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Retrofitting the urban core: stormwater master planning for the City of Sarasota

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Downtown Sarasota is the area’s oldest neighborhood and has an immense amount of assets designed to remove stormwater into the Hudson Bayou and Sarasota Bay. These assets are in part needed because Sarasota’s central business district allows zero lot line development along Main Street and its central core. These assets prevent flooding but are also directly “dumping” stormwater pollutants from our streets onto our Hudson Bayou/Sarasota Bay.

This design may have been acceptable when Sarasota was in its infancy but we are 90% built out – pushing our Hudson Bayou into a threatened waterway. Though we have the ability to address and correct the polluting of our estuaries, we have a problematic disconnect within our City/County government structure frustrating the correction. I believe the disconnect emanates from our inter-local agreement removing the City from stormwater management/planning and in doing so we have removed much of the political focus of our city’s administration thereby reducing funding opportunities. There are many exciting projects that can be done to enhance our City waterways and the economy (Sarasota’s economic foundation), but we need to create an effective political focus within the City.

It is my hope that each person will actively address this disconnect by supporting the establishment of a “City Stormwater Quality Master Plan”. With a “City Stormwater Quality Master Plan” we can incorporate Low Impact Design concepts for downtown that are better for our estuary, economical and attractive.

Presentation on Low Impact Development in Downtown Sarasota

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Cost estimate source: LID Factsheet from LID

Submitted by: Steve Long, Logan and Long, Inc

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