Main Street vision community meeting set for Dec. 17

To introduce the draft concepts for the Main Street Complete Streets visioning project, the City of Sarasota will hold a community meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17, at the Selby Public Library at 1331 First St.

The meeting will be an open house format. Attendees will have the opportunity to view the draft concepts, provide feedback and talk with the project team. The concepts were created based on public engagement sessions in spring 2024, including a visioning workshop, open house, one-on-one conversations with merchants and an online survey with more than 1,500 responses. 

Initial survey feedback indicated the top five priorities for Main Street should be:

• Additional outdoor dining and shopping spaces.
• Lush landscaping.
• Attractive, inviting public spaces.
• Enhanced lighting.
• Additional shade.

The project will transform Main Street between U.S. 41 and School Avenue into a vibrant, more attractive corridor fostering improved safety for walking, cycling and driving, according to a news release.

“Residents, business owner and visitors can help shape the look, feel and functionality of Main Street by participating in the visioning phase,” said Chief Transportation Planner Alvimarie Corales in the release. “We hope to receive feedback from the community to ensure the design and vision palette represent the community’s preference to enhance Main Street as an inclusive and thriving hub of activity.”

Besides the public meeting, a brief online survey for input on priorities and visual preferences for Main Street is open through Friday, Dec. 20. The survey is available at SarasotaFL.gov/MainStreetCompleteStreets.