Save Siesta Key: Group Explores Barrier Island’s Incorporation

SIESTA KEY, FL — After years of living with decisions being made for them by Sarasota County leaders, some Siesta Key residents have had enough and are pushing for the barrier island’s incorporation.

“We recognize the county has 427,000 people in it and we’re a small portion of that,” Tracy Jackson said. “We just believe that we are the best stewards of our island.”

Jackson, chair of the communications and media committee for Save Siesta Key, an organization exploring the possibility of incorporation for the tourism hotspot, said the group is hosting a public meeting to discuss the matter Wednesday. The event will take place at the Siesta Chapel at 7 p.m.

Making sure their "voices get heard"

Much of Siesta Key is considered a census-designated place within Sarasota County. Though county leaders frequently asks residents to share their thoughts before decisions affecting Siesta Key are made, they often don’t take those opinions into consideration, Jackson said.

Three major recent projects that residents spoke out against but moved forward anyway include the proposed Siesta Promenade plan from Benderson Development Co. at U.S. 41 and Stickney Point road, the dredging of big pass and the decision to build a roundabout at Midnight Pass and Beach Road, she added.

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“We are living with decisions that have been made and that residents and businesses have not wanted,” Jackson said. “We’ve all voiced our opinions to the county. We’ve told them how we feel about the decisions and we’ve lost. I’ve been here for seven years and I see us continuing to lose those battles.”

Incorporation will ensure their “voices get heard” and that residents have more control over services and development on Siesta Key, she said.

How the incorporation movement began

This isn’t the first attempt to incorporate. In the 1990s, resident John Davidson led a similar movement.

Jackson met him two years ago. Even then, she was frustrated by the county’s decisions for Siesta Key.

“I learned about those early incorporation efforts from him,” she said. “He planted this seed that grew and grew.”

Davidson now serves as chair of Save Siesta Key, an organization that grew out of residents’ frustrations with the county.

Jackson began talking with Davidson and other residents about the possibility of forming the group late last year. In January, with the Promenade development pushed forward, they decided to formally begin their campaign to incorporate.

“The timing is really right,” she said.

Creating its own identity as a movement

She also stresses that Save Siesta Key is a separate entity from another resident activist group, the Siesta Key Coalition.

“There’s some confusion between the coalition and us,” she said, adding that they support SKC’s efforts opposing the construction of high-density hotels and overdevelopment of Siesta Key.

While she applauds the work the coalition is doing, Jackson said “it’s a short-term solution to a lot of the problems. (Save Siesta Key) is a long-term solution.”

She also noted that SSK isn’t an anti-development group.

“We’re happy to see some boutique hotels go up in a lot of places,” she said. “What we really would like is more control over our destiny. We feel like we don’t have any say over what happens, over our destiny, over our island.”

If Siesta Key incorporates, the group is pushing for what Jackson calls “government light.”

She added, “We don’t want to have some big organization. We want something nonpartisan. We want transparence. We don’t want to copycat what’s going on at the county level. We want to be a community represented by community.”

What's next for Save Siesta Key?

Save Siesta Key has a Sept. 1 deadline to complete a feasibility study and to write the majority of its future charter. It also needs to demonstrate that the incorporation movement is supported by at least 10 percent of the barrier island’s residents.

So far, about 95 percent of those who have taken the group’s online survey are interested in exploring the idea of incorporation, Jackson said. The survey can be taken online here.

The group is also trying to raise $75,000 for the feasibility study. Save Siesta Key is accepting donations here. They’re also seeking additional volunteers for its Neighborhood Ambassador Program to canvas neighborhoods and share their incorporation efforts with residents.

“What it’s all about is we want to have more of a say and more control over land use,” Jackson said. “The big issue seems to reside in land use. It’s all related to how the county is using our land and how we’re not being heard.”