North Port spur slated to start before Sarasota portion

SARASOTA COUNTY — With $65 million available to expand the popular Legacy Trail, Sarasota County officials are focusing on how to extend it to the county's two biggest cities, Sarasota and North Port.

The 12.5-mile trail, which opened in 2008, uses former railroad right-of-way to connect the historic Venice Train Depot with the Culverhouse Nature Park in Palmer Ranch in central Sarasota County. It is used by roughly 250,000 cyclists and pedestrians annually. In 2017, Sarasota County bought nearly a mile of railroad corridor that would extend the trail north 1.7 miles to Ashton Road.

Last November, 70.6 percent of voters approved a referendum which authorized the county to issue $65 million in bonds to pay to extend the trail north to Payne Park in downtown Sarasota.

About $30.1 million of the bond money will pay for right-of-way acquisition. Once Sarasota County finishes its due diligence, that sale is scheduled to close May 30. That route will continue to follow the railroad corridor and will require the design and construction of overpasses for two major east-west arteries, Bee Ridge and Clark roads.

Most recently, a trail overpass for Laurel Road cost $2 million in federal funds and opened in December. A $3.1 million overpass for U.S. 41 Bypass opened in 2011. It, too, was paid for by the federal government.

Opening in phases

Based partly on the wishes of the Sarasota County Commission to get the extended trail open as soon as possible — rather than wait to receive federal funding for the Bee Ridge and Clark Road overpasses — county officials plan to open the Legacy Trail in phases.

Jon Robinson, division manager for natural areas and trails for Sarasota County, said money from the bond will be taken in multiple draws, not all at once.

“In that very first draw of the bond, we included the $2 million that’s dedicated to North Port, because it could go faster than some of the other stuff,” Robinson said.

Money from that initial bond sale, which should be about $35 million, will pay for consultants to design the entire trail.

For the most part, the extension to Sarasota will follow former Seminole Gulf Railway right-of-way. It’s too soon to say whether the trail may be connected via at-grade crossings, instead of overpasses, until federal funding comes through.

“That’s not anybody’s desire, but it may be a reality,” Robinson said.

Sarasota County also is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to realign McIntosh Road, where it intersects Clark Road. Currently, the southern portion of McIntosh Road is west of the northern portion, so vehicles traveling McIntosh Road have to turn onto Clark and cross the railroad tracks, then get back onto the other portion of McIntosh.

“We need to have that plan before we even plan the overpass,” Robinson said. “That intersection is going to change.”

Nicole Rissler, director of parks, recreation and natural resources for Sarasota County, noted that staff is working to accommodate the County Commission’s desire to open up the northern extension in phases. The timing of when those phases will open will be decided once an engineer and consultant are hired to work through the details and “find ways that we can be creative and open up at least pieces of it as quickly as possible.”

Robinson said that county staff envisions the northern extension of the Legacy Trail as more of a linear park, with a variety of amenities. Five rest stops are planned, including the existing Culverhouse Nature Parks and Payne Park. Other possible amenities being considered are pickleball courts, fitness equipment and artistic displays.

“We’re looking at a variety of things that will serve people, other than just a trail,” Robinson said.

The $65 million bond won’t pay for all the amenities the county hopes to build.

Robinson noted that the county is already exploring both state and federal grant opportunities. “It may be that some of our bigger plans get added into the trail at a later date,” he added.

A roadside connection to North Port

Railroad companies never built a spur to North Port, which was incorporated in 1959, so that connection will partly include bike lanes adjacent to existing roads.

All three potential routes to North Port connect with the Legacy Trail at Florence Street in Nokomis and head east along Edmonson Road, which becomes Border Road, until it reaches South Moon Drive, east of Venice.

Robinson said that connection would basically consist of bicycle lanes connecting through to South Moon Drive. Portions of the trail within the city of Venice would be subject to the city’s permitting and design requirements.

From that point, all three possible routes contain paths along relatively primitive trails, noted North Port Parks and Recreation Manager Tricia Wisner.

One route, long envisioned as the most likely connection to North Port, jogs north through the T. Mabry Carlton Jr. Memorial Reserve, follows South Powerline Trail — essentially a trail that traces the route of Florida Power & Light power lines — and connects with the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, via a bridge that opened in 2016 and was built specifically for that purpose.

That route could require roughly eight miles of pavement, with county officials still negotiating with Florida Power & Light, which is hesitant about having the trail paved.

“It’s a primitive route, unpaved,” Robinson said. “But off-road cyclists are using that.”

The other two options would follow Forbes Trail to the northern entrance to Deer Prairie Creek Preserve.

One option there, which would require 3.5 miles of paving or grading, heads south through the preserve then east to connect with Price Boulevard.

The other, which would require 3.4 miles of paving or grading, heads east along a currently used, but unpaved, extension of Forbes Trail through the Schewe Ranch, which is owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, then south along a drainage canal until it hits Price Boulevard.

Both those routes require bridges across Deer Prairie Creek and across the drainage canal to connect to Price Boulevard. A trail could be be extended south another 1.1 miles along the canal to connect to the eastern portion of Warm Mineral Springs Park.

Wisner noted that people are already taking those paths, but “to make it more enjoyable for somebody on bike, we would need to level it.”

Of those two routes, Rissler said, the preferred route would go through Schewe Ranch, because it wouldn’t bisect as many natural areas. The county already has a letter of support for that path, but more talks are scheduled for February.

There is no firm cost of what it would take to extend the trail to North Port, Rissler said.

“We’ll be looking to squeeze our pennies,” she added.

Wisner stressed that $2 million would likely pay for enhanced trail connections but not an entire trail from North Port through to Border Road, for the connection to the Legacy Trail.

“It sounds like a lot of money, but it’s going to be a lot of design and prep work,” she added. “This is not going to end up with paved trails at all.”

The bridge over the canal carries another undetermined cost, since North Port Fire Chief Scott Titus would want one strong enough to bear the load of fire engines. Wisner noted he is exploring grant funding to help with that.

“My goal would be to get a trail that we could end up paving for that die-hard person who wants to get on a bicycle on Warm Mineral Springs and get up to Payne Park, or vice versa — have it be the same material.”