2026 referendum planned in effort to continue program
As Sarasota County Government celebrates the 25th year of the establishment of its Land Acquisition Program, Nicole Rissler, director of the county’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department (PRNR), provided the County Commission the annual report on the program for the 2025 fiscal year.
Addressing the board on Oct. 21, Rissler pointed out that, over recent years, staff has been able to say that a third of all of the land in Sarasota County had been protected through the program. In 2025, she added, that figure rose to 34%.
The total area of protected land is 126,741.53 acres, as noted in a slide she presented to the board.
A celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Land Acquisition Program will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Deer Prairie Creek Preserve South in Venice, Rissler also reminded the commissioners during her Oct. 21 presentation. (See the related article in this issue.)
She explained that a 1999 vote of county citizens, during a referendum, formally created what is known as the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program (ESLPP). With their vote of support, county citizens agreed to pay an annual tax of no more than 0.25 mills, for 20 years, to pay for property purchases. The referendum authorized up to $53 million in bond funding over the course of those 20 years, she noted.
(One mill represents $1,000 of the value of a parcel.)
Further, the county commissioners created the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Oversight Committee (ESLOC) to advise them about parcels that would be appropriate for preservation from development, Rissler said. Altogether, she continued, 32 protection priority sites were identified countywide on the basis of ecological criteria.
Then, in 2005, Rissler pointed out, the county conducted a second referendum, during which voters agreed to extend the ESLPP through 2029. More than 80% of the voters who marked their ballots in regard to that extension approved it, she noted.
Moreover, the referendum authorized the expansion of the program to include a companion initiative, the Neighborhood Parkland Acquisition Program (NPP).
Finally, the referendum gave the county the go-ahead to issue $250 million in bonds for both programs through 2029, she said.
In 2026, voters will participate in yet another referendum on the Land Acquisition Program, Rissler reminded the commissioners. The board members seated in 2023 agreed to hold the referendum next year, pointing out that if it failed, they would have another opportunity — during the November 2028 General Election — to try to win voter approval for its extension.
Adding up the acreage
Since the ESLPP began, Rissler told the commissioners, 100 properties, encompassing more than 42,000 acres, have been acquired. The ESLPP, a slide said, “has preserved thousands of acres of critical habitat, safeguarded water resources, and provided countless opportunities for recreation, environmental education and stewardship.”
The Neighborhood Parkland Program, Rissler continued, has acquired 29 properties with more than 139 acres. “Usually,” she explained, [those parcels are] really small,” typically half an acre to 1 acre. “A lot of time, that’s water access; that’s beach access,” she explained.
Part of the land deals for extensions of The Legacy Trail were made with NPP money, Rissler further pointed out, such as the Sarasota Springs Trailhead on Webber Street in Sarasota.
She noted “a lot of opportunities for recreational uses on [NPP] properties.”
Then Rissler reported that 13 of the ESLPP parcels have been protected through conservation easements; they total 22,185 acres. “It’s really an effective tool,” she said of such an easement. “I can say, over the course of the last 10 years I’ve been [a county employee], we’ve really moved heavily on the environmentally sensitive side [of the program] to acquire conservation easements.”
In the first place, she continued, those entail lower costs for the county, as staff does not have to manage the properties. Staff just has to oversee the owners’ management to ensure that the land is maintained as it should be, she indicated.
The easement process has been very effective for cattle ranchers, for example, Rissler added.
Further, she said, staff has been able to leverage the land acquisition funding to secure an additional $66,159,429 from county partners and through grants.
While presenting slides showing view of protected lands, Rissler told the commissioners, “I’m amazed sometimes that people don’t realize that some of these beautiful properties were acquired through this program.”
Moreover, Rissler talked about years-long efforts to cobble together adjoining properties to create sites such as the Manasota Scrub Preserve and the Old Miakka Preserve. It took five transactions, starting in 2000, to establish the former, she said. Both the Old Miakka Preserve and the Sleeping Turtles Preserve South were created through four separate acquisitions, a slide showed.
Rissler also showed the commissioners a slide that listed more recent purchases — from December 2023 through September of this year. Over the past 18 months, she said, “We’ve been on a roll,” with properties totaling just under 750 acres.
She highlighted several of those, including the September purchase of 0.25 acres called the Deer Prairie Creek Durango Avenue property. “That was a little hole for us between Warm Mineral Springs [near North Port] and basically the properties that we own,” she noted. It stands along what will become the Legacy Trail connector between North Port and Warm Mineral Springs, she explained.
In regard to recent NPP acquisitions, she noted that the county bought 2.25 acres on Center Road in Sarasota in June. That land, she said, is adjacent to the Celery Fields. “We’re excited about what that will look like for expanded parking and possibly a small playground.” In the future, she noted, it also will serve as the home of the county’s “refurbished, historic celery picker,” which — she indicated — could be displayed with signage to explain how it was used.
Another NPP acquisition, Rissler said, was 0.7 acres on Radnor Place in Sarasota. That is north of Bee Ridge Road, she added, and it is next to The Legacy Trail. Ultimately, Rissler continued, she believes that site will become a new Legacy Trail trailhead, with parking spaces.
Next, she showed the board a slide with parcels identified as being under contract for purchase. All of those transactions had been completed as of that day, Rissler reported.
Further, Rissler noted the county’s purchase of the 21-acre Camp Venice property as the 100th acquisition for the program. Moreover, she said, that transaction represents the first time that the ESLPP and NPP jointly purchased a site.
The Venice Camp land will connect to Snook Haven Park and expand Sleeping Turtles Preserve South, she pointed out, while it also will protect the Myakka River corridor.
As she was wrapping up her remarks, Rissler talked of the next steps for the program. Among those, she said, are to continue developing plans for the 2026 referendum; and proceeding to maximize opportunities to acquire properties through the ESLPP and the NPP, and other funding options in an effort “to protect natural lands while providing public access where suitable,” as a slide put it.
Another priority, Rissler pointed out, is acquiring properties along the Myakka River, which has the Wild and Scenic River designation.
When she asked the board members for questions or comments, Commissioner Ron Cutsinger told her, “I may surprise you with this,” but he believes he was among the earliest participants in sales of land to the county through the ESLPP. That property has become part of the Manasota Scrub Preserve, he added.
“It’s such a great program,” Cutsinger said of the land acquisition initiative.
“Our community’s made it very clear they want preservation,” Commissioner Tom Knight added, “and we’re going to be working on this for the future …”
Commissioner Mark Smith credited the past county board members who began the program, as well as those who worked for its continuation in 2005. “I think it’s just tremendous,” he said, “that we can say over a third of Sarasota County is protected.”