On December 11, a public meeting was held at Lukewood Park to show the proposed site of the relocation of lift station number 7. The existing station is currently located in an upscale residential neighborhood. Their neighborhood association has been very effective in advocating for it to be removed. The station has failed at least twice and has been a source of foul odors for the current residential neighborhood. The city has “fixed” its current problems and would like to further upgrade the lift station and relocate it to the entrance to Sarasota, in the back yard of many Central Park I and II residents and down the street from the Selby Botanical Gardens and Marina Jacks.

The city hired an outside agency to conduct a study as to the relocation of the lift station. Eleven sites were initially proposed, none of which was Lukewood Park. There are other options for the lift station, one is for it to stay at it’s current location and be enlarged, the other most obvious is for it to be located at the High School, which was the first choice of the hired outside agency.

For security and safety reasons for its students, the school board has asked for the city to close School Avenue permanently, which is currently closed during school hours, in exchange for the relocation of the lift station. The city refused to be forced by the school board, although hired outside agency and most agrees this is the best location for the station.

The city has done due diligence in its investigation, taken its time in attempting to place the lift station and now has urgently and quickly tried to push the station’s location to the beautiful entrance to Sarasota Bayfront. We the people, businesses and associations that will be affected by this construction should be afforded the same time frame in the decision making process. This decision does not need to be made immediately as the city is attempting to do. We need to react and act immediately to get our voice heard.

The city has drawings of the proposed new lift station and its “state of the art” below and above ground constructions. This is a major undertaking that will destroy our neighborhood with large truck construction, cement trucks, cranes and road closings for no less than two years. Different sections at varying times of Mound and Osprey will have to be closed for a week to ten days periodically because of the construction during this minimum two-year process. The city officials admitted that past constructions have not gone smoothly because of lack of ability to hire qualified crew.

Once constructed, this lift station will be a blight on the Gateway to Sarasota, Selby Gardens, Marina Jacks and the Bayfront. It looks like a huge underground bunker. The city said that perhaps it could offer to put playground equipment around the station, if that would make us happier.

Please immediately visit, contact or call, the City of Sarasota, look at the pictures of the proposed construction, understand the massive process and disruption to our neighborhood, and make your voice heard that this proposal needs further review before it is quickly pushed through as the city is attempting to do. Once this gigantic bunker station is built on the corner of Mound and Osprey, we all will have to live with this terrible blight.