Plans to create convention center are scrapped

SARASOTA COUNTY — The Sarasota County Commission’s top priority of creating a major conference center was put on the back burner this week because of other hot-button issues facing the county, such as water quality and updating aging infrastructure.

The commission in December identified the possibility of creating a major conference center that could also be used as a multiuse facility for indoor sports as one of its 2019 priorities, but on Wednesday backed away from the idea following a county staff presentation that it could cost roughly $310 million for water quality improvements.

“The time is not right this year to deal with that,” Commissioner Nancy Detert said of a convention center at the board’s meeting last week. “We need to protect our infrastructure and make sure we’re not rotting at the core on water issues and air quality issues. That’s where I think we should put any money.”

The rest of the commission agreed, but remained open to the possibility of a private developer swooping in to build a long-debated conference center in the county, which could potentially include a land incentive, Commissioner Mike Moran said.

“I am incredibly eager to hear from the private sector for them to bring a facility to this community and if there’s any way we can help in that, ask,” Moran said, directing his comments to developers. “Tell us what you need and want to come here and hopefully they would be pleasantly surprised with what they would hear from this board.”

Talks about bringing a major convention center to the county began in 1965 when architects submitted plans for a civic center in the city of Sarasota, which does have an aging municipal auditorium, county officials said.

The decision to table talks about the county creating a convention center on its own comes after county staff earlier in the meeting delivered sobering statistics to the commission about seagrass death and pollutant levels in area waterways while providing an equally astonishing price tag to upgrade its three wastewater treatment plants. One of those plants is the subject of a lawsuit for illegally spewing millions of gallons of treated wastewater for years from an overwhelmed holding pond.

While presenting its proposed Water Quality Improvement Program to the commission, county staffers said six area bays, including Sarasota and Lemon bays, have lost a combined 771 acres of seagrass — an important species to help determine the overall health of coastal ecosystems — from 2016 to 2018. Levels of the nutrient nitrogen in Sarasota Bay have steadily crept upward, from just over .2 milligrams per liter in 1998 to around .4 in 2019. While that is still low, it is a noticeable trend, county staffers said, adding that the boost could have an effect on the dying seagrass.

The cost for upgrading three wastewater treatment plants to what is known as “advanced wastewater treatment” facilities to reduce nutrient pollution will be “significant” — between $70 million and $90 million — warned Michael Mylett, the county’s interim public utilities director.

The upgraded facilities would significantly reduce the amount of nitrogen in reclaimed water used for irrigation. The county was sued last month by several environmental groups who allege the local government broke the federal Clean Water Act by dumping more than 800 million gallons of reuse water without a proper permit since 2013 from a storage pond at its Bee Ridge Wastewater Reclamation Facility. The suit also alleges the county has illegally dumped raw sewage, partially treated sewage and treated reclaimed water into Phillippi Creek, Cowpen Slough, Whitaker Bayou and other waterways that lead into Sarasota Bay, Roberts Bay, Dona Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, according to court documents.

Overall, the county’s proposed plans to the commission to reduce nutrients in stormwater, convert septic to sewer and upgrade wastewater treatment facilities could cost $310 million, plus annual operating costs, county officials said.