Youth sailing program closer to new facility approval

Planning Board member Daniel Deleo described it as an area in which government requirements are nonsensical. With unanimous agreement at the dais, on March 11 Sarasota Youth Sailing received a recommendation of approval of a Government Zone waiver that otherwise would require the group to pave what has been a crushed-shell parking lot for seven decades.

Not only the waiver, Sarasota Youth Sailing also received a unanimous endorsement for a major conditional use approval to replace a rusting storage shed and motor home office space with a two-story, 4,230-square-foot building with boat storage below office space and gathering spaces.

Sarasota Youth Sailing is a program of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron, which leases 9.3 acres of city property in Ken Thompson Park on City Island. Having previously secured City Commission approval of its preliminary site concept, the Planning Board’s recommendations return to the commission for its final confirmation of the estimated $3 million project.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

“The G Zone waiver is so that we can avoid the requirement that we pave the parking and the drive aisle,” said project consultant Joel Freedman. “That's not only a very expensive item, it's also something that isn't needed because this whole sailing area out there has been there since forever. To pave the parking lot and create storm water ponds just isn't necessary. Quite frankly, if we have to do that, it could put this whole project in jeopardy.”

The crushed-shell parking lot and driveway has been in place since 1958, explained SYS President Travis Yates. Addressing concerns about washout from heavy storms or flooding, as was the case during the 2024 hurricane season, Yates called it a routine maintenance matter. The material is typically displaced within the parking lot — when it occurs — is historically quickly repaired.

Among the concerns of the Planning Board was the weight of emergency vehicles should such a response be needed. 

“We routinely get emergency vehicles at the property for training,” Yates said. “Sarasota County, the city and state come in and do SWAT team training and bring their biggest rigs in there without damage to our property.”

Courtesy image

Designed by Derek Pirozzi of PSDW Architecture, the new SYS facility will have a steeply sloped double roofline that will direct rainwater into a cistern system that will be used to wash boats before storage beneath the building. 

“The building is intended to be highly usable and very performance-driven, much like a sailing boat,”  Pirozzi said. 

The new structure stands to be a considerable upgrade from the current facilities.

“That storage building was built in the 1980s next to salt water. By all means, it’s ready to go. It's rusted all over and not in the best shape,” Pirozzi said. "Right now, the youth program is operating out of — let’s call it mobile home or RV — and it's been like that for many, many years. It's been a long time coming.”