- April 18, 2024
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Following a packed meeting in which the Sarasota County Commission supported plans to extend the Legacy Trail north into downtown, the initiative has languished without official updates for nearly a year.
That could change March 31, if the Florida Greenways and Trails Council, which makes recommendations to the Florida Department of Transportation, chooses to prioritize completion of the Southwest Coastal Regional Trail running from Collier to Pinellas counties.
That would put as much millions of dollars in state funding into play to fill gaps in that multi-use trail network — including Sarasota County’s Legacy Trail.
“There’s been some downers in the last 12 months,” said Chuck Butterfield, president of the Friends of the Legacy Trail. “But, now we’re very excited.”
Today, Commissioners approved a letter of support to the Council, with the addition of language about extending the trail to North Port.
“We’ve identified the extension of the Legacy Trail as one of our top priorities,” said Commissioner Charles Hines.
“I think if you just look at it from a local context, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be one of the top candidates to get funding from this,” said Patrick Lui, the county’s bicycle, pedestrian and trails coordinator.
The county has already completed a $150,000 feasibility study to lay out options for building 7.5 miles of new trails from just south of Clark Road north to Payne Park. Roughly half of the funding for that analysis came from the Friends of the Legacy Trail and an online crowdfunding partnership between the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Sarasota entrepreneur Jesse Biter, which yielded donations from more than 140 individuals and organizations.
“I haven’t been asked to help (with the latest push), but I will help in anyway I can,” said Biter, who serves on the board of Enterprise Florida and has significant influence in Tallahassee. “Our community could really use this trail extension, it will make a huge difference.”
The project is slated to cost between $16 and $20 million, which doesn’t include as much as $8.9 million needed to acquire the railroad tracks necessary, according to a March 2015 estimate from consultant Cardno Inc. in 2015. The non-profit Trust for Public Land is partnering with the county and the Friends on the latter cost.
“We’ve done a lot of groundwork already to raise our hands in the air and say, ‘we’re ready to use it’,” Lui said. “We’re not at a stage where were just talking about it.”
The state funding follows a 2015 Florida Legislature decision to allocate at least $25 million annually to support the state’s Shared-Use Non-Motorized Trail Network, known as SUNTrails.
The first priority in that initiative, receiving one-third of the allotted annual funds, is completion of the Coast to Coast Connector, which snakes across the middle of Florida from Titusville to St. Petersburg. The Florida Greenways and Trails Council will determine whether the system encompassing the Legacy Trail should get SUNTrails funds as “the next selected priority area,” according to memo from staff to County Administrator Tom Harmer.
There are still plenty of hurdles for project supporters.
The county needs to appraise the 7.5 acres of land currently owned by CSX, and conduct an environmental assessment, which could cost $250,000. And Lui said there was no estimate of how much state funding the county would ultimately receive.
Representatives from the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization and eight other MPOs, along with senior-level county staff will attend the March 31 meeting to champion the region.
“It’s not the end of the world if we don’t get this money this time around,” Butterfield said. “The extension is going to happen — It’s just a matter of when.”
