Venice residents receive updates on Laurel Road widening and Knights Trail Road link

VENICE – The prospect of having three property owners willing to work with Sarasota County on extending Lorraine Road south to connect to Knights Trail Road makes that a transformational project for Sarasota County, according to a top county official.

“We have absolutely nothing to connect Venice to the Sarasota area on the east side of the interstate,” Public Works Director Spencer Anderson told a capacity crowd March 18 at the Venetian Golf and River Club Community Association annual meeting.

Anderson discussed the road project in response to a question posed by Venice City Council Member Joan Farrell about why both it and the widening of Laurel Road were being fast-tracked.

“The portion between Clark Road and Laurel Road, there is a significant amount of development that is going to happen there and honestly we’ve been very bad with planning our roads before development gets there,” he said, calling the chance to extend the road “an opportunity we shouldn’t miss out on.”

Construction of that extension could start as soon as mid-2025.

While Anderson was easily the most popular speaker, the four other – Community Association board member Tom Jones, Venice Mayor Nick Pachota, Venice Public Works Director Javier Vargas and Sarasota County School Superintendent Terrence Connor − offered key updates on future projects that will continue to push the urbanization of northeast Venice.

Jones, in an overview of future residential development, noted that while in 2023 they were looking at a potential of roughly 8,800 new homes coming to the area, the anticipated number of new homes now is more than 12,500.

Remaining speakers gave residents a sense of how local governments will address that growth.

City eyes moving services out of flood zone

Pachota offered updates on general amenities, such as the eight pickleball courts, adult and children’s fitness center and dog park that will be built at the five-acre city park on the south side of Laurel Road, between Knight’s Trail Road and the VGRC; the planned move of the city’s solid waste and fleet facilities from the Seaboard area to Knights Trail Road; and the city’s plan to move Fire Station 52 from its current location in a flood zone to a new site just west of the Venice Police Station.

That $25 million project will allow the city to expand its ambulance service – which has been growing in call volume – and change coverage areas to improve response times.

Moving the fleet and solid waste facilities, Pachota noted, will let the city to continue the John Nolen Plan into the Seaboard area and create a park to help create “another space besides Centennial Park.”

Increased water pressure on the horizon

Vargas provided an update on the city’s water booster pump station – a solar powered facility being built on a portion of 44 acres purchased off of Gene Green Road in 2016.

Residents in northeast Venice have already been experiencing some water pressure issues. Vargas explained how the station would improve pressure. The $23.5 million facility, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, will also provide a hurricane hardened emergency operations center for public works employees to shelter in during a storm, so they can respond quickly to issues after the storm.

Vargas also touched on plans to move the city’s water treatment plant off of Hatchett Creek to a new location – likely the southwest corner of East Venice Avenue and Auburn Road – to get it out of a floodplain.

Of equal importance to Venetian residents, he said the buffering efforts – including a 9-foot-high berm – designed for the station should reduce noise from the rock crushing businesses to the north.

The water plant, designed to produce 4.5 million gallons per day and the wastewater plant, for up to 8 million gallons per day, should be able to accommodate anticipated growth, he added.

School district eyes growth; to seek property tax rate extension

Connor told the audience that – based on preliminary results from the first two standardized tests administered to students – the A-rated school district is in a position to improve its standing compared to this past year.

In response to a question about how the district planned to meet the need for school capacity based on current growth, Connor said the area is on the district’s radar because of rapid development and the district would be looking to purchase property for a future campus.

A school district spokeswoman later clarified that the search is in the area south of Clark Road and not necessarily in Northeast Venice.

Connor’s biggest news involved a reminder that a one-mill property tax increase approved by Sarasota County voters approved in March 2022 would be on ballot this November, to comply with new state law that requires such referendums to be conducted in general elections.

The local option sales tax, which has been approved by voter for 22 years, generates $100 million annually for the district.

Laurel Road part of a new network

During his initial presentation on the widening of Laurel Road, Anderson explained that because the Veneto Boulevard entrance to the VGRC is within 650 feet of the planned traffic signal at Laurel Road and Jacaranda Boulevard, a second traffic signal could not be placed there.

He said standards call for a left-in, left-out entrance but Sarasota County had already opted for a full entrance.

“That is an appropriate access control for this type of commercial development adjacent to a signal at a major intersecting roadway,” said Anderson, who later reminded residents that the widening of Laurel Road was done at the urging of the city of Venice.

That traffic signal, he also noted, would make it easier for Venetian residents seeking to make a left out of their subdivision to head west will find that action easier because of the traffic light at Jacaranda and Laurel.

Anderson also explained how the Laurel Road widening will help solidify the county’s road network east of I-75, with motorists able to ride from Lorraine Road south to Knights Trail Road, then use Laurel Road to link to Jacaranda Boulevard. From there, they could connect to River Road via East Venice Avenue or Center Road, or travel south to Tamiami Trail and ultimately State Road 776.

Another key aspect of Lorraine Road is an eventual eastern extension of State Road 681 that would result in a full interchange between Laurel and Clark roads.

“One of the big parts of this  is getting the DOT, the state Transportation Department  to expand that interchange so there’s access from the East and also from the South,” Anderson said. “They want to see us have a little skin in the game before they do that, so that’s why we are proceeding pretty rapidly with the linkup of Lorraine Road down to Knights Trail.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Infrastructure on the way to accompany Northeast Venice growth