of origin for visitors to Florida — reached 666,000 in the third quarter, topping 561,000 in the third quarter of 2022. For the first nine months of 2023, Florida attracted about 2.8 million Canadians, up from 1.749 million in the same period of 2022. In 2019, 4.088 million Canadians made their way to Florida, with 2.997 million during the first nine months of the year and 703,000 during the third quarter. Pointing to the trends in global travel, Visit Florida President and CEO Dana Young called the third-quarter figures “a new normal with an elevated market share of tourism, especially international tourism.” To combat increased competition from other parts of the U.S., Visit Florida made plans this year to market regions of the state outside of their peak seasons, highlight non-typical tourist destinations and move up the start of winter and “families” advertising campaigns. The state budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, includes $80 million for Visit Florida, a $30 million increase from last year. Please follow the jump for more on this story, courtesy of WUSF: Florida On Pace For Record Tourism

PATH CLEARED FOR EAST MANATEE DEVELOPMENT

Manatee County commissioners gave the green light to build more than a thousand new homes on rural land previously zoned for agriculture. Commissioners discussed the development, as well as proposals for a new gas station in Palmetto and an expansion for the Ingman Marine boat dealership, at a public land use meeting recently. Commissioners transmitted a comprehensive plan change that allows construction of up to 1,100 residential homes at a development called the Lazy C Ranch in East Manatee County. The 495-acre property is located at Rutland Road and Rye Road in Parrish. The vote focused on zoning changes for about 405 acres of agricultural land located east of the county’s Future Development Area Boundary line that allow for construction of up to three homes per acre. The boundary marks the furthest to the east the county provides water and sewer services, and is meant to restrict construction of dense development to it’s east unless the development project is granted special approvals by county commissioners. Transmittal of the comprehensive plan changes does not grant final approval to the project, but is a necessary step in the process for the project to move forward. The Lazy C Ranch is the fourth development to receive similar approval to skip over the line. Similar approvals have been granted for an eastward expansion of Lakewood Ranch, the development of East River Ranch and Gamble Creek Village. There’s more on this story here: New Development In East Manatee

SARASOTA RANKS 10TH ‘MOST INSTAGRAMMABLE’

Smile, Sarasota. Or make a duckface. Or at least stand semi-sideways to the camera in front of the David replica at Ringling College, a lifeguard stand on Siesta Key or your favorite watering hole on Main Street. You’re among Florida’s top 10 most-Instagrammable cities, according to a vacation-rental organization that recently examined hashtags for 400 cities and towns in the Sunshine State on the ubiquitous social media site. Though Sarasota was bested by southwest Florida nemesis Naples (No. 3), our little neck of the woods did out-hashtag the likes of Key West (16); Gainesville (13 – take that Gators) and that tourism hotspot, Stuart (14).

Orlando, naturally, was tops, followed by Miami, Naples (yeah, yeah, we know), Tampa, Jacksonville, Destin, Jupiter, Hollywood and St. Petersburg. Winter Park came in just below Sarasota at No. 11. But don’t feel bad. Belleair Shore in Pinellas County came in with four. Not fourth place. Four posts. In the study by FloridaRentals.com, more than 5 million posts to Instagram including the Orlando hashtag. Sarasota, in comparison, checked in with 770,810. “Florida is generally a visually appealing and photogenic state, making its destinations the perfect backdrop for Instagram photos and other social media posts,’’ said a spokesperson for FloridaRentals.com, a site that helps vacationers and visitors organizer rental properties. Beyond counts of social media posts, though, Sarasota County’s remains healthy, generally on par with 2022′s record-setting figures, according to Visit Sarasota. 2023′s overall economic impact of tourism across April-June 2023 (the most recent figures available) outpaced the same period in 2022 — $792.7 million vs. $759.9 million. Room nights were down slightly but visitor spending was up generally. Visitation was about the same from 2022, 412,000 to about 419,000.

