Second structure still in design process
During a May 2019 discussion about the uses of Sarasota County’s Tourist Development Tax — or, “bed tax” — revenue, then-County Commissioner Christian Ziegler of Sarasota raised a concern that he said he hoped staff could resolve soon.
The previous weekend, he said, he had driven both his older daughters to Siesta Public Beach. Since he never had ridden the open-air Siesta Key trolley, Ziegler continued, he and the girls used that as their means of transportation from Turtle Beach to Siesta Beach.
The only unsatisfactory part of his experience, Ziegler pointed out, was that when they decided to leave Siesta Beach, they learned they had just missed the trolley, then known as the Siesta Key Breeze. As a result, he added, they had to stand in the sun for about 20 minutes.
Ziegler said he tried to get his girls into the little bit of shade produced by a light pole, but he described the overall experience as “Brutal.”
“Other people were complaining about it,” he noted of the lack of shade.
When Ziegler asked whether staff could use some of the TDT revenue the board was discussing to create shade structures for trolley passengers, Nicole Rissler, then-director of the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department (PRNR), explained that she and her staff would be working with the staff of what then was called Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) — which operated the public bus service — and staff of the Public Works Department — now split into the Stormwater and Transportation departments — to determine funding sources for such a project.
Whatever can be done to improve the situation, Ziegler responded, “would significantly improve the trolley experience …”
Almost exactly seven years later, during a County Commission budget workshop conducted on May 20 in Venice, Carolyn Eastwood, director of the county’s Capital Projects Department, noted that construction of such a shelter began this week.
“This is the project that’s going to provide some much needed shade for those people [waiting] at the main entrance to the Siesta Beach Park,” Eastwood pointed out.
Her comments came as she was reviewing funding allocated to various types of projects for the Breeze Transit Department — formerly SCAT — through the county’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
Altogether, a slide said, the estimated cost of the “Transit Stop and Shelter Improvements Program” was $17,230,080.
Each year, as part of the budget process, staff works with the commissioners to update the overall list of CIP projects for the next five fiscal years. Often, the board members adjust priorities for CIP initiatives.
A document that the Capital Projects Department issued this month explains, “The Siesta Beach Park Trolley Stop project involves the due diligence design, permitting, and construction administration of two new [Americans with Disabilities Act] ADA-compliant trolley stops located on Beach Road. The first shade structure will [be placed] at the existing eastbound trolley stop that occupies a prominent location at the park entrance.”
A “second shade structure will be placed on or near the existing westbound trolley stop located on Beach [Road] at Lake House Circle,” the document continues. “This project [includes] the installation of a pedestrian crossing with [a] Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) [system] to enhance accessibility and safety for visitors.”
The primary purpose of the structures,” the document adds, is to provide shaded waiting areas for people planning to ride county buses and the trolley, which is called the 77 Siesta Islander. That name came into use after the rebranding of SCAT to Breeze Transit.
The document further points out, “The goal is to provide convenient and safe transportation access for all individuals while improving pedestrian movement along Beach Road.”
The first trolley stop shade structure, the document notes, was to get underway this month, with completion anticipated in early August.
The second structure “is in the design and permitting phase,” the document adds. That work should be finished by the end of June, it says.
The design expense, paid under the terms of a county contract with the Kimley-Horn consulting firm in Sarasota, is $93,910, the document noted.