Links of Neighborhood Interest
Applications for Sarasota County’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program are currently being accepted! The City has been working closely with the county team to develop a process to distribute these critical federal funds to the many Sarasotans who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and may be behind on rent payments.
Sarasota County Advisory Councils and Appointed Boards
Sarasota County Government values citizen input. There are more than 30 citizen advisory councils and appointed boards with members appointed by the County Commission – over 300 positions in all and many have a direct impact on life in the City of Sarasota. If you’re interested in a particular board or council, please submit an application even if there are no vacancies at this time. It will be kept on file for one year and staff will reach out if a position becomes available.
Sarasota County Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources
Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources has seven divisions.
- Sports Development and Athletics – maintains and makes improvements to the county’s more than 100 athletics fields, as well as the City of Sarasota’s Lawn Bowling Club greens
- Recreation and Neighborhood Parks – provides recreation opportunities across the county, ranging from small neighborhood programs to regional events.
- Beaches and Water Access manages beaches that attract visitors worldwide. The division also protects beach and waterfront property and infrastructure and manage the development and placement of artificial reefs and maintain buoys, channel markers and marine signage. We provide land stewardship and environmental management of beach and dune areas, wetlands, bay waters and other protected habitats.
- Maintenance Services is responsible for major maintenance, repair and amenity replacement for all park divisions, using contractors and in-house staff.
- Natural Areas and Trails manages more than 50,000 acres of the county’s natural areas.
- Park Planning and Development is responsible for land acquisition, planning services, park capital projects planning and design.
- Business Operations manages systems that control program registration, facility reservations, electronic access to facilities, campground reservations and point of sale transactions.
On November 30, 2021, Sarasota County Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources celebrated the grand opening of the Ashton Trailhead along the new Legacy Trail North Extension. The Ashton Trailhead, at 4301 Ashton Road, includes a playground, an event field, a parking area, restroom facilities, Work continues on Segment 3 of The Legacy Trail northern extension as the construction of another trail crossing at Ringling Boulevard is well underway.
Sarasota County has been coordinating with the City of Sarasota project also underway at Ringling Boulevard to blend the trail and roadway projects together for the community. Segment 3, which extends from Bahia Vista Street to Ringling Boulevard, is expected to open early 2022
