Going beyond conservation to restore our land and waters to the way they were meant to be.
At the heart of our plan is environmental and ecological responsibility.
As it stands today, the site is primarily a parking lot. We’re planting thousands of trees, shrubs and native plants to improve water quality, restoring our mangroves and transform a parking lot into a park.
At The Bay Park, we treat virtually every drop of the more than 70 million gallons of polluted stormwater that flows through the site directly into Sarasota Bay.
Take a closer look into 2021’s environmental projects below.
Dredging the bayou.
In 2021, we dredged the Mangrove Bayou, removing more than three feet of polluted silt that had been accumulating in the bayou for decades.
Baffled by our Baffle Box?
In 2021, we installed a baffle box on the eastern edge of Phase 1. Beneath the box’s dome cover is a concrete box with baffle chambers and filters that remove trash and sediment from runoff before it enters the bayou.
Denitrification Trench
This hidden, 600-ft denitrification trench uses a river of grass, special soil and native plants to clean water before it enters the bay.
Tree Nursery: Nursing Our Natural Habitat
Designed to protect our native ecosystem, this temporary tree nursery rescues trees from other locations that would otherwise have been cut down. The palms will spend 3-6 months resting before being planted throughout the park.
“The goal of The Bay is to allow nature to solve problems created by storms, rather than trying to apply man-made solutions. The sand will ebb and flow and the coastline will respond – just as nature intended it to.”
BILL WADDILL
Chief Implementation Officer
The Bay Park Conservancy