County Commission praises Bayfront 20:20

The group developing a vision for vacant land on Sarasota Bay continued its quest to build consensus during a Sarasota County Commission meeting Tuesday.

Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 presented its guiding principles laying the foundation for the future of roughly 75 acres of property — 42 acres of which is city-owned land. Commissioners gave the group a warm reception, citing positive personal experiences with similar initiatives in Buffalo, N.Y., and Brooklyn Bridge Park, and lauding the organization’s plan to reach out to a county-wide audience.

The group has already held 70 meetings and hosted six community forums to draft the principles, which include aspiration, cultural heritage, natural assets, activation, connectivity and sustainability. Thirty-one community organizations, such as the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, Sarasota Orchestra and the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations have thrown their support behind Bayfront 20:20.

With the assistance of New York-based community development consulting group HR&A Advisors, these principles have gone through a series of 17 drafts as Bayfront 20:20 has gathered hundreds of pages of input from the community.

“It would be an enormous help to our coalition if Sarasota County would be able to provide staff help to look at financial opportunities,” said Bayfront 20:20 volunteer leader Michael Klauber. The initiative is still in its infancy, but will eventually need to evaluate a variety of methods to finance development.

“Please keep up the great work and I encourage you to keep looking at this,” said Commissioner Christine Robinson. But, she cautioned the group to avoid the politics that could drag the conversation down.

“Be careful to steer from the political minefield that’s going to evolve from this,” Robinson said. “There are those that will probably use this process as a political football.”