Commissioner Knight pulls item from Consent Agenda to ask questions of Stormwater director before vote
Sarasota County commissioners had a few questions for county Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine on Aug. 25 before they voted unanimously to approve a contract with WSP USA Inc. to undertake a drainage study on Siesta Key, whose Scope of Work The Sarasota News Leader reported on last week.
Formally, the board authorized “a feasibility study to evaluate coastal barrier island flooding” on the Key.
WSP USA has multiple offices in Florida, including locations in Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers, its website says.
Commissioner Tom Knight had pulled the item from the board’s Consent Agenda of routine business matters to ask Quartermaine whether the county’s Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee (SEUAC) had reviewed the plans for the study.
Knight noted that, in 2025, as the commissioners set up plans for a new Stormwater Department, they called for the staff of that new department to discuss proposals with the SEUAC members before proceeding with actual plans.
“We just want to make sure we’re following the process that we put in place,” Knight added.
Before Quartermaine reached the podium in the new County Administration Center located at 1 Apex Road, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis told Knight, “The short answer is ‘Yes.’ ”
Then Quartermaine noted that he and other staff members talk with the SEAUC members about every project that is being considered. In regard specifically to the Siesta study and other Stormwater Department items on the board’s agendas for this week, he said that the SEAUC members heard “parts and pieces” of them.
Then Commissioner Mark Smith told Quartermaine, “One of the issues that I had heard from a SEUAC member” was that staff had not gone through the Siesta Key study’s scope of work.
“We talked through the intent of the scope, more than the specific scope itself,” Quartermaine replied. “On this one, we talked through the need for, on Siesta Key, knowing where the flooding issues are, without having a complete model,” and the fact that a model incorporating high tides along with the flooding events “is absolutely necessary.”
Smith thanked him.
Perhaps, in the future, Quartermaine said, staff could allow the SEAUC members to review drafts of scopes of work for specific initiatives.
Commissioner Teresa Mast also asked whether the Old Stickney Point Road and Peacock Road areas of the Key would be included in the firm’s study. Following Hurricane Helene’s and Milton’s fall 2024 strikes on the barrier island, county staff released a number of photos showing flooding in that part of the Key, south of the Stickney Point Road/Midnight Pass Road intersection.
Quartermaine assured her that those sections of Siesta would be part of the study’s focus. The firm, he pointed out, will work on “stormwater modeling throughout the entire Key.”
“Perfect,” Mast told him.
As the News Leader has reported, Task 4 in the Work Assignment lists the “Sabal Lake Area (Old Stickney Point Road and Sabal Drive/Peacock Road)” as one of the “Flooding Areas of Concern” to be addressed by the study.
The following areas also are on that list:
- 8100 block of Midnight Pass Road.
- 6600 block of Midnight Pass Road.
- Ocean Boulevard/Banan Place/Higel Avenue.
- Island Circle/Grand Canal area.
- “Midnight Pass Road-Higel Avenue-Siesta Drive Evacuation Corridor.”
- 1122 Horizon View Drive.
Mast ended up making the motion to approve the study, at a cost of $446,855, and Knight seconded it. The motion passed 5-0.
Prior to the board discussion, as part of the Open to the Public comment period at the outset of the Aug. 25 meeting, Neal Schleifer, acting president of the Siesta Key Condominium Council (SKCC), told the board members, “We highly commend Ben Quartermaine and his County Stormwater Department for proposing a study to evaluate and mitigate flooding on Siesta Key,” adding that the Council’s leaders recommended that the commission approve the study as outlined.
The SKCC has been a strong advocate for this study, Schleifer pointed out, with the organization having received positive comments from its members, as well as other homeowners.
The Council represents 100 associations with more than 7,000 members, he routinely reminds the board.
“Today,” he added, “the commission will consider stormwater capital improvements and floodwater mitigation for several other communities. It’s appropriate to evaluate stormwater drainage and flood mitigation in specific areas and neighborhoods with recurring flooding on Siesta Key, and we hope the commission will also, in the future, approve stormwater capital improvements for the Key based upon the recommendations of this study.”
Moreover, Schleifer noted, “The Key has again taken the lead for contributing the most revenue to the County, not because of beautification or improved signage, which aredesirable, but because of its natural beauty and beaches.” He was referring to the county’s revenue from its 6% Tourist Development Tax, or “bed tax,” which is charged on accommodations rented for six months or less time. As the News Leader also has reported, through June, Siesta had contributed the largest portion of that revenue to the county this fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2025.
Schleifer then pointed out to the board, “Key properties have worked hard to recover from recent hurricanes to welcome back residents and tourists. The best investment the commission can make to maintain that revenue stream is to mitigate flooding, which all agree is the No. 1 problem, and to improve infrastructure.”
The scope of work
Part of the work assignment for WSP, provided in the backup materials for the County Commission’s Aug. 25 meeting, is to “review available data for this analysis, including the existing 2025 StormWise model for Phillippi Creek, the Roberts Bay North Coastal Watershed Management Plan report, existing survey data, environmental resource permits (ERP), roadway classifications, existing stormwater inventory, digital elevation models (DEM), and Historical Flood Complaints from Sarasota County.”
Task 2, the document continues, calls for WSP to “review the existing StormWise model to determine if the level of detail included is adequate for the site-specific or roadway analysis. It is assumed that the existing StormWise model is calibrated and appropriate for use as the starting point for this analysis.”
Further, it notes, “Per Sarasota County’s request, WSP shall evaluate the model area along Midnight Pass Road and Higel Avenue to determine if existing terrain data can be used to develop an updated model. WSP shall conduct roadway LOS [level of service] analysis for roadways within Siesta Key, in accordance with methods described in Sarasota County’s Unified Development Code (UDC) … and the guidelines in the Sarasota County Stormwater Model (2024).”
(The UDC contains all of the county’s zoning and land-use regulations.)
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) uses letter grades — similar to report card grades — to indicate the amount of congestion that motorists perceive on specific road segments. Level of Service A means the least congestion, with LOS F the worst.