Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee
 

November 2007 -- Sarasota County voters approved the 15-year renewal of the one percent sales tax on Nov. 6, 2007. Funding for widening Bee Ridge Road east of I-75 was included in the Projects List.

We thank all of you who have supported this effort with financial contributions, emails to commissioners, calls to neighbors, and attendance at meetings to achieve so much success in such a short time. Your generous and steady support has allowed us to accomplish in two years what normally takes 10 to 15 years. When completed, Bee Ridge Road should enhance the value of our neighborhoods.

see Current Status of Road Planning below for more information >>

July 2007 -- The property tax cuts ordered by the Legislature will reduce funding for the Bee Ridge Road widening project.  The construction will begin later and take longer than originally projected.  The new schedule will be posted here when details become available.

June 2007 -- We are happy to announce that Bee Ridge Road is one of the four road projects endorsed by the Sarasota County Commission. The schedule calls for building a four-lane road from I-75 to the Bee Ridge extension at a cost of $36.5 million. The design will include four lanes, a planted center median, bicycle paths, sidewalks, and lighting. Turning this endorsement into an actual project will, however, require an affirmative vote on extension of the Sarasota County one-point sales surtax (7% instead of 6%) in the November 2007 election. Details about this development are presented below.

CURRENT STATUS OF ROAD PLANNING
The surtax will not be effective until 2009. Road design, engineering, right of way acquisitions, and permitting are scheduled for 2010-11. Construction would follow with a 2015 completion date.

see Bee Ridge Road Surtax Project Detail page >>
see complete Sarasota County Infrastructure Surtax Projects List >>
see Sarasota County Penny Sales Tax web page >>

The County is continuing to acquire right-of-way for this project. The County has purchased 8 parcels along the south side of Bee Ridge and cleared the houses for right of way use as well as a 15 acre parcel (in the 7000 block on the north side of Bee Ridge Road) for use as a stormwater retention facility.

The County Commission is considering issuing tax revenue bonds to accelerate the the completion of the surtax projects. This web page will be updated as more information becomes available.

BRNC will continue to press the county to develop a Bee Ridge Road Corridor Plan to guide design decisions on buffering, landscaping, sidewalks, medians, turn lanes and access so the most appropriate roadway is constructed.

BACKGROUND
In 2004, the Bee Ridge Improvement Committee (now known as the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee, or BRNC) was formed to improve the appearance of Bee Ridge Road and to inform the County government about the need for road expansion. At that time, only $1.5 million was allocated to expanding Bee Ridge Road to four lanes without any specified time frame.

Because of revenue shortfalls and escalating construction costs, the only potential for expansion has been through the extension of the current surtax and the Commission designating Bee Ridge as one of the projects to be funded by the extended surtax.

The Commission recommended extending the existing surtax (which is a one percent tax currently added to 6 percent sales tax, for a total of 7 percent sales tax in Sarasota County) for 15 years through a referendum vote in November 2007. The surtax will fund 13 functional areas, and transportation is one of those. “Transportation” as defined in this context consists of Mobility (roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, etc.) and Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT).

Transportation projects totaling $526 million have been identified by the county staff and citizens for consideration under the surtax – $181 million more than the Commissioners are allowed to designate to Transportation.

After 11 hours of hearings on public requests as well as staff recommendations, the Commission endorsed 10 of 18 projects. The remaining eight were in the “maybe” category and have start dates of FY2020 and beyond.

The first six projects for road resurfacing, sidewalks, signalization, bridge rehabilitation, street tree program, and new buses for SCAT used all but $55 million of the money expected to be generated by the surtax and allocated to Transportation.

The Commission added only four road projects and funded those projects partially by the surtax. They then added supplemental funds from the currently in-place method of generating revenues – Impact fees, Gas tax, and Communications tax – to meet the requirements of the added four road projects.

As noted in June 2007, we are pleased that Bee Ridge Road is one of the four road projects the Commission endorsed. The schedule calls for building a four-lane road from I-75 to the Bee Ridge extension at a cost of $36.5 million. The design will include four lanes, a planted center strip, bicycle paths, sidewalks, and lighting.