Please click here for more: Sarasota 10th ‘Most Instagrammable’

SARASOTA CELEBRATES BOBBY JONES REOPENING

Its name will remain the same, the Bobby Jones Golf Club, but considering the modernization done to the facility named after the founder of the Augusta National Golf Club, a tagline might be appropriate. Back to the future. Last Friday, from 9 a.m. to noon, the public got the chance to participate in the grand reopening of the nearly 100-year-old club and new nature park, located at 1000 Circus Blvd. “This will be a day to celebrate and remember,” Sarasota mayor Liz Alpert said. “Our historic municipal golf course has been restored and is a beautiful amenity for the community. There’s no question Bobby Jones will be an urban oasis for those who enjoy green space and being outdoors, for generations to come.” Friday’s free event included self-guided tours of the 199-acre course, tours of the 90-acre nature park, remarks from local dignitaries, a ceremonial first ball tee-off, and a commemorative keepsake for the first 450 attendees. Those familiar with the former Bobby Jones Golf Course should notice the differences. Following extensive community discussion over a period of five years, last year, the City Commission unanimously approved downsizing Bobby Jones from 45 holes to 27. The non-golf green space, totaling nearly 100 acres, was designated a nature park. The 18-hole course was designed with six tee boxes at varying distances, enabling golfers of all abilities to enjoy the course. The course yardage extends from 4,583 yards to 6,714 yards. For those who want to experience the course as famed architect Donald Ross originally planned, a special set of “Ross tees” allow golfers to play the par-71 course from the Ross distance of 6,240 yards. In addition, there’s a driving range with 70 hitting stations, a 3.75-acre short-game area with three chipping greens and two teardrop target greens, and a 21,000-square-foot putting green. “There are an infinite number of shots and an infinite number of yardages that you can replicate,” course architect Richard Mandell said. “A temporary clubhouse exists, but will be replaced by a permanent one over time. Mandel was asked about the course’s difficulty. “How good of a golfer are you?” he responded. When the guy said,“terrible,” Mandell said he would do fine. “And the reason you’ll be fine,” he said,”is because it’s got the wide fairways. Also six different sets of tees that work for you and your swing speed, and you’ll find it very manageable. It’s a forgiving course. “The people who never saw it before, they’re going to come out and be very happy and impressed. If we embraced Donald Ross and we restored Donald Ross, it’s going to be fun and enjoyable, because that’s what he was all about.” Please click on the link for more: Restored Bobby Jones Reopens

ALLEGIANT’S SUNSEEKER RESORT OPENS

Allegiant Travel, known best for its budget airline, has opened its long-awaited second Sunseeker Resort, this one a grandiose expanse on a prime waterfront perch in the heart of Charlotte County, where the Peace River pours into Charlotte Harbor. The $653 million luxury resort complex on 22 acres features 785 rooms with nearly two dozen restaurants and bars, a spa and shops, 60,000 square feet of meeting space and a nearby golf course to boot. The project’s scale has the potential to rock the economy of Charlotte County, the smallest county on Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast between Collier to the south and Pasco to the north, with ripple effects reaching to neighboring areas as well. Allegiant notes that it has moved millions of people through the area since it began service at the tiny Punta Gorda Airport just six miles away, and 1.8 million to and from the area in 2022 alone. “It’s transformative. There is nothing like this and you can’t compare it to anything else,” said Dave Gammon, director of the Charlotte County Economic Development Office. “When you walk in there all you can say is ‘Wow.’ It takes you away. Every wall, every piece of art, the way the rooms all face the water, and the views just take you down the river. It’s spectacular.” Though Friday marks the first day of official business at the resort, operations have been rolling behind the scenes for nearly six weeks as staff were trained and familiarized with the company culture ahead of the Dec. 15 grand opening. The five-year construction project was halted twice, first in 2020 during the COVID pandemic and a second time following damage from Hurricane Ian in September 2022. For Charlotte County, the wait was well worth it. Charlotte’s beaches, restaurant and hotel offerings have long been overshadowed by its neighbors, with Sarasota to the north and Lee to the south. But the Sunseeker concept, copied from Allegiant’s desert complex with the same name in Las Vegas, puts Charlotte’s pristine Charlotte Harbor estuary and quaint downtown Punta Gorda across the Peace River front and center. There’s more on this story here: Sunseeker Resort Opens in Charlotte County

