FDOT Plans Improvements along SR 789 (Bird Key to Sunset Drive) beginning early 2026
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has announced project plans for upcoming improvements along SR 789 (Bird Key to Sunset Drive). Construction is anticipated to begin in early 2026 and be completed by early 2027.
Key Improvements:
- Extension of bus-only lanes
- Sidewalk-level bicycle lanes at Bird Key Drive and Sunset Drive intersections
- Dedicated bicycle signals
- Drainage upgrades at Sunset Drive and Bird Key Drive intersections
- Sunset Drive area: raising roadway approximately 1 foot on average
- Bird Key Drive area: raising roadway approximately 8 inches on average
- Raising the seawall cap near Sunset Drive by 2 feet to match the adjacent seawall near 660 Golden Gate Point
- Shorter pedestrian crossing distances at intersections
- Tighter turning radii to slow right-turning vehicles
Lane Closures: Lane closures are anticipated during construction. The current restrictions are as follows:
- Weekend lane closures: 9:00 PM – 7:00 AM
- Weekday lane closures within 600 ft of intersections: 7:00 PM – 9:00 AM
- Weekday open-road lane closures (not near intersections): 9:00 PM – 7:00 AM
- Speed limits during construction: remain 35 MPH on both Gulfstream Ave. and John Ringling Causeway (SR 789).
Landscape Coordination Plan: Separately, our Parks & Recreation Department in coordination with FDOT has completed replanting the palm trees that were in the construction area to the median approaching St. Armands Circle area.
For questions or more information about the SR 789 improvements, please contact:
Alice Ramos
Community Outreach Manager
Valerin Group (on behalf of FDOT)
Tel: 863-797-7202
Email: alice.ramos@dot.state.fl.us
FDOT Road Closure Starting October 6th through November 30th
For Immediate Release: October 3, 2025
Contact: Janella Newsome (863) 519-2828 | Janella.Newsome@dot.state.fl.us
SARASOTA, Fla. – The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will conduct ground penetrating radar (GPR) testing on SR 789 from Bird Key Drive to Sarasota Harbor West on Monday, October 6, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to locate utilities and steel bars in the deck in support of the drilling operations beginning next week. The work requires a lane closure of the westbound outside lane.
Additional overnight lane closures are scheduled from October 6 through November 30 from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Crews will be drilling and boring for core testing for the future bridge replacement. The community can expect noise from the drilling equipment. Motorists are encouraged to plan for additional travel time through the area.
For information on the project, visit: https://www.swflroads.com/project/436680-1
For real-time traffic updates, visit https://fl511.com/.
SWFLRoads.com | X: @MyFDOT_SWFL | Facebook: @MyFDOTSWFL
Ben Franklin Street Lighting - REPAIRS
Streetlight Repairs have faced significant delays due to supply chain disruptions following consecutive hurricanes. Sarasota currently competes with other impacted regions in Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia for essential materials. Streetlight components are anticipated to arrive within the next several months.
Permit Status: Submitted to Federal Highway Administration and Florida Department of Transportation
Project Construction Start: Early 2026
Ted Sperling Park
Residents of South Lido Key are experiencing the effects and aftermath of what feels like an uncontrolled party spot at Ted Sperling Park. This is a complex issue as the County has the jurisdiction even though it is within the City limits. There have been a multitude of meetings over the past few years, but focus is now elevated at both the County and the City levels.
LKRA Team: Dave Rayner, Celine O'Connor, Jim Ludwig, Carl Shoffstall
Current Status - October 2025:
- The County Commissioners, through Commissioner Mark Smith, have recognized and are discussing mitigation actions including eliminating the mooring of any watercraft on Lido Key and establishing new rules for the "nature park" that will limit capacity and noise. County Commission Meetings are temporarily being held at the Venice Community Center (RL Anderson Center 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice.)
- On Tuesday, October 1st, the County Commissioners voted 5-0 to ask County Staff to bring back an ordinance that would create a 300 feet no-motorized watercraft area around. They also voted 5-0 to have Staff bring back rules and/or ordinances to deal with noise.
- City Commissioners have asked City Attorney, Joe Polzak to work on an integrated ordinance with the County's actions. Joe is reaching out to the LKRA team on a recurring basis.
There appears to be momentum to bring a resolution to this long-term problem, but the team needs to continue actively working.
Undergrounding Utilities on the Barrier Islands
Power lines and other utilities have been fully buried on Bird Key, Longboat Key, parts of St. Armands Key, and John Ringling Blvd to St. Armands. This trend is common in Florida's storm-prone areas, improving safety, reliability, and neighborhood appearance. During the 2024 hurricanes, the one street with underground utilities on St. Armands was without power for two hours, while other areas of the island experienced outages lasting up to a week. On Longboat Key, only one transformer was affected. Bird Key experienced some power loss originating from the city, with no outages caused on the island itself.
FINISH THE JOB: The Lido Key Residents Association Board has unanimously expressed its support for collaborating with St. Armands and Lido Shores in the initiative to underground utilities. According to the latest survey close to 90% are in favor of and prepared to financially support this investment, higher numbers on Lido. The city and FPL would oversee the process and fund the buildout through a 30-year bond, which would be repaid either by an annual property tax increase or a single upfront payment. Easements from all homeowners would be necessary. Transformer boxes would be installed at ground level instead of on power poles; these can be waterproofed, are corrosion-resistant, and may have exteriors designed to blend with the surrounding landscape if preferred.
