Several nonprofit organizations win grants through Resilient SRQ Program
Although the request totaled $24,547,000, the Sarasota County Commission this week approved $13.5 million out of a federal grant for a resiliency and flood mitigation project on St. Armands.
That decision came as the board members worked to divvy up $57 million out of the nearly $210.1 million that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the county in January to respond to unmet needs resulting from the 2024 hurricane season.
By count of The Sarasota News Leader, 26 people — including business owners, property owners and residents — had urged the board members during the Open to the Public comment period of the Dec. 16 regular meeting to approve the full amount. Among those speakers were past Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert, city Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier, interim Sarasota City Manager Dave Bullock, Assistant Longboat Key Town Manager Isaac Brownman and City of Sarasota Public Works Director Nikesh Patel.
On Dec. 17 — the day after the vote, Chris Goglia, president of the St. Armands Residents Association, wrote in a newsletter from that organization, “I consider this an extremely positive outcome for St. Armands, for all the City of Sarasota’s barrier islands and the Town of Longboat Key, and, while some might consider this a lofty claim, for the entire county’s economic vitality and sense of place.”
He added, “It was extremely gratifying to witness the number of people who spoke in support of this project, as well as the diverse interests they represented.”
The commissioners also approved $14,725,616 for improvements to South River Road, which is a major hurricane evacuation route not only for South County residents but also for people residing in part of Charlotte County.
“We have a project ready to go,” Commissioner Tom Knight pointed out, adding that that initiative had achieved one of the highest scores after county staff’s review of the application, winning an 85.
“That’s a traffic safety issue,” he added, not just a matter of hurricane evacuations.
Grants approved for nonprofit organizations were as follows: $3 million for the Newtown Boys & Girls Club; $750,000 for commercial kitchen equipment for the YMCA of Southwest Florida, located in Venice; and $261,000 for a Family Promise of South Sarasota County emergency shelter.
Multiple county infrastructure projects were approved, including a Forest Lakes Floodplain Creation/Mitigation Initiative with an expense of $15,611,000.
Altogether, the funds allocated to nonprofit projects added up to $4,011,000, while the public entity initiatives totaled $53,078,300, according to a document that Steve Hyatt, manager of what is called the Resilient SRQ Program — which is handled through the county’s Office of Financial Management — provided to the News Leader on Dec. 17 at its request.
The Boys & Girls Club funding was the first to win board approval.
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger stressed early on during the discussion, “This is an absolutely impossible task,” given the fact that the board had allocated $57,089,300 of the HUD funds to initiatives involving infrastructure and public facilities.
“Obviously, some people are going to be disappointed,” Cutsinger added. “I’m honestly focused almost entirely on infrastructure projects,” he told his colleagues. “That’s what these dollars are set aside for.”
Commissioner Teresa Mast noted her focus on “Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure,” as she put it. “We have made a commitment to this community that we would put infrastructure first,” she added.
If any funds remained in that “pot” after she and her colleagues tackled county and city projects, Mast suggested, then the board members could consider allocations for other initiatives.
“I’m on the same line as Commissioner Mast,” Commissioner Mark Smith said.
Hyatt reminded the commissioners of the HUD criteria for the awards, with 70% of the total grant funds having to be used to benefit low- to moderate-income residents. Those individuals are persons who make up to 80% of the Area Median Income for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). HUD sets the MSA median income levels each year.
Hyatt also had stressed that the projects had to have a “tie back” to Tropical Storm Debby, Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton, unless the money would be used for mitigation initiatives. Further, he noted, all of the money had to be spent within six years.
The funds were advertised as available for the rehabilitation or construction of public facilities, with nonprofits and public entities eligible to apply for them between Sept. 5 and Oct. 17.
Altogether, Hyatt pointed out, county staff received 12 applications from nonprofits, totaling $63,608,004; the 13 applications from public entities added up to $111,082,591.
Any funds that the commissioners approved that did not end up being used, Hyatt said, would revert to the specific “pot” from which they were awarded.
