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Commission backs commissioner-led effort to vacate Bayshore Drive and restore waterfront owners’ riparian rights
Summary
After decades of inconsistent mapping and a disputed 1998 deed, commissioners authorized staff to pursue vacating a platted but submerged Bayshore Drive, rezoning the upland parcels to restore riparian rights for adjacent homeowners, and to take legal steps as needed; vote 4‑0 with one abstention.
Sarasota County commissioners on Jan. 15 instructed county staff to proceed with a package of actions aimed at correcting historic mapping and ownership anomalies along Bayshore Drive, a platted road that, in most places, occupies submerged lands along Lemon Bay.
Commissioner Charles Kutsinger described long-standing confusion created when the county’s 1976 map drew a property line down the middle of a platted road that largely never existed in dry land. He and residents said the curving platted Bayshore Drive falls at or inside the mean high‑water line and that adjacent upland property owners historically held the underlying fee but were later treated as if the county or another party controlled the strip.
Kutsinger and supporters urged the county to vacate Bayshore Drive as a public right of way; rezone the upland parcels east of the mean high‑water line to single‑family residential (RSF) to restore upland owners’ riparian rights; and ensure waters west of the mean high waterline are zoned MP (marine preservation) consistent with the UDC. Staff reported surveys from 1998 and a recent mean‑high‑waterline survey support the residents’ mapping claims and show the purported 1998 deed cannot convey land that was already dedicated to abutting owners.
Commission discussion focused on correcting the mistake and restoring riparian rights such as docking access and mangrove trimming to abutting owners. The board voted to authorize staff to proceed with the vacate and rezone actions; commissioner Ron (name in transcript indicated abstention) abstained from the vote, producing a 4‑0 approval with one abstention.
Ending: Staff will coordinate legal and survey work required to vacate the platted road, implement the rezoning and resolve the deed discrepancy; commissioners said the goal is to restore waterfront owners’ legal riparian rights while ensuring compliance with county code and state law.
