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bserver SARASOTA
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Health Matters JULY 2014
OPEN ROAD SCAT hopes new Siesta route will increase ridership. PAGE 3A
EAST COUNTY
HEALTH
How what you eat affects your hydration. LIGHTEN UP
dishes.
PAGE 7
OUR TOWN
Observer
HYDRATION
Barbecues can feature healthy and flavorful
FREE • THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
PAGES 2-3
WALK THIS WAY
Employees who walk while they work enjoy
added benefits.
PAGE 5
renourishment
WORK ETHIC
Triathlete tackles training by never doing the same workout twice.
HEALTH MATTERS Beat the heat: Learn how hydration affects your overall health. INSIDE
GRAND STAND Paddleboarders race to Siesta for SUP Series. PAGE 17A
by Jessica Salmond | Staff Writer
County seeks to shore up South Siesta Key
Courtesy photo
Klaus Fritsch with Mary Manhoff
+ Show of support
+ Creative contest Southeastern Guide Dogs has announced a T-shirt design contest for its 2015 walkathon held across the state. Walkathon participants, volunteers and members of staff will wear the winning design. The event, which takes place at seven locations in Florida, is the charity’s biggest annual fundraiser. For information and to enter, visit GuideDogs.org/tshirtcontest.
+ Growing up green More than 80 campers experienced the beauty of nature at the S.T.E.M. Summer Camp last week in Venice. Volunteers from both the Butterfly Club and the Sarasota Garden Club spent two mornings guiding the campers through butterfly garden activities to give the campers a better appreciation for their environment.
Jessica Salmond
Turtle Beach’s skinny shore is still a popular location for beachgoers and kite surfers. However, without renourishment, the sand will continue to wash away. The South Siesta Key Beach Restoration project is under a tight deadline to renourish the beaches before next year’s turtle nesting season. The project aims to renourish about two miles of sand-starved beaches on the south Siesta shoreline, including Turtle Beach. The first renourishment of South Siesta was completed about seven years ago, so the beach is due for another replenishing, said Laird Wreford, county coastal resources manager. The first time, the project cost $11 million to $12 million to pump 1 million cubic yards onto the beach. This time, not as much sand will be required, Wreford said. (The contractor will determine the total amount needed.) However, the county could see some cost increases. When Hurricane Sandy hit the eastern coast of the country in 2012, it drove up the demand for sand renourishment services. Even two years later, that price increase could still exist. Since 2007, about 40% of
Two artists shake things up like a Polaroid picture. INSIDE
PAGE 11
The South Siesta Key Beach renourishment is on a deadline to fill in the shoreline before the erosion threatens infrastructure.
Siesta Key Hardware owners Patricia and James Hillier are bringing the island community closer together. After their employee Mary Manhoff was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, the couple decided to host a raffle to help raise money for her. They sold 100 tickets at $30 each and awarded raffle winner Klaus Fritsch, a Siesta Key resident, with a new grill. “It has been a rough journey for her,” says Patricia Hillier, “but she has received so much support from friends, neighbors and customers, the outpouring of love has lifted her spirits.”
DIVERSIONS
TURTLE BEACH RECEIVES A MAKEOVER NEW FEATURES • Thirty-five new parking spaces in a new lot • New playground • New handicapaccessible boardwalk over sand dune • Two new two-pole picnic shelters • Gazebo • Kayak launch • Rain garden
SEE SIESTA / PAGE 2A
The parks and recreational side of Turtle Beach will be getting a makeover starting near the end of this year. The Sarasota County Commission has already approved the design, and the budget for improvements is set at $724,000. However, the project has not gone out for bid yet because county staff is working on receiving proper permits, and they need an estimate from the county engineer, said Rob LaDue, interim manager for Park Planning and Capital Programs. The project will be presented to the Sarasota County Commission for approval in a few months. Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2014 and last four to six months.
MAP QUEST
by David Conway | News Editor
DID faces budget limitations The city’s Downtown Improvement District is looking for new sources of revenue. After funding a $1.9 million Main Street improvement project last year, the Downtown Improvement District has grappled with a new financial reality as it pays down the debt incurred from that undertaking. At a November meeting, DID board members listed securing a new revenue stream as the group’s highest priority. Expanding the boundaries of the district — which draws its revenues from an additional tax on non-residential property owners — has been the most-discussed path to new money. The group has talked about several possibilities for expansion. The most ambitious proposal would give the DID the same boundaries as the downtown Community Redevelopment Area. As a result, the DID would see its reach expand as far as the bayfront to the east, the Rosemary District to the north and Burns Square to the south. Other options have included more modest expansions to the east, which would include businesses between Goodrich Avenue and U.S. 301. Projects the group has discussed funding with the additional revenue include conducting further street improvements, subsidizing downtown parking management, paying for additional security or funding a downtown circulator vehicle. The potential expansion has been continuously discussed at DID meetings this year — yet no action has been taken. At its most recent meeting Tuesday, the group considered an even smaller expansion to Osprey Avenue. That move would bring in an additional $80,000 in revenue, doubling the group’s available annual budget, but it would still fall short of the roughly $400,000 projected cost of street
SEE DID / PAGE 2A
INDEX Opinion.................8A Classifieds ........ 26A
Cops Corner....... 10A Crossword.......... 25A
Permits.............. 23A Real Estate........ 22A
Sports................ 13A Weather............. 25A
Vol. 10, No. 33 | Three sections YourObserver.com