Public invited to register for 6 p.m. Zoom presentation
At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11, members of the public are invited to watch a virtual presentation by Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department staff that will feature an update on the Regional Sports Complex project at 17th Street Park in Sarasota, county staff has announced.
The webinar will include the latest information about the timeline for the initiative, as well as a question-and-answer session, a news release says. Individuals planning to participate in the webinar may email questions and comments to PRNRmeetings@scgov.net before and during the presentation, the release adds.
To register for the webinar, visit https://bit.ly/17thStreetMeet. After a person has registered, the individual will receive an email with a link to the Zoom webinar, the release notes.
The Regional Sports Complex project at the county’s 17th Street Park will occupy 95 acres on the eastern portion of the site, a county Capital Improvement Program (CIP) document notes.
“Starting in the spring of 2025,” that document says, the project will begin with the replacement of the current athletic facilities and construction of additional ones.
“The park will feature eight youth softball fields, including a Championship field, four rectangular fields suitable for soccer, football, and lacrosse, as well as three fields dedicated to adult softball,” the document continues.
During an Oct. 24, 2023 presentation to the County Commission about the proposed changes at the park, Nicole Rissler, director of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, discussed the Championship Field, explaining, “This will be one of the only complexes in the Southeast to be built with the new 220-foot outfield fences,” which is what women’s college and pro softball teams began using about a year-and-a-half earlier, she said.
“We’re already fielding inquiries,” she noted, about the future scheduling of tournaments on that field.
To the north of that field, she said, the adult softball fields would be constructed with 300-foot fences.
Supporting amenities planned are restrooms, concession stands, shade structures, meeting rooms, maintenance facilities, a press box, and grandstands at the Championship field, the county CIP document says.
“On-site work is scheduled to begin in early 2025,” the county news release adds. “The expected completion is in the fall of 2026,” it points out.
The necessary staff effort to comply with federal permit requirements for the site work is close to being finished, the CIP document says.
The design of the project is being handled by the Kimley-Horn consulting firm in Sarasota, the CIP document points out; it is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2025.
The cost of that contract is $4,173,637, the document notes.
Tandem Construction of Sarasota won the $58,214,037.06 contract to build the new facilities.
In December 2023, the County Commission approved the issuance of $29 million in bonds to help pay for the first phase of the park upgrades. That phase includes the new athletic fields, Rissler of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources told the board members during her Oct. 24, 2023 presentation. The second phase, she said, would focus on a community park on the western portion of the site.