The last we heard from Oppose Manasota Beach Road and Kelly Bauman, people thought the judge had tossed their case for good. Not quite.
On July 21, the judge dismissed the case without prejudice, so it’s not over yet. Kelly and her supporters took that opening and jumped on it. They had 15 days to file a new petition, and that’s exactly what they did. The court accepted it. Now they’re waiting for the judge’s next move, aiming for the September hearing.
Kelly Bauman remains at the center of it all. Despite the personal cost, which includes losing her son last year, she is still fighting. She deals with online criticism every day, but she keeps moving forward. Why? She puts it simply: “Someone has to stand up for nature and the families who’ll be deeply affected by this project.”
The stakes are high. Sarasota County documents show the project could wipe out as much as 46 acres of natural land. Developers want to bulldoze real wetlands and replace them with man-made retention ponds, calling it “mitigation.” Let’s not kid ourselves: destroying a living ecosystem and filling the space with artificial lakes isn’t a fair trade. The damage to Florida’s natural environment is permanent. We’re sacrificing it for convenience, not necessity.
Despite setbacks, Kelly and her group haven’t backed down. They’re calling on the community to come together now. They’re hosting an event on August 26th at the Englewood Chamber, and everyone’s welcome.
Kelly recently reached out to Englewood REVIEW to share an update, no sugarcoating: “Here’s the judge’s order accepting our timely petition,” she said. “We’ll see how she rules on it.”
She laid out what’s next: “We’re holding a fundraiser—a year-in-review gathering with drinks and light appetizers—on August 26th, 6:30 to 8 pm at the Englewood Chamber. We hope to bring in an environmentalist to speak. While we wait for Judge Van Wyk’s decision, our attorney is actively finding more ways to challenge the county’s plans.”
Kelly says community support has been incredible. People from all over, Wellen Park, Sarasota National, Englewood, Venice, the West Villages, North Port, residents both young and old, snowbirds, locals, keep reaching out. They’re buying shirts, asking how to help, urging the group to keep pushing back and protect what little natural land remains.
“We all should oppose this project,” Kelly insists. “It’s a road built for convenience, not out of necessity.”
She’s not buying the county’s arguments either. The SCG transportation engineer, Spencer Anderson, claims there needs to be an east-west connector road every seven miles along the coast. But Dearborn to Jacaranda is just under seven miles. Kelly asks, “So, who’s calling the shots here?”
Kelly recalls an October 2025 meeting where she grilled Anderson about claims that Manasota Beach Road (MBR) would be an evacuation route. He dodged her questions. Anderson said for a road to serve as an evacuation route, it can’t flood by even an inch during a 1% rain event. “They don’t call it River Road for nothing,” he joked. Another staff member passed the buck, saying, “it’s the commissioners, it’s the commissioners.”
Kelly’s not buying that either. She points out how developers, especially Pat Neal, got involved and changed the whole direction of the project. He pushed for the unsolicited PPP (public-private partnership) and lobbied to remove the keyway from the map, just like he did with Boca Royale Boulevard (old Englewood Road) in years past.
People have had enough of county commissioners bending to developers, she says. New projects go up, and no one listens to the needs or safety concerns of the people already living here. That’s how Kelly’s group feels, and from what they’re hearing, they’re not alone.
She calls out the commissioners directly: “Election year or not, Mark Smith—thank you for listening. Joe Neunder and Tom Knight—maybe you could learn from him.”
A year has passed, but the backlash hasn’t faded. Something’s wrong here, Kelly says. The project zipped through as an “easy PPP.” They wanted a 14-day approval with only one public hearing. That should never have happened.
And the details? The county doesn’t even own the rights-of-way. Even if they control an easement, they don’t own Sarasota National’s right-of-way. Residents there will feel the impact, and many don’t even know it yet. West Villages Improvement District Unit 2 will end up footing the bill for the east end of the road, without their knowledge. Gran Paradiso, located three miles from MBR, did not receive notification.
Kelly’s conclusion: development interests and county officials are taking advantage of the public. It’s only when residents push back that all these hidden issues appear. Resistance shouldn’t surprise them. Every project deserves scrutiny. Officials should expect to be held accountable for decisions with lasting consequences.
“We need to do better,” Kelly says. “We need to think less selfishly, speak up for the environment, for the water, for the people who can’t speak up for themselves. This is our moment. We’ve taken the charge, but more people need to step up.”
She sees groups like Oppose Manasota Beach Road as necessary watchdogs. In fact, she says they should be common, not rare. “It should be expected that people will stand up for the land, the animals, the beaches—together, in large numbers. If not you, then who?”
Click here for more information about Oppose Manasota Beach Rd. on their Facebook page.
