Negotiations delay road extension project for Lakewood Ranch

When Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch broke ground in April 2016 on its Waterside at Lakewood Ranch project in Sarasota County, it hoped to start construction right away on the extensions to both Lorraine Road and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard south to Fruitville Road.

It also hoped both would be complete by fall 2017.

And while Lorraine Road opened to the public Sept. 6, Lakewood Ranch Boulevard is still on the drawing board.

For more than a year, Sarasota County has been negotiating with affected property owners to acquire land needed for construction of the roadway, stormwater ponds, utility easements and other road-related requirements. Sarasota County needs about 2.5 acres for easements and 21 acres for stormwater ponds.

Sarasota County quickly came to agreements with three of the property owners, but the remaining four are proving difficult to negotiate with because there are development interests at stake.

“It can be time consuming. It’s not like we’re sitting on our hands not doing anything,” said Lin Kurant, the real estate services manager for Sarasota County. “We’ve been working on this a long time. I would hope we could get it resolved within the next three to four months, but it really depends. We’re as anxious to get this road ready to go for construction as the people are to drive on it.”

The remaining property owners — SK Holdings of Sarasota LLC, Fox Creek Holdings LLC, United Hope Ministries Inc. and Michael H. Furtick Inc. — all have development rights on their properties. That essentially changes the way Sarasota County would pay for land acquisition.

Rather than an outright purchase, it would apply a mobility fee credit (formerly called a road impact fee) to the property. Essentially, when the land goes to be developed, the developer would receive a credit in that amount toward construction of roadways, trails or other mobility-related infrastructure, Kurant said.

In two of four cases, the county is working not only with the landowner, but also with prospective land buyers. Kurant said every time an issue is resolved, another emerges.

Negotiations are simply taking longer than expected as the county and property owners work through issues, such as the location of easements and what can be done on easements. The county also is working with the Florida Department of Transportation for land it will need as part of the project.

“It can be time consuming. It’s not like we’re sitting on our hands not doing anything"

Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham said construction of the road is important and Sarasota County is committed, even if it is taking longer than expected.

“It will give us another north-south connection,” Cunningham said. “It serves an important purpose and will take a lot of traffic off I-75.”

At the Sept. 6 grand opening of Lorraine Road south to Fruitville, SMR’s President and CEO Rex Jensen made it clear he was frustrated Sarasota County has not yet secured property rights for the road.

The extension is important to SMR’s developing Waterside project, south of University Parkway and east of I-75. At buildout, Waterside will have 5,144 homes focused around seven major lakes, as well as a downtown center and other features.

“We need the community’s support to get that project going,” Jensen said at the ceremony. “We can’t start it because we don’t have the right of way.”

SMR has the roadway designed and is responsible for its construction. SMR Vice President of Planning Richard Bedford said SMR has competitively bid the Lakewood Ranch Boulevard extension and Woodruff and Sons is the low bidder, but the contract still has not been awarded because the start date is unknown.

Construction is estimated to take about 18 months.

Ultimately, SMR will build the road and dedicate it to Sarasota County.

Sarasota County officials said they have no intention of taking the necessary property by eminent domain.

“We do not have the money to fund an eminent domain project right now,” Kurant said.

Cunningham said it is in the best interest of all parties to avoid such a process because it is time consuming —even more so than negotiating — and costly.

“That’s not on our radar,” Cunningham said.