Street Light Replacement
February 17th, 2026 Commission Meeting - the City Commission approved Agenda Item X.1, whereby the city elects to use the non-ad valorem method of billing for a future potential lighting district for South Poinsettia Park. This election allows the county tax assessor to include this amount on future tax bills as a non-ad valorem fee, but does not in any way commit the city nor the residents of SPPNA to any tax or any payments. Any such commitment to a tax amount or payments must be approved by the city and the residents of the taxing district at such time that specific costs are known and approved by both parties.
January 2026 Update - your SPPNA representatives met with Sarasota City Street Light Project staff, including Pat Robinson, Assistant City Manager, Nik Patel, Chief Engineer, and Alvimarie Corrales, Project Manager. 3 Important agreements / understanding resulted from the meeting :
- An Engineering firm has been selected and a contract will be signed in February. A photometric study of the neighborhood to determine lighting needs will begin thereafter. Results of the study should be available this summer, which will determine the # of poles / light fixtures required by state lighting code.
- The amount of funding that will be provided by the city to defray costs will be ultimately determined by the City Commission, and all in attendance are aware that cost to individual property owners is a determining factor of the program acceptability by the neighborhood.
- Once the Photometric study is completed, we may need to consider an alternative configuration with fewer light poles located on private property adjacent to the right of way, which allows us to manage the number of poles and therefore total cost.
October 2025 Update
"At the unanimous direction of the Sarasota City Commission, staff across multiple departments will begin laying the groundwork to create special tax districts for the burying of utility lines on St. Armand's and Lido Keys and for enhanced neighborhood lighting within the South Poinsettia Park neighborhood.
Representatives of all the would-be special assessment districts expressed their support during the Oct. 20 commission meeting, backed by neighborhood surveys that demonstrate overwhelming support of willingness to pay more to address their utility needs." - The Observer October 24, 2025.
We will continue to work with the City Commissioners & FP&L and will keep you appraised of progress on the Street Lighting Proposal's future timing and financial evaluation.
"At the unanimous direction of the Sarasota City Commission, staff across multiple departments will begin laying the groundwork to create special tax districts for the burying of utility lines on St. Armand's and Lido Keys and for enhanced neighborhood lighting within the South Poinsettia Park neighborhood.
Representatives of all the would-be special assessment districts expressed their support during the Oct. 20 commission meeting, backed by neighborhood surveys that demonstrate overwhelming support of willingness to pay more to address their utility needs." - The Observer October 24, 2025.
We will continue to work with the City Commissioners & FP&L and will keep you appraised of progress on the Street Lighting Proposal's future timing and financial evaluation.
June 2025 Update - SPPNA presented a Street Light Proposal to Mayor Liz Alpert, Dave Bullock (our new City Manager) and Doug Jeffcoat (the then Acting City Manager). The proposal was to replace all of the wooden street light poles in our neighborhood with new, more modern, street light poles and attractive “antique style” light fixtures that can be seen in many revitalized neighborhoods in Sarasota. The proposal included a cost sharing proposal, where the City and our neighborhood would share the cost of this project. We expect to hear back from the city this fall with a decision on whether they will accept our proposal, at which time we will get back to you with more details on the proposal and potential costs.
Why Does South Poinsettia Park need new Street Lighting??
Current lighting is inadequate to ensure safety of pedestrians and drivers
• Southside School and adjacent Streets do not meet current code (DOT Safe School Parameters)
Vizcaya Fixture and several others were on display for neighborhood comments in 2023
- Per DOT (Safe Routes to School), City of Sarasota Neighborhood Design Principles, and The Complete and Safe Street Principles Our centennial neighborhood does not meet current standards in structure / function to keep up with the community’s safety needs.
- SPPN currently has outdated and inadequate street lighting on all streets which are not up to Florida State Code (only 2 - 4 street lights per street; majority of streets are approximately 1000’ in length).
Current lighting is inadequate to ensure safety of pedestrians and drivers
- Illuminated signage at the Intersections of all our neighborhood streets at US 41 is inadequate or missing completely.
- Turns from 41 at night are very dangerous
- Light poles are 200 – 300 feet apart, creating large dark expanses between light poles. Pedestrian walking at night cannot see obstacles in their path.
- Some streets have sidewalks on one side of the street or none, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street
• Southside School and adjacent Streets do not meet current code (DOT Safe School Parameters)
Vizcaya Fixture and several others were on display for neighborhood comments in 2023
- Read about the Vizcaya fixture history
What are we proposing??
If you would like to support our effort to modernize and upgrade our neighborhood Street Lights, please provide any comments or suggestions to us for fundraising efforts via our Contact Page, and of course feel free to donate to this cause.