Officials OK controversial roads proposal for large east Sarasota County project

Sarasota County Commissioners on Wednesday agreed in a split vote to terms of a proposed agreement that would allow developer Hi Hat Ranch access through county-owned land to Bee Ridge Road in return for about $15 million in road improvements and more than $3 million in right-of-way elsewhere along Fruitville Road.

The agreement, for a project east of Interstate 75, in a commission workshop at the Sarasota County Administration Center was approved 3-2, with commissioners Tom Knight and Joe Neunder dissenting. (Commissioners Teresa Mast, Mark Smith and Ron Cutsinger approved the agreement.) Knight objected to the agreement earlier in 2025, setting off weeks of controversy and setting up Wednesday's meeting, according to an editorial in YourObserver.com, sister paper of the Business Observer. 

The basics of the agreement are:

• Hi Hat would donate 10 to 17 acres of Hi Hat right of way along the southern side of Fruitville Road so the road can be eventually widened. The county values that land at nearly $3.6 million. The developer would not be responsible for the actual widening work.
• Hi Hat and the county split equally the cost of widening the two-lane section of Bee Ridge Road from the Bent Tree entrance to the Lorraine Road roundabout. That split would be roughly $14 million each.
• Hi Hat would pay the full price to widen the Lorraine Road roundabout to four lanes, at a cost of about $1 million.

And Hi Hat would be responsible for building a road that extends Bee Ridge from the Lorraine Road roundabout, past several county facilities and Rothenbach Park to the site of its proposed residential village.

In total, High Hat’s responsibilities in the deal total about $18.6 million vs. the $360,000 the county gives up in allowing the developer access to county-owned land east of Lorraine Road.

Hi Hat owns about 10,000 acres west of Lorraine Road and between Fruitville and Clark roads. On June 9, 2021, County Commissioners approved a proposal allowing the developer to build about 3,000 homes on some 2,100 acres. Among the conditions of the Master Development Order was that “The Hi Hat Ranch Property and Sarasota County shall work together to establish future access to Bee Ridge Road using the existing right of way from the Lorraine Road/Bee Ridge intersection to the proposed development.’’

The MDO approved in 2021 opens the door for as many as 13,081 homes. Zoning changes allowing the development to proceed have not yet been considered, with the county moving first to solidify the roads planning.

This story originally appeared on YourObserver.com, sister publication of the Business Observer.