- December 5, 2025
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Sarasota County and the city of Sarasota are teaming up to place restrictions on the beach and in the water around South Lido Beach and Ted Sperling Park. And the city is taking it a step further to cover the 10th Street boat launch at Centennial Park and other waterfront parks.
In order to address a growing number of complaints from residents and to address safety issues, the two governments have tasked their respective staffs to draft ordinances to ban beaching of motorized boats and personal watercraft or anchoring them within 300 feet of shore.
The topic, discussed by the City Commission on July 7 and the County Commission on July 8, comes on the heels of the death of Luis Guevara, a 19-year-old player in the Baltimore Orioles farm system, died while operating a PWC when he jumped a wake and crashed into another PWC off Lido Key on June 15.
Following the example of the county, the city also wants to explore regulating commercial operations — much of it not licensed — in those city parks.
Enforcement at Ted Sperling Park, where South Lido Beach is located, is a complex issue because it is a county-owned park within the Sarasota city limit. The county government itself has no enforcement capability and must rely on the Sheriff’s Office, Sarasota Police Department and/or Florida Wildlife Commission.
On July 7, the City Commission tasked staff to develop an ordinance that largely mirrors the county effort, which was posed by District 2 County Commissioner Mark Smith to his fellow commissioners the next day. The county has already approved an ordinance to regulate commercial activities in its water-access parks, implementation of which has been suspended in the wake of the 2024 hurricane season that left some of its boat launches, piers and bulkheads inaccessible.
“The ultimate goal for Lido would be that we do not allow any motorized vehicles to beach onto Lido,” said City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch. “As we know, boats will pull up and everybody wants to have fun, … but sometimes it's not in the best interest of our island and in our parks. People go aboard. Dogs go aboard. They dig up turtle nests, they chase birds, they do things that dogs do. And people jump out of their boats. They swim, sometimes unsuccessfully, to the beach.”
The effort also targets non-licensed commercial operators, some of whom arrive with their own PWCs they rent to others and engage in other forms of non-sanctioned commerce.
“They're buying alcohol. They’re vending. There is a slew of commercial activity that takes place when those boats get to the shoreline or above that riparian line,” said Deputy Manager Patrick Robinson. A riparian line is the boundary between a landowner’s property and a body of water.
“I would ask for a motion directing staff to look into solutions pursuant or pertaining to commercial usage in our city parks, specifically Centennial Park and Ken Thompson Park, as it pertains to marine commercial uses,” Robinson said.
The effort should also include, he added, continuing to work with state and county partners to close loopholes and address weaknesses in ordinances that pertain to mooring and operating vessels within a certain distance of South Lido Beach and Ted Sperling Park.
Robinson helped craft two motions, both of which were unanimously approved. The first is to direct staff to investigate regulatory language related to commercial uses for rental of PWCs or other motorized marine vessels. The second is to direct staff to craft language to regulate mooring or operating vessels within 300 feet of South Lido Beach, Ted Sperling Park, Ken Thompson Park on City Island, Centennial Park and all beaches within the city limit.
Meanwhile, by unanimous vote the county staff has been tasked to bring back to the County Commission an agenda item for discussion to amend an existing ordinance to be specific to South Lido Beach and Ted Sperling Park that would ban anchoring or mooring any motor boats within 300 feet of the shore, unless permitted.
Both the city and county commissions are aware there will be ample pushback from the public, and interim City Manager Dave Bullock said a resolution may take longer to craft than Robinson’s estimate the city’s ordinance could be presented by the end of summer.
“I would just suggest that there are, and have been for decades, folks who use (Centennial Park) to drop off and pick up — charter captains and local folks who have been here forever,” said Bullock, who admitted he has beached his boat at South Lido. “There will be a whole ’nother voice not heard from yet who finds that kind of public access, and they're well behaved, so we're going to need to work through this carefully.
“I just caution you that to really get through it all and give all parts of the community the opportunity to weigh in might take a little longer than that.”
