Ted Sperling Park Improvements: Sarasota County Seeks Input

SARASOTA, FL – The Sarasota County Government is looking for input from residents on plans to make improvements to Ted Sperling Park.

The public is invited to review and provide comments on Sarasota County’s Multi-Year Implementation Plan for an improvement project at the park that would use RESTORE Act funds. The review and comment period started today and will be open through Wednesday, April 5.

Money for the proposed project will come from the RESTORE Act, the civil penalties paid under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act) for damages associated with British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Sarasota County, 80 percent of the penalties resulting from violation of the Clean Water Act are generally applied toward the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund administered by the U.S. Treasury Department.

The proposed project at Ted Sperling Park at South Lido Beach, located at 2201 Ben Franklin Drive and 190 Taft Drive in Sarasota, will include the following improvements:

• Construction of a multi-use recreational trail within the park, completing a segment of the City of Sarasota’s Bayfront multi-use recreational trail
• Replacement of an existing wooden boardwalk

At the end of the review and comment period, the plan will be revised if needed and submitted to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for approval. Following approval, the county must apply to the Treasury for project grant funding.

Residents can review the plan, which includes additional details about the proposed project, online at https://www.scgov.net/EnvironmentalPlanning/Pages/RestoreAct.aspx.

Comments can be provided via e-mail to RESTORE@scgov.net or mailed to: Environmental Planning Manager, Planning and Development Services, Environmental Protection Division, 1001 Sarasota Center Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34240.

For more information, call the Sarasota County Contact Center at (941) 861-5000.

Image via SUREFit, Flickr, used under Creative Commons