Other than the money set aside for Infrastructure and Public Facilities, the largest amount that the commissioners designated for a specific “pot” out of this HUD grant was $45 million for the dredging of Phillippi Creek.
Kicking off the discussion
Commissioner Cutsinger was the first board member to recommend a project for funding: the rebuilding of the Newtown Boys & Girls Club. “They’ve raised $9 million already for it,” he pointed out, which was a factor he considered significant in his decision.
“They’re also looking at having [a] food pantry,” he said, and a post-hurricane staging area for Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL).
Both Commissioners Mast and Smith noted their focus on the St. Armands project.
Mast added to that the Forest Lakes project; a Bahia Vista Flood Mitigation Project; a county initiative involving bypass pumps for sewer lift stations; a county expansion of the Southgate Regional Lift Station; and proposed improvements to county’s emergency staging area. Those were listed as Nos. 19 through 23 on the master list that staff had provided to the board members.
Mast also noted her support for the City of Sarasota’s proposal for a resiliency and flood mitigation initiative in the predominantly Amish and Mennonite community of Pinecraft, along with the same type of work in the Harbor Acres neighborhood and along part of U.S. 41, including the Sarasota Memorial Hospital campus. That was No. 16 on the list.
The Southgate project had one of the highest scores for funding, based on staff’s analysis, Cutsinger pointed out, adding that he would support that.
Chair Joe Neunder agreed with the need for that undertaking.
Smith’s list included a City of Sarasota proposal for resiliency and storm mitigation work in Whitaker Bayou (No. 15); a project that would convert septic systems to sewer service for the “Elderly, Low-Income & Very Low-Income Households” in the Aloha Estates Mobile Home Park, as that application characterized it (No 5); along with the Forest Lakes, Bahia Vista, county sewer lift station bypass pumps, and Southgate initiatives that Mast had cited.
Cutsinger expressed support for the Whitaker Bayou project.
Smith noted that the Aloha Estates Mobile Home Park initiative “would help tremendously in keeping that sewage out of Phillippi Creek.”
Commissioner Tom Knight joined Cutsinger in expressing support for the Newtown Boys & Girls Club project.
Then Knight referenced remarks of county residents during the Open to the Public comment period that morning in regard to people who had been forced out of their homes by repetitive flooding during the 2024 storm system. That made him think of people who are homeless, Knight said, along with the nonprofit foundations that provide assistance to those persons. “My heart goes out to people who don’t have a house to stay in during a hurricane” or at any other time, he added.
Next on Knight’s list was a Family Promise of South Sarasota County proposal for what it calls the Shamrock Emergency Shelter, at a cost of $261,000. That, he pointed out, is “an option for people who are homeless with children.” The organization is raising funds, too, to add to the money it was seeking from the county, he said.
Further, Knight voiced support for the $200,000 sought by Harvest Tabernacle of Sarasota, which does business as Harvest House. It had requested $200,000 for a “Critical Facilities Resilience Project.”
Further, Knight had on his list the $1 million that The Salvation Army in Sarasota was seeking for its 10th Street Campus rehabilitation and resiliency project. That facility had to be evacuated in advance of Hurricane Milton’s strike in October 2024, Knight told his colleagues.
Then Knight noted the YMCA of Southwest Florida application that totaled $18,511,000, suggesting that the commission “chip in $750,000” for the upgrade of that nonprofit’s commercial kitchen. After the 2024 hurricanes, Knight emphasized, leaders of that YMCA opened the facility to feed members of the public who had been affected by the storms, and they allowed persons to shower there. The YMCA has generators, he added.
Chair Neunder noted that the Newtown Boys & Girls Club proposal was at the top of his list. “That particular facility does a wonderful job …”
He was open to other suggestions from his colleagues, he added.
As they deliberated, Hyatt of the Office of Financial Management (OFM) kept a tally of the amounts discussed.
