A number of amenities that had been proposed have been eliminated because of concerns about storm damage
On Oct. 21, Bay Park Conservancy Founding CEO A.G. Lafley of Sarasota told the Sarasota County Commission that it took many meetings with area boaters for the Conservancy team to refine plans for Phase 3 of The Bay Park on the City of Sarasota’s waterfront.
The northernmost 11 acres of the park — where Phase 3A will take place — encompasses Centennial Park, with the 10th Street Boat Ramp, he noted.
The city manages that facility, he added. “It is principally the largest and most used boat launch area within 20 miles,” he emphasized.
“We spent a lot of time over the last six months with the boater community,” Lafley continued. “As you all know, this is not a homogeneous community … as recreational boaters have different needs and wants than commercial boaters. … We think we have a pretty good understanding of what their needs are for this public boat launch, and they are incorporated in the plan.”
The goal is to create as much parking and launch space as possible for the boaters, he pointed out.
An additional bay with two lanes will be added for boating capacity, Lafley said, and the boat trailer capacity will increase by 50%.
“The restrooms will be raised to park standards,” he continued, “and we will install floating day docks … on the east side of the boat launch bays.” Lafley noted that they “are more resilient to storms.”
Further, Lafley talked of aspects of the Phase 3A plans that he indicated are especially important: the removal of a number of features that had been planned “that added cost but did not add function or value.”
Lafley showed the board members a slide with that list: a new performing arts venue, whose location still is unknown; restaurants; a pedestrian bridge over the boat basin; and an overlook by the mouth of Hog Creek.
“We pulled all the overlooks out,” Lafley explained, “after our experience with the hurricanes last year. They just don’t hold up to storm surge, and they don’t hold up to wave action.”
The park sustained $1 million in damages from the 2024 storms, Lafley told the City Commission.
Two planned restaurants have been moved south of the boat basin, he continued, “because they will be in more resilient locations and they’ll be more accessible [there].”
The top priorities with Phase 3A, he said, are improved resiliency, the environmental restoration and sustainability of Hog Creek, and the installation of a stormwater “treatment train.”
In regard to the latter initiative, he noted, “We don’t know exactly how many millions of gallons we’ll end up treating.” On the southern end of the park, Lafley said, 70 millions of gallons of stormwater is treated each year. He would be surprised, he added, “if we don’t end up treating 30 [million] or 40 million up here [in Phase 3A], given that the elevation is only 6 or 7 feet.”
In regard to Phase 3B, Lafley continued, the emphasis will be on stormwater treatment and improved water quality, as well as the creation of more greenspace. “We eke out as much greenspace as we possibly can and elevate it.”
The plan is to terrace that portion of the park up to 20 feet, Lafley pointed out.
Next, a stormwater treatment system will be installed below the elevated area, he continued. That will work with the natural, surface stormwater elements — “all the dry ponds, wet ponds and rain gardens that we use to filter the nitrogen and the phosphate out of the water that runs off the site.”
(Nitrogen has been identified as the principal “food” of red tide.)
Although fill could be brought onto the site for placement under the elevated area, Lafley explained, the decision had been made to construct a parking garage instead. “We believe we can create 750 or more parking spaces in that area, which would … replace all of the surface parking that we have now,” he said.
In other words, Lafley noted, park space would be above the garage, which would be subject to the stormwater treatment system, as well.
He showed the commissioners a slide depicting the changes in elevation planned in Phase 3B, with Level 3 of the parking garage standing at 29 feet above sea level. In comparison, he said, the height of the roof of the city’s Municipal Auditorium is approximately 55 feet above sea level.
Two restaurants would stand at 22 feet above sea level, he said.
A number of types of park elements can take advantage of the elevation, as well, Lafley continued, including “turning stormwater treatment into water features that kids and families can appreciate and enjoy.”