Islands Team: Bob Kelly, Chris Goglia, Carl Shoffstall, Dennis Bishop and Rachel Burns with Jim Ludwig (support). Current Status - October 2025:
After residents and merchants had been surveyed, letters from the associations were sent to the City Manager. LKRA's well attended October 18th Resident Meeting provided an informative update and Q&A session. The project team and staff presented the neighborhoods interest survey results to the City Commission on October 20; who after discussion, voted 5-0 to proceed with the feasibility study that will determine a project plan and costs.
Floodwater and Stormwater
CCNA (Coalition of Neighborhood Associations) of Sarasota is actively working on a Stormwater Resilience Initiative to reduce the impact of flooding and other stormwater related issues to our community, both people and property. The St. Armands Resiliency & Flood Mitigation Project is a comprehensive effort to reduce storm-related flooding, strengthen stormwater infrastructure, and enhance coastal resilience for one of Sarasota’s most critical commercial and residential areas.
St. Armands Team: Chris Goglia, (Jim Ludwig CCNA 1st VP is monitoring)
Current Status - October 2025: The City has completed a major relandscaping of the circle. On St. Armands they are cleaning out drainage ditches and on Lido, they have cleared an issue on Cleveland Drive and are actively cleaning out the drains on the Blvd of Presidents. See project detail below.
Beach Renourishment and Dunes Project
The City of Sarasota, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Sarasota County, will begin a comprehensive coastal protection project to restore and fortify Lido Beach which experienced accelerated shoreline degradation due to the cumulative impacts of multiple hurricanes. This critical infrastructure project, paid for by $12 million in federal funding, will restore 1.2 miles of eroded shoreline and improve resiliency by depositing 200,000 - 300,000 cubic yards of sand sourced locally from the dredging of New Pass.
LKRA Team: Jay Elsasser
Current Status - October 2025 (see also link below)
- Beach Date: December 2025 to June 2026
- Dunes: June 2026 to November 2026
LKRA's November 15th Membership Meeting will provide a complete update.
Vacation Rentals (aka "Hotel Houses")
The City's Vacation Rental ordinance is focused on ensuring residents the tranquility and peaceful enjoyment of their homes and their neighborhoods; to mitigate incompatibilities between vacation rentals and resident occupied homes; and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the occupants of vacation rentals and their guests and to encourage them to be respectful of the residents of the neighborhood in which they are vacationing.
Current Status - October 2025:
The number of vacation rentals are still increasing but at a lesser rate. Many are for sale but not moving. There were two incidents this summer with illegal occupancy. Sarasota Police quickly dealt with those issues. There are a few instances where tenants are using golfcarts and driving them on the beach. The police are dealing with those as well. If you have an issue, call the police or let a Board Member know.
Revitalization of St. Armand's Circle
The St. Armands Business Improvement District ("BID") was not renewed by the City Commission in July 2023. When it was active, this City Advisory Board consisted of five St. Armands commercial property owners. In 2022 and 2023, the board proposed increasing the permitted height for commercial buildings on St. Armands and expanding the use of upper floors to include residences, bed-and-breakfasts, and hotels. Surrounding neighborhoods and the City of Longboat Key raised concerns about the potential for all buildings on the Circle to be four stories, as well as issues related to increased density, traffic, and parking, noting that the proposal did not include parking requirements for transient tenants. In 2023, the City Commission voted 5-0 to deny a request from the BID to send this to Planning staff for a study and proposal, thus delaying any new development for some time.
Current Status - October 2025 (New Proposals are Circulating)
A subset of St. Armand’s property owners is again actively trying to get the city to move forward their idea of extensive residential units above the existing storefronts, this time using the rationale that the existing buildings are so damaged from the hurricanes they need to be rebuilt. Conceptual plans have been presented to the city that would explore the idea of tearing down (except for the shell) existing buildings and building new 3-4 story structures. Retail on the ground floor with 2+ stories of residential (vacation? condo?) above. Parking requirements under the existing zoning code would be very difficult to meet, so this group wants to waive or amend existing zoning and comprehensive plan codes. It is the position of LKRA and consistent with the others on the keys that:
- The Coastal Islands Overlay (CIO) protects the environmentally sensitive and fragile nature of the coastal islands and their evacuation needs. The regulations address the density, intensity and scale of development consistent with the Environmental Protection and Coastal Island chapter of the Sarasota City Plan. The CIO consists of four subdistricts:
- The Impervious Surface Overlay District (ISOD) is intended to limit increases in impervious surface for new construction.
- The Height Overlay District (HOD) is intended to limit increases in the height for new construction.
- The Density Overlay District (DOD) is intended to limit increases in residential density for new construction.
- The Conservation Overlay District (COD) is intended to protect these generally undeveloped coastal, environmentally sensitive areas, which include beaches, dunes, coastal hammocks, mangrove swamps, tidal islands, tidal marshes and other marine and estuarine habitats.
- Residents of the barrier islands, including Longboat, as well as their guests, constitute a primary group of buyers of goods and services on St. Armand’s. They have the most to gain in the successful future of the circle.
- Acknowledge that St. Armands needs to be revitalized in a master plan designed from meaningful input by the Lido Key Residents Association (LKRA), the St. Armands Residents Association (SARA), the Lido Shores Property Owners Association (LSPOA), the St. Armands Circle (Merchants) Association (SACA), and the Town of Longboat Key, and the entire set of St. Armand’s property owners.