Design and perhaps location changes affect 10th Street roundabout sculpture

There will be no flying fish hurtling through the streets of downtown should Sarasota take another direct hit from a future hurricane.

During the city's July 28 and 29 budget workshop sessions, Public Art Administrator Ciera Coleman and City Engineer Nik Patel told city commissioners the sculpture approved in 2019 for the roundabout at 10th Street and U.S. 41 has been renamed from Life in the Seagrass to Sarasota Seagrass.

That’s because the Florida Department of Transportation has nixed the design of fish swimming about in seagrass as part of its new policy that sculptures within its right of way must now withstand winds of 170 miles per hour. The $150,000 sculpture is already “largely fabricated,” according to Coleman, but is now paused awaiting city and state approval of the modified composition. 

Also uncertain is where the sculpture will end up. Already partially paid for by the city, it has since been learned the construction of the pedestal on which to mount Seagrass may be cost prohibitive, and as a result possible alternate sites had been considered. 

“The big issue with 10th Street is the cost of the base,” Coleman said. “It's significant, the same as for 14th Street, but actually quite more,”

Patel explained the reasons for the higher cost for the concrete pedestal are that the roundabout is larger than the one at 14th Street, and the sculpture itself is larger at the base than Poly, which was installed in November 2024 at 14th Street. 

Poly stands on a base that cost $340,906.50. The lone bid received for the base in the 10th Street roundabout came in at $743,652.

The public art committee has explored possible alternative locations for sculptures selected for the U.S. 41 roundabouts, a key element in the city’s “Art in the Roundabouts” program. That includes “The Sun Always Shines,” which the committee chose for Fruitville Road more than two years ago but has not yet been considered by the City Commission. 

The Public Art Committee has not held a call to artists for the newest roundabout at Gulfstream Avenue, which opened in December 2022, instead favoring Complexus, which once stood nearby prior to being relocated to the Sarasota Art Museum to make way for the roundabout construction. That represents a savings to the city’s Public Art Fund, paid for by developer contribution of 0.5% of any construction project costing $1 million or more, but at 70 feet the red-painted steel sculpture well exceeds FDOT’s 25-foot height limit for “community esthetic features” within its right of way.

“We intend to apply for a variance request,” Coleman told commissioners. 

Added Patel, “If we wanted to consider Complexus at the Gulfstream roundabout, we would have to see if the DOT would be open to considering that piece of that location.”

Image via city of Sarasota Public Art Collection

As an alternate location, the Public Art Committee had considered placing Complexus, which requires some rehabilitation work, on a piece of vacant Sarasota County property at Fruitville Road and Beneva Road. If amenable to the county, the committee said in February 2024, Complexus would be highly visible in that location considered the eastern gateway into the city.

Regardless of what goes where, the cost of the roundabout sculpture pedestals is not the responsibility of the Public Art Fund, but rather the city’s Engineering Department. At least through fiscal year 2027, however, the art fund will not grow as anticipated in the city’s 2030 Public Art Plan, which was implemented in 2023.

That plan doubled the developer’s contributions to the public art collection — either in the form of including public art in its project or a cash donation to the fund — from 0.5% to 1% of the total cost of any development that exceeds the $1 million threshold. Not long after, though, Senate Bill 250 was passed, prohibiting cities and counties within the disaster declaration for Hurricanes Ian and Nicole from increasing any building fees. 

Due to sunset later this year, the legislature in its 2025 session passed Senate Bill 180, which similarly impacts the ability of municipalities to create any new or additional fees for building permits in the wake of the 2024 hurricane season. That legislation is due to sunset at the end of fiscal year 2027.

As for Sarasota Seagrass, Coleman said staff is awaiting direction of its fate — sans flying fish — from the City Commission. 

“I've been told we can do an informational memo about the fish and get your direction as far as whether that would still be the best fit for the roundabout,” Coleman said. “Because the artwork has already been largely fabricated and we do have an approved site for it, the idea is to try to move forward with this site and then see how it all pans out.”