County Commission authorizes county administrator to execute contract with Halfacre Construction
In unanimous approval of their Oct. 22 Consent Agenda of routine business matters, the Sarasota County commissioners agreed to authorize County Administrator Jonathan Lewis to execute a contract with Halfacre Construction Co. of Lakewood Ranch for up to $8,127,735.40 to build a roundabout at the intersection of Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road in the eastern part of the county, near the Celery Fields.
They also authorized Lewis to execute an $880,016.61 contract with Stanley Consultants Inc. of Sarasota for engineering and inspection services related to the project.
The Halfacre agreement had not been completed at the time of the Oct. 22 meeting, according to a county staff memo included in the agenda packet.
“The project consists of converting the existing intersection into a new single-lane roundabout,” the memo explained. “The roundabout geometry will be based on the latest Federal Highway Administration and Florida Department of Transportation guidelines for modern roundabout design and the traffic study and the traffic volume projection for the design year 2045 for the intersection,” the memo said.
The roundabout design includes an additional eastbound through/right-turn lane and a westbound, exclusive right-turn lane, the memo noted.
The intersection of Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road is controlled by a two-way stop sign,” the memo pointed out. “It has a poor level of service and has experienced congestion and delays,” the memo continued. “The roundabout will improve the level of service, enhance intersection capacity and improve safety.”
Moreover, the memo said, “This project is necessary to support County and community development at the ‘Quad’ sites” in coordination with the Enterprise Information and Technology (EIT) building being built, which will include an Employee Center, as well as the new Planning and Development Services One Stop Center. The EIT structure is underway on the Southwest Quad, while the One Stop Center is being built on the Northwest Quad, the memo noted.
Funding for the construction contract and the engineering/inspection services agreement is available through the county’s Capital Improvement Program, the memo added.
“Prior to construction,” the staff memo continued, “mailers will be sent to individual properties adjacent to the work, notifying them of the upcoming construction and projected schedules.
Among additional public outreach efforts, the memo said, a weekly update will be provided in the county’s Construction — One Week Look Ahead Report, which is posted on the scgov.net website. The Apex Road-Palmer Boulevard roundabout project also will be featured on the Projects In My Neighborhood webpage on the county website.
The information about the roundabout initiative on the county website says the work is expected to begin in January 2025, with completion anticipated in November 2025.
In 2018, as noted in an October 2019 report on a Sarasota County Planning and Development Services study of the Interstate 75/Fruitville Road Major Employment Center (MEC) Critical Area Plan, a group of residents and homeowner associations in the eastern part of the county, called Fresh Start, recommended the roundabout at Palmer and Apex.
The County Commission had engaged the Fresh Start organization in November 2017 to work with community members and then present to the board members ideas regarding the best future uses of the southern two Quads next to the Celery Fields, as the report on the Planning and Development study noted.
The Quads were property that the seller of the Celery Fields included as part of a package deal to the county, staff has explained. The four parcels were not needed to create the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Project. Instead, county staff in recent years has recommended use of some of the property for expansion of county facilities.
On Nov. 6, 2019, the County Commission voted unanimously to direct County Administrator Lewis to have staff work with the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and the Sarasota Audubon Society to place a conservation easement on three of the “Quads” parcels.
His motion, then-Commissioner Alan Maio made clear that day, was to ensure that no commercial development would take place on the Northeast, Southeast and Southwest Quads, so the property could continue to serve as a buffer for the approximately 440-acre Celery Fields, which had become an internationally renowned bird-watching destination.