Article Courtesy of The Herald-Tribune

By Earle Kimel

Published February 18, 2016

Located just west of Hecksher Park at 512 W. Venice Ave., the seven-story Venice Avenue Condominium Association building was built during the mid-rise development boom on the island of Venice nearly a half-century ago.
   

Envisioned by developer John Caspersen as rental apartments and converted to condominium shortly after its completion, the building isn’t a luxury high rise, but caters to retirees living on a budget. Located on the north side of the Venice Avenue, between the historic district and beaches, the Venice Avenue Condominiums are in a highly visible part of town. The condo lawn, though, does have some issues, with a few bare spots prompted partly by excessive shade provided by the banyans. For the past few years, condo owners have been working on sprucing up the grounds, which were planted prior to the concept of using Florida friendly vegetation. This winter, the condo reworked a major part of its Venice Avenue street front, dubbed the “Terra Verde Triangle” installing a fountain and using plants such as Asiatic Jasmine, Crotons and Foxtail Ferns.

Louisa Haug and Phyllis Andella stand in the middle of a landscape beautification project dubbed the "Terra Verde Triangle" at the Venice Avenue Condominium Association, 512 W. Venice Ave., Venice. The project, which cost just under $2,900, was partly paid for with a 50-50 matching grant from Sarasota County through its Neighborhood Initiative Grant Program.

And it received government money to pay for part of it.

The project cost $2,900, with half paid by Sarasota County through its Neighborhood Initiative Grant Program.

“We said, 'Let’s start with just the triangle, because we don’t know what we want to do with the rest of the lawn,'” said Louisa Haug, who with Phyllis Andella, helped spearhead the grant. “We wanted to make that Florida friendly.”

Sarasota County started the grant program back in 2002, and allots about $99,000 per year for the grants, which are capped at $10,000 — and require a 50-percent match in sweat equity.

“We have quite a few neighborhoods that just do the cash,” said Miranda Lansdale, a community outreach specialist with Sarasota County. But for other neighborhoods, “that volunteer labor is quite a lifesaver for them.”

Sarasota County approved its 26th grant cycle in January, awarding a total of $48,630.82 to eight applicants.

The Venice Condominium grant was awarded last year, under the “character” category, which considers applicants interested in creating neighborhood identity and beautification.

Grants are also awarded in other categories:

• “Leadership” for training programs, a community directory, web site or newsletter, as well as workshop tuition.

• “Safety” for crime prevention or programs such as pedestrian and bicycle safety or emergency response team training.

• “Environment” for protecting water and energy resources and native plants and animals, as well as improving water quality and removing invasive species like the Brazilian pepper and air potato.

•  “Health” for community gardens, playgrounds or providing physical or mental fitness opportunities, or presentations from health professionals at meetings.

Any neighborhood group can apply for a grant, and larger projects can be applied for in phases. Representative must first first take a workshop to learn about the grant program and process — the next round of workshops will likely be in July.

For more information visit www.scgov.net/neighborhoodservices and sign up for the electronic newsletter.

So far, the Terra Verde Triangle has been a big hit with the neighbors.

“We’ve seen people we don’t even know come and stop,” Andella said. “A little boy came up the other day — I was up on my lanai — he was a toddler, two or three years old and he said ‘Mom, take my picture.”

“He knew where he wanted to stand, with the fountain in back of him,” she added. “And I thought ‘yeah, we got it right, we did the right things.”