Residents on Mineral Springs: Don't close it

NORTH PORT — Local residents overwhelmingly want Warm Mineral Springs, an unusual tourism destination undergoing a contentious debate about its future, to become a public-private partnership, according to a new survey.

In fact, 81% of the respondents, 91 people in total, say a partnership like that would be the best approach. A dozen respondents say Warm Mineral Springs, which gets more than 100,000 visitors a year, should be turned into a park. About nine people say the entities that co-own the site, the city of North Port and Sarasota County, should sell it. The North Port Economic Development Corp., a for-profit business organization, commissioned the survey.

“It is apparent that all respondents had an opinion on what to do with Warm Mineral Springs as only one respondent was unsure,” North Port EDC Chairman Robert Rosenberg says in a release. “It is also apparent that everyone wants to keep Warm Mineral Springs open as no one chose the answer 'close Warm Mineral Springs.'”

Yet a closure, at least a temporary one, is likely to happen sometime this summer. That's because the contract with the current management company, Cypress Lending, expires in June, and city and county officials have yet to settle on a plan for managing the springs. The governments could rehire the management company, find a different one through a bid process or sell off the facility.

But local officials, according to the EDC release, haven't pursued a public-private partnership. Says Rosenberg: “There is certainly a disconnect between what the commission says the people want and what private polling says.”

For more on the springs and its future read past Business Observer stories Warm Up and Spring Forward.