Cutsinger noted that the county infrastructure projects Mast had proposed — Nos. 19-23 — would add up to about $24 million-plus. Hyatt of the OFM calculated the total at approximately $27 million.
However, after further discussion, No. 23, regarding the improvements to the county emergency staging area, was removed. Smith, Knight and Neunder had not agreed to that one.
Neunder expressed support, though, for Nos. 19 through 22.
Therefore, Hyatt eliminated No. 23 from the funding list.
Smith said he did not have the Forest Lakes project on his list. Instead, he talked of his view that the facets of the St. Armands proposal “are essential,” given the economic benefits the county derives from the Circle’s shopping and dining district, as speakers had emphasized that morning.
A dialogue with the county Stormwater Department director
As Smith talked further about the St. Armands initiative, Commissioner Mast asked County Administrator Jonathan Lewis whether that would be considered a county project, as the county handles the City of Sarasota’s stormwater work under the terms of an interlocal agreement.
Lewis replied that he believes county staff would oversee that work.
Smith did note that he felt two facets of the project could be omitted: underground storage vaults, at an expense of $500,000; and removable metal barriers, at $3 million. “I have a hard time,” he said, allocating funding for the latter, which he viewed as a measure that private property owners should cover.
He recommended that the board allocate what he calculated as $13,906,000 for the rest of the St. Armands proposal.
Mast responded that she could support the funding for pump station retrofits and generators, but she could not agree to the $2.8 million for “Design/Engineering/Architectural Services” and a 10% contingency expense.
“The need is so great,” she stressed, referencing other applications before the board that day.
Smith emphasized the fact that State Road 789 through St. Armands is a major hurricane evacuation route for Longboat and Lido keys, as well as for St. Armands residents. The 10% of the total project cost that was allocated to design work “is not unusual, he added, noting that the design and permitting funds would be necessary to ensure the initiative could proceed.
Smith is a long-time architect.
When Neunder questioned the need for the 10% contingency fee, Smith pointed out, “It’s a major remodeling to the infrastructure on St. Armands.” If the full 10% were not utilized, he added, the money would go back into the Resilient SRQ fund.
Commissioner Cutsinger said he was struggling with the request, pointing out, “We’re trying to design a stormwater facility from the dais.” He was concerned, he indicated, with the potential effect of Smith’s elimination of the vaults and the barriers on the rest of the undertaking. “I would love to hear from our stormwater director.”
County Administrator Lewis had noted that Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine had left the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice — where the meeting was taking place — and was driving north. However, Lewis indicated that someone on staff had been able to contact Quartermaine, so he would return to help the board members with the St. Armands discussion.
Once Quartermaine was back at the podium, Smith questioned him about aspects of the St. Armands proposal.
First, Smith asked about the need for the underground storage vaults, as — based on his math — they would hold only 528,000 gallons. Given the fact that St. Armands comprises 132 acres, he continued, that meant the vaults would hold only about 0.6 inches of water.
“They’re not absolutely necessary,” Quartermaine said of the vaults. “They could be incorporated into a design,” Quartermaine continued, but different types of designs could proceed without them.
“Because these areas are so low,” Quartermaine added, any storage of rainfall, plus tidal waters, on the street “becomes problematic.”
The goal of the St. Armands drainage system, he pointed out, is to ensure that the evacuation route is available.
Moreover, Quartermaine explained, because the elevation is so low on St. Armands, any vault has to be watertight to work. “You have to make sure that it doesn’t float or pop up.”
When Smith asked about the design and permitting portion of the overall expense, Quartermaine replied that the general range is 7% to 12% of a total project expense
In regard to the proposed contingency funding of 10% of the total project, Quartermaine told Smith, “Seems pretty low at this level of design. … I would put the contingency at more like 30%.”
Quartermaine did concur with Mast that installing the pumps and generators would put St. Armands in a better position to handle flooding.
Ultimately, the commissioners settled on the $13.5 million for the St. Armands project, as Mast had proposed. Neunder noted that Quartermaine and his staff would know how best to allocate that money.