City of Sarasota seeks Sarasota County OK to use Ted Sperling Park as staging area

As the city of Sarasota moves toward dredging Big Pass to renorish Lido Key beaches as soon as early 2020, officials are seeking permission from the county to use Ted Sperling Park at South Lido Key as a staging area.

Earlier this month, Sarasota City Commissioner Shelli Freeland Eddie appeared at a County Commission meeting to formally share the city’s request to use the county-owned park site popular with kayakers and other watersports enthusiants during construction.

She read a Sept. 27 letter from City Manager Tom Barwin into the record.

The letter said the use of the land at Ted Sperling Park could save the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Army Corps is in the process of preparing a new bid proposal after the group’s first attempt failed to secure a satisfactory price for a contractor.

The meeting drew residents from Lido Key and Siesta Key who spoke for and against, respectively, the use of the park as a staging area.