On Lido Beach, Every Project Has a Date Except the Pool

"Any future decisions regarding next steps and/or improvements to the [Lido] pool are on hold until after the November referendum results." City Manager Karie Friling wrote that in an email to a resident, as The Sarasota News Leader reported.

The rest of Lido Beach is running on published schedules this fall. The sand has been replaced. Dunes are being built on top of it. A rebuilt tiki bar is pouring drinks again, and the causeway that gets everyone across the bay has a target finish date. Every one of those projects has a date someone can point to. The pool at 400 Ben Franklin Drive, closed since June 8, is the one piece of Lido whose clock hasn't started.

The Sand Came First

The beach under your towel this October is new. The City of Sarasota's renourishment work restored 1.2 miles of Lido Beach with about 300,000 cubic yards of sand, and The Sarasota News Leader reported a ribbon-cutting to mark its completion on Tuesday, May 26. That project ran late. Rough weather pushed its start from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25, and the city's early estimate of finishing in "early April" became "end of April" in an April 16 report from Your Observer. Still, it had a schedule, the schedule moved in public, and the work got done.

The second phase is on the sand right now. The city's Lido Beach Dune Restoration Project places about 3,000 cubic yards of sand to build 1.2 miles of vegetated dunes. Post-and-rope barriers and signs go up to protect them once they're finished. The sand came from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' maintenance dredge of New Pass, the same source that supplied the renourishment.

According to WENG, crews started on the morning of Monday, Sept. 21. The station described it as the city's first restoration project built specifically around dunes. The dunes run from North Lido Park south to South Lido Park and Ted Sperling Park. They'll stand about 2.5 feet high and 30 feet wide, with gradual tapers at the walkovers so people can still reach the water. Wherever the existing elevation falls below 6.6 feet, crews add sand to bring it up to grade. Native dune sunflower, railroad vine and sea oats will hold the sand in place and tie into the dunes earlier storms already built along the shoreline. Acting Assistant City Engineer Alex Davis-Shaw told the station the walkover slopes were designed so beachgoers can cross without trouble.

The city expects the work to take about 60 days and says public access stays open the whole time. Sixty days from Sept. 21 lands around Nov. 20. That's simple arithmetic, not a published finish date, and no progress report has come out since the start.

Everything on Lido Has a Date

The Tiki Bar row came out of a long wait of its own. Your Observer reported that the Ritz-Carlton Members Beach Club's Lido Key Tiki Bar reopened to the public after a rebuild of about a year and a half, with a grand reopening on June 20. It kept its old footprint and added new menu items, including a signature cocktail called the "Lido Bloom." Up at the public pavilion, the concession is Lido Island Grill, which the city lists as a locally owned business with an island-style menu. Its posted hours don't match. The city's facility page lists a flexible 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., while a February guide from Visit Sarasota gives 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, so call ahead before planning a late lunch.

The turtle row overlaps with the dune work. Mote Marine Laboratory's weekly summary for Sept. 27 to Oct. 3 counts 150 Lido Key nests and 330 false crawls for 2026 so far. Those numbers are preliminary. Mote says it posts final counts after the season closes on Oct. 31 and the data has been reviewed. The city lists nesting areas for coastal wildlife among the reasons for building vegetated dunes in the first place.

The causeway row affects the drive over. The Sarasota/Manatee MPO's traffic report for the week of Oct. 4 covers the SR 789 work between Bird Key Drive and Sunset Drive. Current work includes widening, milling and paving, curbs and sidewalks, drainage, and light poles and signals. The finished project adds dedicated bicycle and transit lanes on the bridge, raises the seawall cap near Sunset Drive, and puts new signals at Sunset Drive, Golden Gate Drive and Bird Key Drive. Bike lanes are closed during construction and cyclists are sent on detours. The report estimates completion in early 2027. FDOT's project page still shows "Late 2025," a date the construction has clearly passed.

Why the Pool Is Waiting on the Ballot

The pool is the oldest thing on the list. A city project briefing describes it as "the last remaining component of the historic Lido Beach Casino," which opened in 1940. It's a 25-meter pool that was open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, weather permitting, with admission of $4 for adults and $2 for youth and seniors.

The same briefing, as summarized by The Sarasota News Leader, puts the pool's average operating cost at $148,000 a year, against average user revenue of $11,900 and about 4,760 passes sold annually. It calls the electrical system "outdated, damaged" and says the marcite surface has deteriorated to the point that fighting black algae caused inconsistent hours. The proposed repairs are priced this way:

• Electrical system overhaul: $103,000
• Pool resurfacing: $187,000
• Heater and chiller installation: $129,000
• Pool vacuum: $10,000

That adds up to $429,000, and the briefing estimates the work at five to six months. It also warns that "continued deterioration of the pool surface and electrical system may increase future repair costs."

The referendum the city manager mentioned is Amendment 3 on the Nov. 3 ballot. WUSF reports that it would raise the homestead exemption from non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation indexing starting in 2029. It needs at least 60% of the vote to pass. The official state summary adds two pieces. It would lower the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%, and it would limit county and city property tax spending to listed purposes such as public safety, infrastructure and government operations. City staff estimated that if it passes, Sarasota would lose $3.2 million in revenue in fiscal 2028 and another $2.3 million in fiscal 2029.

The Calendar After November 3

The timing follows from the briefing's own figures. Decisions wait until after Nov. 3. The briefing doesn't say how long a decision, approvals or contracting would take once the vote is in. Even if repairs started the week after the election, five to six months of work would put a reopening around April or May 2027. That's an estimate built on a best-case start, not a city projection.

For lap swimmers, the city's alternative is the Arlington Recreation Center at 2650 Waldemere St. It has a 50-meter lap pool, a 25-yard instructional pool, swim lessons, water aerobics and open swim, and it can be reached at 941-263-6386.

The same budget conversation reached the beach parking lots in October. At an Oct. 7 meeting between Longboat Key and Sarasota leaders, Your Observer reported that officials mentioned possible beach-parking fees for nonresidents as one potential budget measure. The fee was not adopted at that meeting.

So by the end of November, Lido Beach should have new sand, planted dunes behind post-and-rope barriers, a finished turtle season and a rebuilt Tiki Bar. The causeway crews are on track for early 2027. The pool's schedule depends on the Nov. 3 results and whatever the city decides afterward.

If you live near the beach and wonder how projects like these play out in your own corner of the islands, the team at Sheldon, Gettel & Dahl follows Lido, St. Armands and the bayfront closely and is glad to talk it through.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.