RETURN OF THE CORAL

By late morning on Nov. 21, every piece of heat-stressed coal evacuated from the Florida Keys to Sarasota following last summer’s unprecedented underwater heat wave had been returned home. Most of the coral is still being monitored in land-based nurseries, such as the three Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium operates in the Keys, as expert coral reef restoration researchers continue the process of returning those corals to off-shore nurseries. Jason Spadaro, Mote’s coral reef restoration research program manager, said, “For the most part, the vast majority of corals that we have on land right now are looking phenomenal.” Just before Thanksgiving, almost 7,000 corals that had been cared for at Mote Aquaculture Research Park were returned to Mote’s offshore nurseries at Sand Key, Looe Key, Islamorada, and Key Largo, Spadaro said. The return effort started in late October, after thousands of specimens of heat-stressed coral had been cared for and nurtured back to health at Mote’s aquaculture park, The Reef Institute, a coral research and restoration facility in West Palm Beach and elsewhere for roughly three months. The corals were moved through a massive, cooperative effort of coral restoration scientists, government agencies and local businesses that Michael Crosby, president & CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, likened to a cross between Noah’s Ark and the World War II evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk. Staghorn and Elkhorn coral were particularly impacted by warm water and subsequent bleaching in a historic climate event that drew international attention after an underwater sensor in Florida Bay recorded a temperature of 101.5 degrees on July 24. Those nurseries are key to Mission Iconic Reefs, a $100-million effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and seven partners to restore roughly 3 million square feet of coral reefs on seven iconic sites along the 300-plus mile long Florida Reef Tract. Corals are colonies of tiny polyps that eat plankton. They live in a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae algae, which feed on coral waste and carbon dioxide and provide the coral oxygen and organic products of photosynthesis. Increased water temperature for an extended period of time can prompt bleaching – when the coral expels the zooxanthellae. Bleached coral are not dead, they’re just starving since the zooxanthellae no longer feed them. Coral biologists at the Mote Aquaculture Park would hand-feed cohorts of coral, to help them regain strength. In years past, water temperatures would not hit the critical 88-90 degree range that could prompt a bleaching event until late August or September. The early onset of warm water coupled with weather forecasts suggested that corals left in the Keys would be subject to a bleaching event that could last three months. Click here for more: Return Of The Coral

AQUARIUM TARGETS LATE ’24 OPENING

Your out-of-town visitors will have to make do with typical Sarasota-region attractions this holiday season, but Mote Marine Laboratory’s aquarium at Nathan Benderson Park should be ready for them next time around. Speaking recently to Sarasota County commissioners, Kevin Cooper, Mote vice president for communications and strategic initiatives, said the organization is targeting a general public opening in a little more than a year, with several milestones along the way. “We anticipate doing some soft openings, bringing people like you inside the building sometime in December of 2024, hoping for, at the latest, a Jan. 1, 2025 opening for the general public,’’ Cooper told commissioners who were discussing how to fund $20 million pledged in 2020 for the $130 million project. “But people will be coming inside the doors in December of 2024.’’ Mote expects the Science Education Aquarium (SEA) will double its annual visitation to approximately 700,000 people a year, compared to its current City Island site, growing from 60,000 square feet to 111,000 and a capacity of a million visitors annually. The emerging new structure towers over formerly open landscape between the park and University Town Center, easily visible from adjacent Interstate 75. “If you’re driving by there, it’s no secret anymore that this is out of the ground,” Cooper said. Cooper said Mote expects to request a certificate of occupancy from the county in late summer 2024, after which animals can be introduced into the aquarium’s tanks and exhibits, including the centerpiece – a three-story tall, 400,000-gallon Gulf of Mexico exhibit. Mote’s funding for the project comes from a variety of sources, including private donations and pledged support from state and local governments. Manatee County commissioners pledged $5 million in 2020, also coming from tourism taxes, though Mote initially requested $15 million. At their meeting on Nov. 14, Sarasota commissioners expressed their intent to use revenue from the county’s Tourism Development Tax to fund their pledge to Mote. Formal consideration of setting up the bond and final terms for repayment have yet to be presented to the commission. According to Kim Radke, director of the county’s office of financial management, 70% of the county’s newest 1% tourism tax addition is earmarked for capital improvement projects – and the Mote project falls into that category. The tax was approved in 2022 after Sarasota County’s tourism tax collections qualified it to levy an additional percentage point beyond the traditional 5%. In fiscal year 2024, that added levy is expected to deliver more than $5.1 million in revenue with a forecast of rising revenues through the 2028 fiscal year. Please click here for more: Mote Aquarium Targets Late ’24 Opening

