WELCOME BACK: Bayfront Proposals

WHAT: The city — and a variety of outside groups — have expressed an interest in developing a master plan for the redevelopment of a 42-acre swath of city-owned land near the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

WHO’S INVOLVED: The city of Sarasota, Sarasota Bayfront 20:20, Sarasota Bayfront Now, Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium

WHAT’S NEXT: A Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 community workshop will be held Thursday, and the group will present its findings to the City Commission in January.

Over the past several months, city leaders, citizens and local organizations have discussed and debated the best path for redeveloping 42 acres of city-owned bayfront land. Although the future of that land is still hazy, one thing the city hasn’t been lacking is options.

Three groups have presented their visions for the future of the bayfront area surrounding the Van Wezel, a frequent target for revitalization but an area that has seen little action. The most recent effort, the city’s 2007 Cultural Park Master Plan, was shelved following the economic downturn.

Now, a multitude of parties have stepped forward in an attempt to avoid further inaction — leaving the city with the task of ultimately deciding which path to take.

Sarasota Bayfront 20:20
For now, the city has sided with a grassroots campaign aimed at fostering a broad community conversation about a vision for the land.

Led by Visit Sarasota County and its board Chairman Michael Klauber, Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 is focused on developing a community plan with widespread support.

Formed in February, the group has gotten buy-in from organizations such as the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County, the Sarasota County Arts and Cultural Alliance and the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations. The city bought in, too, enabling staff to participate in the process in July as commissioners sought to have a larger voice in the ongoing conversation.

Klauber has reiterated that the group is not interested in getting bogged down in the specifics of what goes where at this point. Instead, with the assistance of New York-based development consultants HR&A Advisors, the group is attempting to develop community consensus behind a series of principles regarding the bayfront land.

Once those principles are developed, they can be used as criteria to judge proposals for the development of that land. The group held its first community workshops at the end of October, and presented a preliminary list of principles.

The group is continuing to seek community feedback before it presents its findings to the commission in January.

Sarasota Bayfront Now
Another group, Sarasota Bayfront Now, sought to provide an alternative to Sarasota Bayfront 20:20, down to the name.

The group, composed of venture capital firm Seven Holdings, Core Construction, Hoyt Architects and Governmental Facility Development Services, centered its pitch on the idea that it could make its project a reality — and quickly.

A $100 million Mote aquarium headlined the proposed project. The proposal also included a hotel, orchestra house, parking garage, conference center and a three-acre waterfront park.

Project details first emerged in June, when Vice Mayor Susan Chapman revealed a presentation that someone had anonymously slipped under her door. Bayfront Now leaders held a public forum to further discuss their plan a month later.

The group urged attendees to encourage city leaders to consider the plan. That effort proved unsuccessful, as commissioners quickly restricted the construction of a convention center on the bayfront land.

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium
Mote leaders were quiet when the Sarasota Bayfront Now plans leaked. By September, though, Mote CEO and President Michael Crosby was campaigning for a bayfront aquarium.

After years of planning and feasibility studies, Crosby said, the best place for the aquarium — which would allow the existing City Island campus to focus on research — was the bayfront land near the Van Wezel. Before any further planning could begin, though, he needed an endorsement from the City Commission to begin securing funding and embarking on design work.

In a 3-2 vote, commissioners declined to endorse that vision for growth. Crosby said the organization could not afford to wait any longer to move forward, and would consider other expansion options.