BRADENTON – The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recently hosted a workshop seeking community input on the development of a Cortez Road corridor vision and action plan.
The Oct. 18 workshop at American Legion Post #24 in west Bradenton drew about 50 community members, FDOT personnel and staffers from the Renaissance Planning consulting firm conducting the workshop.
The Cortez Road corridor extends from 121st Street Court West in Cortez to U.S. 301 in Bradenton/West Samoset. The corridor project is a partnership between FDOT, Manatee County and the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, with Renaissance Planning gathering input from the public and other stakeholders.
The primary goal is to identify ways to make the Cortez Road corridor safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and others. The study and resulting action plan also will address the connection between the roadway and the development occurring along the corridor. In the coming years, more than 8,500 new homes and residential units are expected to be constructed near Cortez and Anna Maria Island.
Large-scale land clearing is progressing along Cortez Road between El Conquistador Parkway and 86th Street West. This work is for the 1,300-acre Lake Flores development, which is expected to include 6,500 homes, 2 million square feet of retail space, 1 million square feet of office space, 500 hotel rooms, and a 19-acre man-made lake. The Lake Flores development is expected to continue along the east side of 75th Street West, 53rd Avenue West and El Conquistador Parkway.
According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office, ownership of the Lake Flores property currently being cleared was transferred from Whiting Preston’s LF Manatee LLC to the Chicago-based Cortez75W Investors LLC in March 2022. It appears that LF Manatee LLC still owns the large area of undeveloped farmland between 53rd Avenue West and El Conquistador Parkway.
Construction is already occurring along El Conquistador Parkway at developer Carlos Beruff’s partially completed Aqua development. Abutting Sarasota Bay, the Aqua development was approved for more than 2,800 residential units, including single-family homes, multi-family dwellings and a limited number of high-rise buildings.
Preston’s pending Peninsula Bay development near the Sunny Shores neighborhood in Cortez is approved for approximately 2,000 residential units, a boat ramp and marina basin, and commercial, retail and office space.
According to the property appraiser’s office, Preston’s Pen Bay 1 LLC owns the two large agricultural properties slated for development as Peninsula Bay. The county sewer line to provide future service to the Peninsula Bay community is currently being installed along Cortez Road.
Near the foot of the Cortez Bridge, construction is well underway on developer Marshall Gobuty’s Hunters Point development, which will include 86 solar-powered homes.
These current and future developments were mentioned during the workshop.
Workshop discussions
Sitting in small groups, attendees participated in board game-like planning and visioning activities. In the first exercise, attendees were asked to place transparent overlays atop a long, scroll-like corridor map. The overlays represented neighborhoods, town centers and employment hubs.
Cortez resident and former county commissioner Jane von Hahmann’s workgroup noted the Lake Flores development is expected to be developed in a town center-like style that includes stores, restaurants, coffee shops and other establishments and amenities accessible by interior roads.
In the comments section provided for that exercise, von Hahmann summarized her group’s desires and wrote: “Looking for livability, walkability and sense of neighborhood. Have shops, restaurants and services within walking, biking and golf cart distances. Safety for pedestrians and bikes. Provide natural spaces and areas to gather as a community.”
At another table, San Remo Shores Association Past President Lynda Einspar said, “How are you going to build anything if there’s no space?”
During another exercise, participants created their ideal streetscapes, factoring in right-of-way elements that included sidewalks, bike lanes, bus stops, building setbacks and landscaping.
During the final exercise, participants placed colored dots on photographs of various corridor elements they deemed most important.
District 3 Manatee County Commission candidate Tal Siddique’s workgroup listed limited growth, increased safety, nature conservancy and landscaping as corridor priorities.
“I live through this traffic,” Siddique said. “I go to the Island almost every day. I’m seeing Lake Flores and Peninsula Bay coming online and whatever’s done at the other end of Cortez Road with the DeSoto Mall is going to involve more density. A lot of people are upset about the growth that’s happening, and quite a few of them don’t know how many new homes are coming to Lake Flores alone.
“I heard some people discussing a monorail or light rail service from downtown Bradenton to the Island. That was kind of interesting. Nobody wants the extra traffic and the growth that’s happening but you can’t stop or slow growth unless you say ‘no’ to developers,” he said.
Consultant insights
Renaissance Planning consultant Frank Kalpakis said, “My hope is that we can capture the desires of the community and their vision for this corridor that’ll serve as a blueprint for how we design the road. It’s important that we have a transportation system that is aligned with the growth in the corridor. How can growth be organized on the corridor, and how can it be made safer and more walkable?”
Kalpakis doesn’t envision more travel lanes being added to Cortez Road anytime soon.
“We’re really not looking at that yet,” he said.
He mentioned multi-modal transportation options, including automobiles, bikes, pedestrians, low-speed vehicles, mass transit, water transit and more.
“I think there are several opportunities for multi-modal strategies and transportation strategies that provide choices for people to get up and down the corridor,” he said.
“The visioning process will go through January. After that, it’s probably a six-month phase for the action plan and developing strategies for the corridor. The action plan will lay out the implementation strategies and help create an implementation schedule. Based on funding, we’ll lay out the implementation sequence. It’s a collaboration between FDOT, the county and the city of Bradenton,” he said.
Parting thoughts
At the conclusion of the workshop, Einspar said, “I came because I want to support my community, but I didn’t have a lot of hope for this workshop because there’s just no way you can impact the number of cars going back and forth on Cortez Road. They can’t make the road wider. It’s not going to happen. Safety is the biggest thing. We have a blind gentleman who lives in our community and he has a terrible time crossing the street to catch the bus.”
Einspar also participated in the public input process that FDOT initiated several years ago on the replacement of the Cortez Bridge drawbridge. Despite public support for a new and higher drawbridge, FDOT decided to construct a fixed-span bridge that provides 65 feet of vertical clearance. Bridge construction is expected to begin in 2026.
When asked if she thinks the public input provided during the corridor workshop will factor into FDOT’s decision-making, Einspar said, “I think they’re going to do what they want to do.”
Regarding the workshop, von Hahmann said, “It was interesting, but I don’t know how you turn what’s already existing into a new vision. I’m a little gun-shy given how much input we gave for the bridge and then FDOT just did what they wanted anyway. I hope the remarks we wrote down resonate, but they’re just trying to put a whole lot more people into a very small space.”
Learn more about the corridor study and visioning plan at the project website.
Related coverage: FDOT launches Cortez Road corridor study
