Commission approves second phase of bayfront mooring project

During its regular meeting Monday, May 20, the Sarasota City Commission approved phase two of a bayfront mooring filed project.

A contractor completed the first phase of the mooring field in August 2012, with 35 moorings. Phase two of the project is to install an additional 35 moorings, at an estimated cost of $218,000, funded by a grant from the West Coast Navigation District (WCIND).

The mooring project is designed to prevent boats moored on the city’s bayfront from breaking free during storms and crashing into other boats or property.

Before phase one was completed, the city grappled with a way to provide a secure anchorage and set up a method of disposing of waste from the moored boats. There were instances of sewage and trash reaching shore, including a portable toilet washing ashore.

During the meeting, Commissioner Suzanne Atwell said the first phase of the mooring field “seems to be working.”

“A lot of people were scared about what it would look like,” Atwell said. “It still looks lovely out there.”

In other items, commissioners:
• Heard a presentation from the St. Armands Special Business Neighborhood Improvement District on a possible parking feasibility study. The study would address “alternative methods in managing the shortage of parking spaces within the commercial district, which may include the feasibility of erecting a parking structure.”

• Heard from several Gillespie Park residents opposed to a proposed temporary homeless shelter at 1003 N. Washington Boulevard. The facility would provide a temporary shelter for homeless people. The nonprofit Trinity Without Borders would operate the shelter.

• Voted 4-1 to uphold a maintenance-dredging ordinance and get a report on ways to improve the ordinance.