CDD 4 considers growing support for Greenbrook garden

GREENBROOK — When Greenbrook resident and Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 4 supervisor Joe Sidiski looks beyond the soccer fields at Greenbrook Adventure Park, he sees more than a grassy field and walking trails.

There, somewhere behind the basketball court in an undesignated green space, a community garden could grow one day.

At CDD 4’s next landscaping meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 28, at the Lakewood Ranch Town Hall Operations Department, he and others will discuss a potential  community garden somewhere at Greenbrook Adventure Park. The park is located south of State Road 70, between Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Lorraine Road.

“We’re kind of excited about it,” said Sidiski, who serves as the CDD’s liaison on the landscape committee. “Greenbrook was once an outlier community,but now, Greenbrook is becoming much more the center of Lakewood Ranch.”

This year, Greenbrook Adventure Park hosted events such as the Irish Celtic Festival and the Eggstravaganza Easter egg hunt. So, Sidiski says, having a community garden there makes sense.

Sidiski said he’s participated in several meetings about the community garden idea, and members of the Gardeners Out East Club are excited about the idea as well. He and others have visited and are planning more trips to area community gardens to gather ideas for design and operations. 

The landscape committee will discuss the concept further and eventually make a recommendation to the CDD. 

Sidiski said he expects the garden would be open for involvement to the entire community, not just residents of CDD 4.

 “A lot of it really depends in community interest,” Sidiski said. “I think it’s a great idea.”

Town Hall finalizes gator permit guidelines

Supervisors on Lakewood Ranch Community Development Districts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 informally approved Lakewood Ranch Town Hall’s new guidelines for implementing a target harvest area permit for trapping alligators. 

Guidelines state that Ranch residents should contact Town Hall or the operations department to report aggressive alligators. Staff will educate callers about alligator behavior and explain that all alligators longer than 4 feet will be killed, not relocated. Staff will not evaluate the temperament of the alligator or deny requests for removal.

Operations staff will record the date of complaint, name of complainant, district number, neighborhood, district pond number, Inter-District Authority (IDA) staff reporting, name of trapper contacted, reported size of alligator; and permit dates.

Staff will follow up to determine whether the gator was trapped.

Trappers must use the following conditions:

Alligators in CDD-owned ponds must be authorized for removal by IDA staff.

Trapper must contact the operations department for authorization to access the CDD;

Trappers must inform operations staff when they are responding and are on the property;

Authorization is valid for removal of the nuisance alligator only at the specific location or pond;

Trappers may not pursue alligators that relocate to other ponds or locations during the attempt to remove them; 

Authorization for removal is valid for 14 days.