SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla — Sarasota County commissioners will discuss the future fate of the Gulf Gate Golf Course and the funding options for the county to buy the property.
The idea is supported by residents of nearby Gulf Gate Estates who have circulated petitions to support the plan. They want the 49-acre golf course in the hands of the Sarasota County Government.
The neighbors hope that the property will be turned into a Nature Park to preserve wetlands and wildlife and mitigate flooding and water quality issues in the area.
"It's like everybody else, we're seeing climate change and these heavy downpours and hurricanes," said Cass Smith of the Gulf Gate Gulf Course Committee.
Developers had planned for 106 single-family homes on the golf course after it was rezoned in 2016. The property sits within Matheny Creek and Elligraw Bayou Drainage Basins. After seeing the storm surge from hurricanes Ian and Idalia, some neighbors are concerned.
"What I don't want to see is flooding and I don't want my neighbors to flood such as that the 52,000 homes that flooded in Englewood and Venice in Fort Myers," Smith said.
Many of the neighbors are against any dense development and want county leaders to use Stormwater Environmental Utility money to purchase the land from developers. The current appraisal is estimated at $4.5 million.
"Any sort of intense development will definitely change the feel of the neighborhood and the environment. There's lots of wildlife here and the county needs some open space as well," said Sheryl Gofman, a Gulf Gate Estates neighbor.
Residents said such green space is necessary to help protect the environment, enhance the quality of life for county residents and limit the frequency of red tide blooms.
"Right now, all of our conveyances for all these areas have no filtration process at all so everything that goes into the stormwater drains goes directly into little Sarasota Bay," Smith said.
County staff said that currently there is no funding in the five-year capital improvement program for such property acquisition.
The board, however, does have the power to create a public improvement district to fund projects to benefit specific geographic areas if it chooses that funding route.
The commission meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12.