The future of a venerable youth sailing organization, refining the definition of lodging in downtown and putting utilities on barrier islands underground are among a packed agenda for the Monday, July 20 meeting of the Sarasota City Commission.
A long-awaited project to bury overhead utility lines for resilience and aesthetics on St. Armands and Lido keys is poised to move forward as commissioners will consider a bid of $7.95 million by Utility Consultants of Florida to do so. The bid includes $3.17 million for required services and $4.77 million for optional services for the project not to exceed $8 million.
The required services will allow the city to develop assessment methodologies, preliminary engineering, cost estimates, public outreach and financing information necessary to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed assessment districts to fund the project. Afterward, the City Commission will determine whether to proceed with Phase 2 of the program, which is the optional services for final design, procurement, construction support and project implementation…