Barely a month into its work, the Siesta Key Beautification Task Force is making clear that “beautification” may be something of a misnomer.

“It isn’t all flowers and roses,” task force Chairman Bob Luckner told members of the Siesta Key Association Aug. 6 while describing the newly formed Sarasota County advisory board. Instead, Luckner said, the seven-member task force is looking at stormwater and sewer systems, traffic, trolley stops, landscaping, signage and other infrastructure needs across the barrier island.

Those priorities came into sharper focus Aug. 14, when the task force devoted much of its second meeting to Siesta Key’s drainage problems, potential improvements and ways to pay for them. Both that meeting and the inaugural July 17 meeting were held at Siesta Key Chapel, 4615 Gleason Ave.

Sarasota County Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine told the group the county is preparing a watershed management plan that will model drainage across Siesta Key and develop preliminary designs for projects addressing flooding and water quality problems.

A contract for the study was expected to go before the Sarasota County Commission Aug. 25. Quartermaine estimated its cost at about $500,000, including surveying and environmental work, and said the study would take about a year. Several trouble spots have already been identified, and the project has room to evaluate as many as 15 additional areas.

“This is a big step,” Quartermaine said.

The county is also changing how it approaches drainage on low-lying barrier islands.

Quartermaine said the stormwater utility was revised in 2023 to incorporate tide data into its master planning and maintenance. While heavy rainfall remains a problem, high tides are the primary source of struggles, pushing water onto roadways and reducing the effectiveness of conventional drainage systems. The county is looking at technology such as automated gates, or “smart weirs,” that can close as tides rise and reopen as they fall. Quartermaine said Palm Island could be a candidate for a pilot installation within the next six months.

“A lot of the tools that we use to manage stormwater in the uplands of the mainland just don’t work” on barrier islands, he said.

Quartermaine also reported that the ultraviolet stormwater treatment and pumping system near Beach Road and Midnight Pass Road, which had been out of operation since the 2024 hurricanes, had recently been restored to service.

Stormwater has emerged as one of the task force’s first major priorities.

At the July 17 meeting, members divided their work among nine portfolios. Luckner handles governance; Vice Chair Natalie Gutwein oversees public affairs, communications and landscape; Rebecca Keiver leads local revenue strategies and external funding; Tina Landry leads infrastructure and resiliency; Mason Tush handles mobility and transportation; Barbara Lancer oversees public realm and design; and Rick Munroe handles coordination and master plan integration.

The task force also agreed to use the privately funded RVi/Atwell Siesta Key Vision Study as a foundational document.

The task force itself remains advisory.

“We don’t have any decision-making,” Luckner said Aug. 6. “What we do is recommendations” to the County Commission, which has approval authority and, as he put it, “the checkbook for the most part.”

Finding access to that checkbook has quickly become another major focus.

At the July meeting, Keiver successfully moved to ask the county to explore reopening access to unallocated 2024 Resilient SRQ funding and to have Quartermaine help identify projects that could qualify.

Keiver, who has more than 30 years of experience in insurance adjusting and leads the task force’s local revenue and external funding portfolios, argued that Siesta Key needs engineering assistance to turn identified problems into projects detailed enough to compete for funding.

“I see a huge gap between sitting and talking about things and planning to do stuff, and not actually having engineering resources,” she said.

Keiver proposed that the county assign a staff engineer to serve as a task force resource. Sarasota County Planning and Development Services Director Matt Osterhoudt responded that technical personnel can already be brought in through the task force’s staff liaison as needed. The motion passed 5-2, with Luckner and Gutwein opposed.

A similar concern surfaced when members discussed Siesta Key Village.

The task force approved asking county commissioners for street sweeping every two weeks in areas with heavy visitor activity and locations at high risk for storm-drain blockage, along with twice-weekly trash collection in areas where short-term rentals are concentrated. Members were more cautious about immediately pursuing larger repairs to village irrigation and electrical systems, with some arguing that substantial work should be coordinated with the coming master plan rather than done piecemeal.

Keiver also turned her attention to tourist development tax revenue.

“Instead of saying what’s wrong with Siesta Key, we need to start bringing them visions of the ways to do it right,” she said.

The task force voted 6-1, with Luckner opposed, to send a letter to the Sarasota County Tourist Development Council and County Commission regarding allocation of tourist development tax revenue. Keiver’s motion called for closer review of future infrastructure funding requests, including projected tourist use, total project costs, other funding sources, available tourist development tax funds and the amount committed as collateral for bonds.

Meanwhile, the county’s separate Siesta Key Community Master Plan process is moving forward.

County staff told the task force Aug. 14 that recommended consultant Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. had been selected. The next steps include negotiating scope, schedule and fees before a contract goes to the County Commission for approval, possibly in October or November. Task force members hope the consultant will meet with them early in the process, possibly in December.

The task force has also laid out its next several meetings.

The Sept. 25 meeting is expected to focus on trolley shelters and pullouts, led by Tush, and sanitary sewer issues, led by Landry.

Tush is expected to work with Jane Grogg, Sarasota County’s director of transit. Grogg oversees Breeze Transit, the county’s public transportation system, including bus and trolley routes, on-demand service and paratransit.

Landry is expected to lead the sewer discussion with Brooke Bailey of Sarasota County Utilities.

In October, the task force plans to focus on mobility, with Sarasota County’s Spencer Anderson expected to participate. Tush and Landry are expected to be involved in discussions covering traffic, pedestrian and bicycle issues.

A November meeting is expected to focus on landscaping and the Siesta Key Village Maintenance Corporation, with Gutwein taking the lead.

For Luckner, the broad agenda reflects the scope of the task force’s work.

“We’ll talk with them about what the issues are, what the problems and the solutions are,” he told the SKA, “and they’ll come out and help us work through some of those issues where they have detailed knowledge.”