Sarasota nonprofit gets $400K grant to build storm-resilient shoreline

SARASOTA, Fla. - A $400,000 grant is helping transform the Sarasota bayfront with a resilient, living shoreline designed to soften the blow of future storms and clean runoff before it reaches the bay.

Sarasota living shoreline project

By the numbers:

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County awarded the $400,000 grant through its Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund as part of its Recovery and Resilience Initiative. The grant went to The Bay Park Conservancy, the nonprofit managing the 53-acre city-owned park. The funding follows a $2 million donation match challenge by The Bay and Gulf Coast Community Foundation. 

"When it comes to preparing for disasters, a big part of that is also building resiliency. It’s preventing the impacts of that disaster when it does happen in the future," Jessica Muroff, CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, said. 

The project is funded by a combination of government, donor and foundation grants. 

Work is already underway and stretches from north of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall to the west edge of Centennial Park. Crews are replacing hard seawalls with natural systems, installing rain gardens, planting Florida-friendly salt-tolerant greenery, and placing large riprap stone layers to halt erosion. Shoreline elevations are rising from 5 feet above sea level to as high as 9.5 feet, allowing storm surge waves to roll up and trickle back down while filtering 4.1 million gallons of stormwater annually.

"This section of the park which is called the resilient shoreline is extremely important for both the health of Sarasota Bay and the protection of the city. What we are doing is increasing elevations from where they are at today from about 5 feet to 8.5 or 9 feet, which enables storm surge as waves and storms hit the land to go up the land, which is the higher elevation and then trickle back down. In addition, it allows storm water that is coming from the land to get cleansed from a rain garden, plants and trees into Sarasota Bay. Therefore, it’s cleansing out nitrogen and other bad stuff before it hits the bay," Diana Shaheen, the Bay Park Conservancy chief operating officer, said. 

Hurricane resilience and stormwater protection

Why you should care:

The project forms a "Ribbon of Resilience" that acts as both a first line of defense against storm surge and a final filter for polluted stormwater containing nitrogen before it flows into Sarasota Bay. During the 2024 storm season, when Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton hit the area, completed Phase 1 upgrades helped keep the bay open to the public, demonstrating how green infrastructure protects coastal assets and inland properties.

"We learned a lot from those storms about how our shoreline either was damaged or impacted, and what that meant even further inland. Taking all of those lessons learned, especially the bay, has been a real role model in learning those lessons from these storms and implementing that, and creating a more resilient shoreline. That was important for us to be able to support and invest in that effort," Muroff said. 

Coastal education for property owners

What's next:

Once completed, the park will host accessible public education programs to show homeowners, businesses and local governments how to implement natural shoreline techniques on their own properties. Leaders hope the project serves as a model for sustainable waterfront design across Florida's coast. 

"We are providing improved water quality, improved resilience and a blue and green oasis as we transform what was mostly once a parking lot on the site," Muroff said. 

SarasotaEnvironment