South Lido project taps oil spill funds

For nearly 15 years, George Tatge has been battling non-native plants in Ted Sperling Park — sometimes using a chainsaw to singlehandedly down Australian pines. Other times, partnerships with neighboring property owners on south Lido Key and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program provided funding for more wide scale clearings.

Now Tatge, a 35-year veteran with Sarasota County’s parks, recreation and natural resources department, may get help from a new source: the U.S. Treasury Department. The county is eligible to receive about $1 million from BP oil spill penalties, money that could go toward more habitat restoration.

That invasive-species removal would be part of a long-awaited larger project connecting the north and south sides of the park, which Tatge says will bring more people into contact with one of the most diverse mangrove habitats in the county parks system.

“The million-dollar jewel was purchased in the ’80s, and here we are 30 years later trying to provide improved access into this area,” Tatge said. “It’s totally cool that you can come five minutes from downtown to a park like this.”

On Wednesday, commissioners chose the Ted Sperling Park at South Lido Beach Project as a test case for the process of tapping into RESTORE Act money. The project was conceived more than six years ago, and is nearly completely designed and permitted.

“We have the opportunity on a highly-developed barrier island to take a cross-section of what a barrier island looks like without development,” Tatge said.

The project is divided in two phases. The first part involves building four boardwalks over waterways, as well as a 4,500-foot bicycle and pedestrian trail from restrooms near the kayak launch at the north end of Ted Sperling to the restrooms near the beach fronting Big Pass. In the second phase of the project, contractors would pave the corridor.

Before proceeding with the project, staff will have to update the estimated $775,000 budget from 2009 to reflect current construction costs. A number of challenges remain before the money can be obtained. Staff must seek board approval of an implementation plan, collect 45 days worth of public comment, receive approval from the Treasury Department for that plan and eventually prepare a grant application.

“That is a process that is fairly labor intensive,” said Laird Wreford, the county’s coastal resources manager, during Wednesday’s meeting. “It is a federal granting process at its most bureaucratic.”

If funding is secured, the south Lido project could be one of the last for Tatge, who is retiring this year.

“I’ve been through a lot of projects, and some of them get completed and some don’t,” Tatge said. “So I’ll get excited when I see the construction start.”