Homeowners in South Venice have long touted water quality as a top neighborhood issue, and they recently celebrated a project that will create additional habitat and help improve water quality in their local waterways.
Residents and other community leaders celebrated the South Venice Beach Waterway Restoration Project, a culmination of the work to restore about 7,500 linear feet of the Siesta and Briarwood waterway banks in South Venice Beach. By creating a healthier drainage system, the project will improve the quality of the water entering Alligator Creek and Lemon Bay.
Local homeowners worked for more than five years to improve the health of these natural waterways. The South Venice Civic Association saw an opportunity to improve water quality and natural systems in their neighborhood and reached out to Sarasota County. The county applied through the District’s Cooperative Funding Initiative and received $300,000 from the District for the project.
District Governing Board member John Henslick attended the project’s grand opening ceremony and applauded the partnership.
“The South Venice Beach Waterway Restoration Project is a great example of the community and government agencies coming together to implement important projects,” he said. “Together we have improved water quality and natural systems in waterways that ultimately flow to Charlotte Harbor, a District Surface Water Improvement and Management Priority waterbody.”
The project included removing invasive vegetation, bank stabilization and planting about 50,000 native and Florida-friendly low groundcovers and grasses.
In Sarasota County, the District has helped to restore more than 2,400 acres of natural systems.
Henslick thanked the civic association and county for taking ownership of the project.
“The restoration and protection of these waterways ensures we leave a legacy of improved natural systems and water quality to the next generation,” he said.