Commission praises updates on Benderson Park

Sarasota County Commissioners listened to an update on Nathan Benderson Park this morning.

Several major events are already planned for the rowing park this year and next which are expected to have a positive economic impact on the county, according to the report. The 2014 International Dragon Boat Festival will be held at the park Oct. 24 through 26, and next year the park will host the 2015 World Cup Pentathlon and US Rowing National Championships.

The park is still in the last phases of construction. The tower, which will hold the media center, offices and restrooms, and spectator area, boat house, park playgrounds and pedestrian structures are still in the works, along with finishing the island landscaping.

When everything is complete, the facilities will be comparable World Championship Rowing host locations such as Sydney, Australia; Athens, Greece; Bejing, China; and Eton, England, according to the presentation.

“We’ll be a 10… maybe an 11,” said Randy Benderson, president of the Nathan Benderson Park Foundation.

Representatives of the Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center showed the council designs and plans for the tower and boathouse.

Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center also send representatives to run a booth advertising Sarasota’s rowing facility at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.

The commissioners praised their work.

“A whole community in Sarasota and Manatee County came together and saw the same vision,” said Commissioner Carolyn Mason.

After the presentation, Chairman Charles Hines encouraged the community to get involved with the park.

“It’s such a great asset to our community,” he said.

Commissioner Nora Patterson echoed his statement.

“We’re pretty luck in this community to have a team such as yourselves to make sure this place isn’t a hole in the ground, that it’s a special place,” Patterson said.