CITY ARBORIST SPEAKS FOR THE TREES

While many Sarasota residents have long been protective of the city’s tree canopy, the main man behind the mission is 55-year-old Donald Ullom. Ullom has been protecting trees for more than 20 years and has served as the city’s senior arborist for nearly eight, advising on all things, well, arboreal. He is certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. Building on a career that began in the Sequoia National Forest in California, Ullom now focuses on ordinance compliance, reviewing permits and building plans for private property to make sure the city’s urban canopy is preserved, which often means replacing trees as they are cut down. Occasionally Ullom even gets to plant a few himself. “I actually have to sit down and look at the building plans for the site, whether you’re putting in a garage, house, hotel, shed, pool … we have to look at all that and see how it’s going to affect existing trees,” Ullom said. Maintaining the local canopy helps prevent negative environmental impacts such as the urban heat island effect, which can drive up temperatures in areas like city centers that were allowed to develop with little regard for trees and their cooling abilities. Ullom also noted that part of the job is community outreach, helping people with the permitting process and resolving tree-related issues. “I try to get out and about as much as possible. But you’re looking at new houses, demolitions, tree removals, new buildings, such as the new hospital complex or hotels that are coming in downtown,” said Ullom, who makes $78,684 a year. “So, you have to get on those sites and actually see what’s there, what needs replaced and what options we have as far as preserving trees or requiring for new trees.” Sarasota hired an arborist and incorporated tree ordinances into the city’s books in 2002, four years after community members gathered to fight back against development and protect the local canopy.

The city most recently updated its tree protections in June 2022, adopting Ordinance No. 21-5369 after years of residents and developers arguing over the proposed regulations. There’s more to read here: City Arborist Speaks For The Trees

NEW CEO HAS BIG PLANS FOR SAVE OUR SEABIRDS

As a self-described “mercenary for a good cause,” Brian Walton, the new chief executive officer of Save Our Seabirds, is not afraid to dream big and connect present day to the legacy of the City Island sanctuary. “Anybody who is a Sarasota native and has been around for a while will remember the Pelican Man,” said Walton. “He started noticing pelicans that were injured and in trouble, and he established a lease with the city on the site (Save Our Seabirds) sits on now.”

Officially founded in 2008, the organization has a history stretching back to 1988.

“I’ve never worked in a wildlife organization. I’ve never worked in any kind of conservation, and I know very little about birds,” Walton said. “But what I bring is a wealth of experience in this world and knowing what it takes to create a healthy organization and achieve their mission.” Walton hopes as CEO to steward the development and funding of a new avian hospital that includes a flight cage, allowing the organization’s in-house veterinarian to expand rehabilitation capabilities. The project is expected to cost between $10 million to $15 million, according to estimates from Sarasota-based DSDG Architects. Capital funds stand at roughly $1.2 million. “We sit out on (a barrier) island, and everything is built out of wood. It has been beaten to death by the storms and the weather over the years. A lot of the aviaries, the buildings, they’re rotting away,” Walton said. “There’s been a plan to rebuild the campus and build a new hospital to ensure our cutting edge doctor has the cutting edge tools to best do what she does.” Save Our Seabirds is one of the largest bird rehabilitation centers in the state and receives approximately 5,000 distress calls a year. About 1,200 birds come through the hospital on an annual basis. The mission of the organization is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release injured and sick birds – shorebirds and other species as well. Last month, they released 30 birds that came through the hospital and were rehabilitated. The organization offers a bird-walk experience to the public, where 120 resident birds are on display, either because of injuries that were too severe to return to the wild or former pets too acclimated to humans to be released. There’s more on this story here: New CEO Plans For Save Our Seabirds

NATURAL LUXURY WHEN GLAMPING

Guests won’t need much more than a few snacks, bug spray, and their favorite wine or spirits to enjoy a weekend of glamping under the stars at Sarasota’s first glamping experience — Timberline Glamping Sarasota. Timberline is a luxury glamping company housed inside Oscar Scherer State Park and is now open for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers alike in Osprey. Glamping − a blend of the words glamorous and camping coined in the early 2000s − is a style of camping that melds the necessities of home life such as beds, sinks, and, in some cases, air conditioning with a camper’s need for outdoor adventure. Timberline Sarasota campers can now reserve two former primitive sites — sites 105 and 106 — nestled in the heart of the campground within the 1,400-acre Oscar Scherer State Park. Each site is fully equipped with a built-in fire pit, outdoor seating, and lighting. 

The 320-square-foot Deluxe Safari tent boasts a spacious, fully decorated camp site. Guests can enjoy a few comforts of home inside the airconditioned tent that also includes a king-sized bed, two sets of bunk beds, luxurious bedding, a Keurig Coffee maker, a mini-refrigerator, rugs, lamps, oil diffuser and electrical outlets for charging electronics. The Deluxe glamp site sleeps up to six people while the double site comes with two queen beds and can sleep up to four guests. 

Timberline is overhauling four more sites for glamping at Oscar Scherer, with opening scheduled for the spring of 2024. Timberline Sarasota is the second company location in the state of Florida. Please click on the link for more: Natural Luxury When Glamping