After earning the city’s stamp of approval for about a year’s worth of work, the members of Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 aren’t taking a moment to catch their breath.

Sarasota Bayfront 20:20, formed last year to develop a grassroots community vision for 42 acres of city-owned land near the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, ended the first phase of its work in February after that endorsement from the City Commission. Now it’s charging ahead to tackle a variety of challenges in its second phase.

For several months the group was focused on gathering broad input, asking residents what they wanted to see on the bayfront to develop guiding principles that would help govern the development of the land. With those principles in place, Bayfront 20:20 leader Michael Klauber says two major obstacles remain.

First, organizations on the land — most notably the Van Wezel and the Sarasota Orchestra — are conducting needs assessments to provide more information when the planning process begins in earnest. At the same time, the city will organize a panel to gather technical information about the infrastructure along the bayfront.

“There are three pieces right now we’re trying to complete. When you get those three things done, you’re doing the due diligence for anybody who’s going to start thinking about the possibilities on the bayfront.”

“Anyone who was going to consider master planning that property was going to ask those three questions,” Klauber said. “What does the community want, what are the needs of the stakeholders, and what are the challenges or positives about that land that I need to know?”

Once all three of those elements are in place — before this summer, Klauber hopes — the city and Bayfront 20:20 can start shifting into the third phase, which will be the initiation of design elements. 

The organization is focused on keeping the community engaged during this more insular process, with Klauber and Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley visiting with a variety of organizations in February and March. They’re also working to raise up to $100,000 in private funding to carry work into the fall, and collected $20,000 at a recent event. 

For the first time in this process, the power isn’t concentrated in the hands of Bayfront 20:20. Although Klauber hopes the needs assessments and the city technical group will move along the desired timeline, he’s also emphatic that all parties need to be committed to charging ahead.

“Another really important thing is that the city comes on board with this technical advisory panel as soon as possible,” Klauber said. “They’re going to have to stay disciplined and on task to answer the questions on a fairly short timeframe.”

Still, Klauber is optimistic that the final product will be both timely and crucial for digging further into the bayfront plans.

“There’s going to be a lot of really great data when this is done,” Klauber said. “Everybody is fired up.”

ROLE MODELS

As Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 moves nearer to the planning phase of its work, members of the group are looking to other cities for inspiration. Here are a few examples mentioned by Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 leader Michael Klauber: