GGPA New Resident Orientation Packet

New Resident Orientation Packet

Vice President Judy Mower and former Board Member Stephie Fleming have begun an initiative to provide information to new GGP residents. Each new resident will receive an informational folder with a map of GGP showing building names and numbers, a welcome to the GGPA, an explanation of how the GGPA taxing district finances work, how changes can be made to Streetscape, and other local information. The packet includes GGPA logo stickers for a car or other use.

These materials have been written by and approved by Judy Mower's committee and the Board, and are designed to help our new residents understand how the Streetscape works.

GGP residents new to Sarasota will also receive materials selected from those available from the Sarasota Visitor's Cente. rStephie Fleming assembles the folders and other Visitor's Center information and gives them to building liaisons to distribute to new residents. If you are new to Sarasota and would like an orientation folder, contact your building liaison or goldengatepointassociation@gmail.com.

What you can do about OCCASIONAL flooding on GGP

GGP had experienced some flooding after heavy rains. As a result, the GGPA Board investigated what could be done to alleviate street flooding.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

In 2018, then Board Member Cindy Taliaferro contacted Harold Roebuck, County Stormwater Operations Manager II, who met Cindy and GGPA Treasurer Denise Watermeier on GGPA.   Mr. Roebuck inspected the storm drains and discussed the issues relating to flooding.  

Map of GGP showing Storm Drain Outflows

One88 (188) and Toscano (205) GGP are at the low point of GGP.  Storm sewers are at water level, and the increase in impervious area due to new construction on the west side of GGP has increased the outflow requirement.  High tides negatively affect the ability to move water into the bay.  The City enforces the Codes and is responsible for installation of storm sewers and the county maintains the existing lines.

The County scheduled a cleaning of the three GGP storm sewers with a truck and vacuum line to suck the entire length of the two affected storm sewers, the closest to One 88 and Alta Mer (306) GGP.  There was silt accumulation in the 306 GGP outflow at that time.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

The outflows also had substantial barnacle growth which limit the amount of outflow at times of high rain.   The County removed the barnacles on the outflows during the cleaning in 2018.

Since the outflows have been cleaned, there has been less water during heavy rains.    The GGPA will continue to keep an eye on street drainage to consider what steps can need to be taken to reduce the likelihood of the storm drains becoming clogged in the future. 

Mr. Roebuck has advised that floating debris will need to be removed in areas near storm sewers.   This includes mulch and other materials, such as papers and recycling materials, that will float.

As a result, areas of mulch have been replaced with rocks to avoid mulch clogging up storm drains during heavy rains.

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT OCCASIONAL FLOODING ON GGP

V curbs or V drains are the concrete alleys between the sidewalk and road surface.

These alleys are intended to control and direct the flow of water during rains.  When trash and recycle receptacles are placed on top of the V drains, water is diverted into the roadway and it swells and pools creating a pond effect.  Water needs velocity and pressure of the continuous force of the flow to push the rainwater into the bay.  Obstructing this flow causes the water to collect and swell into the vegetation, causing floating debris, which then plugs the drains as the water slowly recedes. 

This means they need to be on the driveway or in the street, off of the drains.  If they are smaller bins, they need to be covered.

This is a V-drain - keep trash bins off of it

Water needs to run down this concrete channel- don't block the V-drain!

Make sure that your trash and recycling receptacles do not block the water. Put them on your driveway or outside of the channel so that the water's velocity can push eh water into the drains and bay.

Here the receptacles are outside the V-drain.

Remove as much floating debris from your landscaping

Don't add mulch near the street or where it could float away in high winds or a heavy rain-- use rocks, grass, or ground cover instead where possible.

Bridge Lighting Changes

The Ringling Bridge lighting features prominently in the homes of many of those on the west side of GGP. Those lights were originally designed to be a bright white highlighting the architecture of the bridge. When the original lights rusted, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) installed LED spotlights with a stock program of rotating colors. We learned that those LED spots can't produce a bright white lighting design.

During the pandemic, the bridge lights were changed to patriotic colors. When the Tampa Skyway bridge was ordered to end the patriotic color display, the Ringling Bridge was ready for a change. The colors are now turquoise and deep blue, although the timing needs tweaking. Here's the background about how that lighting design was selected and put in place.

In the fall of 2019 the GGPA polled its members and the vast majority did not like rotating colors and wanted fixed colors without reds, oranges, and kelly greens. Almost 40% of those responding wanted white, and most of the others wanted sea or sky colors. We engaged the services of a lighting designer for a local theater arts company. This idea to consider a local designer from our arts community came from Bob Sohol (The Phoenix, 136 GGP) and Tom Dowdy (Visa Bay Point, 128 GGP).

The lighting designer obtained information about the equipment on the bridge from FDOT and then created a palette with stable, very pale turquoise and deep blue. We submitted a proposal to the City, and were told that the pale turquoise was not as vibrant as they had hoped to see. We then submitted a second proposal with a deeper, more vibrant turquoise. The City administration found this acceptable.

The design calls for the lights to go on 30 minutes after sunset, at which time the lights fade for 15 seconds to “Sea Turquoise”. At midnight, there is a 60 second crossfade to “Steel Blue”. Ninety minutes before sunrise there is a 15 second crossfade to “Sea Turquoise” again. Thirty minutes before sunrise there is a 15 second fade out and the lights are off for the day.

What you may not notice is that the design calls for the lighting to be more intense toward the middle of the bridge, and less intense on the piles closer to the shore. This is to give an even appearance. There are lights on both sides of each of the piles, and the lighting proposal for each set of lights has a different intensity so that it looks evenly lighted regardless of what side you’re looking from.

There are presently 4 patriotic days scheduled to return to the red, white and blue design. The great majority of GGP residents liked the patriotic display a lot, in part because it was comforting and meaningful during the pandemic and also because it ended the color rotation that people disliked.

It is no easy matter to change the Ringling bridge lighting. The Skyway Bridge lighting is controlled from an FDOT office far away from the bridge. The Ringling Bridge lighting requires a computer specialist to go into the bridge itself (under the roadway) and to change the program from within the bridge. The State does not want to have to make many changes to this program because it's so labor intensive.

The City administration, including the City Manager’s and City Engineer’s office, as well as the FDOT representative, helped to make this change. It’s a compromise that appeals to many people and arises out a community consensus.

Roundabout Traffic Patterns for Golden Gate Point

On December 16, 2020, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) held a public meeting via Zoom about the roundabout at US 41 and Gulfstream which left many questions unanswered for residents of Golden Gate Point. After that meeting, the GGPA contacted FDOT to ask for a public meeting applicable to GGP for all GGP residents. Any public FDOT meeting has the same format which was used on December 16th-- that format did not permit back and forth questions as an ordinary Zoom meeting would. As a result, there will be a GGPA Zoom meeting to which FDOT representatives are invited and questions can be asked by GGPA Board members and building liaisons. This meeting will take place on January 12, 2021 at 1 p.m. In preparation for that meeting, the GGPA asked FDOT to provide maps for each phase of construction applicable to entry and exit from Golden Gate Point. You can access all of the maps by clicking here,

The timing of each roundabout construction phase as shown in the maps are as follows:

Pre phase – 100 Days

Phase 1A – 100 Days

Phase 1B- 60 Days

Phase 2A – 90 Days

Phase 2B – 100 Days

If you have any questions after looking at these maps, please email your questions to the GGPA at goldengatepointassociation@gmail.com before January 12. We will ask those questions at the GGPA informational meeting. If you want to attend the Zoom meeting, please let us know and we'll see if we can manage additional participants on the Zoom call.