Multiple news outlets have reported on a legal claim made by residents of the Laurel Meadows neighborhood against Sarasota County for
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- In May 2025, attorneys for the residents of Laurel Meadows sent a legal notice to the county.
- The notice alleged that the county was negligent in maintaining a critical stormwater infrastructure berm that separated the Phillippi Creek and Cow Pen Slough watersheds.
- After the flooding, Sarasota County Public Works acknowledged that routine inspections and maintenance of the failed berm had been neglected.
- An official stated that if the county had been aware of the maintenance need, “we would have done something better”.
- An outside expert had previously concluded that a breach in this dike, along…