Siesta Key Association Inc. - Since 1948



The Siesta Key Association of Sarasota, Inc. is a citizen (member) driven and nonpolitical civic organization. We (SKA) have been in continuous existence for 75 years,
incorporated in 1948.

SKA developed the first Zoning Code for Siesta Key, which also was the first Sarasota County Zoning Code. We have frequently provided testimony before the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissions concerning many issues.
 
SKA filed legal action to protect Sarasota Big Pass from having more than one million cubic yards of sand dredged for placement on a city beach. 

As a result, we conserved our Big Pass Shoal and more than 2/3 of Big Pass itself from sand dredging. We did have harm to seagrass and shoreline avulsion along the several HOA's properties on Siesta Key north Siesta Key. We saw fewer Manatee and dolphin.
 
We continue to monitor data kept by the FDEP for Big Pass stability and Ted Casperson Park. We're hopeful that seagrass will reestablish in the absence of future dredging. 
 
The SKA works collaboratively with other groups on Siesta Key including, the Condominium Council, Chamber of Commerce,  HOA's and homeowners on issues of safety, traffic mitigation, water quality, Code violations, and commercial impacts on the island.
 
Our organization includes a Board of Directors/professionals who have experience providing testimony and success maintaining relevant Zoning Codes since 1989.

Members include all who own property or reside on Siesta Key.

SKA holds monthly public meetings and attends a President's Council meeting monthly with our Commissioner. We meet to address local issues and other civic matters which would impact our  quality of life.
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SKA, along with the SK CondoCouncil, developed the Siesta Key Coalition (2021) which brought attention to the large scale efforts by 'Mega Hotels' to develop Siesta Key. We engaged all of Siesta Key in this effort. We were able to delay the advance of these two largest proposed hotels. These two remain without Permits to proceed. 

Through our legal efforts of testimony before both Planning Commission and BCC, we established a blueprint for future legal actions.
 
Our SK Coalition exhibits have been used in successful legal action. In particular,
the SK Coalition Planning Expert provided testimony in the successful legal action brought by earlier SKA President, Ms. Lourdes Ramirez (2023) and by members of SKA (2023).
 
As Siesta Key is one of only four Sarasota County unincorporated barrier islands
(Siesta Key, Casey Key, Manasota Key, North Manasota Key) SKA worked collaboratively
to develop the barrier island rebuild criteria within a Post Disaster Redevelopment Plan Guidelines.  It was unanimously approved. 

We call our group 'loosely' the Barrier Island League (BIL) as we are informal, meeting to work on mutually significant matters. We continue to collaborate as needed.
 
If you do find that our SKA organization could be useful as part of the group, we hope you'll consider including us as a Member of the Sarasota County Action Network (SCAN). 
 
with much appreciation,

Catherine 

 
Kind  regards, 
Catherine and Bob Luckner

SiestaKeyAssociationofSarasota, Inc
941.364.4880 

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