Payne Park NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Payne Park future development? So many options & rumors, possibilities good and bad. ?Off-leash dog park, Tennis Center expansion, pickleball? What about those original 2003 Master Plans for Phase 3 & 4 (shuffleboard, lawn bowls, model-boating lake)? ... Public input now should include the needs of the several hundred residents / stakeholders at the recently-built abutting residential developments Lyra and Payne Park Village.
That's why residents are asking the City for a Community Workshop Meeting to discuss ideas and plans (Summer 2023). A few years ago the Parks Dept suddenly fenced off part of the park for a Maintenance Yard / Truck Depot, and before that the Sarasota Orchestra requested to move/remove some east-side park facilities, including the Tennis Center, to build their new, large, Music Complex. Residents pushed back. So although City and Parks staff have good intentions, we-the-residents-and-park-users have good reason to be watchful of plans, done deals.
That's why residents are asking the City for a Community Workshop Meeting to discuss ideas and plans (Summer 2023). A few years ago the Parks Dept suddenly fenced off part of the park for a Maintenance Yard / Truck Depot, and before that the Sarasota Orchestra requested to move/remove some east-side park facilities, including the Tennis Center, to build their new, large, Music Complex. Residents pushed back. So although City and Parks staff have good intentions, we-the-residents-and-park-users have good reason to be watchful of plans, done deals.
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The latest (July 2023) brouhaha: THIS PLAN HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN:
The School Dept was working with the City / Parks Dept with an eye towards displacing current greenspace by School Ave, right across from Payne Park Village homes, just north of the southeast pond, (see yellow area in pix) to build tennis courts specifically for Sarasota High School use: design & construction funded ("donated") by School Dept; 4 or 6 courts (I assume surrounded by fencing; lighting? unknown). The site has been measured out; landscape architects have been consulted. I was informed that once design is completed, if the School Dept "decides to move forward," the project will be shared with the public, and "questions pertaining to public use" will be answered at that time. (Remember, local resident off-hours use of various SHS athletic facilities -- tennis courts, track -- were promised in the past...until they weren't.) |
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Players Theater at Payne Park Auditorium
In the Works: Players Theater at Payne Park Auditorium. See Players Stage page. The Players Theater is moving into the Payne Park Auditorium (no longer in use as an auditorium, and in recent years serving as office space for part of the City Parks & Rec department).
Payne Park Alderman MURT
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January 2023, the City has received a grant from FDEP totaling $400,000 for the Legacy Trail – Payne Park (Alderman Multi-use Recreational Trail). The total project cost is estimated to be $775,000. This enables extension of the Legacy Trail from its current terminus at School Ave, west across the lower part of the park, to Alderman Street (behind Sarasota Ford), with a long-awaited public entrance on East Ave (at the current breeze block wall). City's part of funding needs to be put into budget cycle. Details to come.
Details I have been told: just one hole of the disc golf course will need to be moved, and no, that stand of oak trees will not be impacted. |
