SR 72 East of I-75 in Sarasota County: What FDOT Must Pay for Frontage and Access

Florida has programmed roughly $21.9 million to buy right of way along SR 72 east of I-75 in Sarasota County. The acquisition phase has not been authorized, design is still being finalized, and owners along Clark Road are early enough to raise parcel-level design issues.

Has the SR 72 Land Acquisition Already Happened?

No. Right-of-way acquisition on this stretch of SR 72 has not begun. FDOT’s Adopted Work Program, 07/01/2026 (B) programs right-of-way purchase money for the corridor in state fiscal year 2029, which runs July 1, 2028 through June 30, 2029. No funding in that phase is authorized yet.

Two work program items cover the corridor:

• Item 444634-2, SR 72 from east of I-75 to east of Proctor Road, about $10.45 million for right-of-way purchase.
• Item 444634-3, SR 72 from east of Proctor Road to east of Lorraine Road, about $11.43 million.

Both items also carry right-of-way support services money that year, and both are in design.

Why FDOT’s Own Project Page Still Says “Not Funded”

Because the funding is newer than the page. The corridor study page for the completed PD&E study still states that “Right-of-Way and Construction phases are currently not funded in the FDOT’s Five-Year Work Program,” and the June 2025 hearing presentation said the same of the tentative program current at the time.

Both were accurate when written. The money appeared afterward, under the two successor design items rather than the completed study item, so an owner who checks only the study page will not find it. Work program years also move between adoptions, so treat fiscal year 2029 as a planning signal, not a date.

What Is FDOT Building on Clark Road East of I-75?

FDOT proposes to widen SR 72 from two lanes to a four-lane divided roadway with a raised median. Per FDOT’s design project page, the work also adds curb and gutter, converts the open drainage system to a closed one, and puts shared-use paths on both sides.

The study also proposes roundabouts at four intersections: a new one at Ibis Street/Talon Boulevard, a widened one at Proctor Road/Dove Avenue, and new ones at Hawkins Road/Coash Road and Lorraine Road.

Each element reaches your property differently. Paths on both sides consume frontage the full length of the corridor. Closed drainage changes where water goes and where a driveway can connect. Roundabouts take corners, and corners are where visibility and signage live. The SR 434 roundabout project in Seminole County shows how those pieces compound: the strip taken is narrow, and the damage is what it does to the operation left behind.

How Much Land Is FDOT Taking, and From How Many Owners?

The study identified 28.4 acres of additional right of way affecting 55 parcels, with no residential or business relocations required. FDOT presented those figures at a public hearing on June 26, 2025 covering the 3.4-mile study limits from east of I-75 to Lorraine Road, along with a 22-foot raised median and an Access Class 5 designation.

“No relocations” is not “no impact.” Fifty-five owners are still losing frontage, and design refines those numbers, so confirm what current plans show for your parcel rather than relying on study-phase figures, the same discipline that matters on I-75 in Collier and Lee Counties.

What Does FDOT Have to Pay for a Partial Taking?

Florida owes you more than the appraised value of the dirt inside the new right-of-way line. Section 73.071, Florida Statutes, directs the jury to award the value of the property taken plus, where less than the entire property is taken, damages to the remainder caused by the taking.

Severance Damages to What You Keep

The value of the acquired strip is the number FDOT’s appraiser produces, and on frontage it can be modest even when the consequences are not.

Severance damages measure the difference between the value of the whole property before the taking and the value of the remainder afterward. Lost parking stalls, a truck turn that no longer works, a sign stranded behind a sidewalk, and stormwater with nowhere to go are all remainder consequences. As with partial takings on US 231 in Panama City, remainder damages can exceed the value of the strip acquired.

One caveat applies squarely to road projects. Section 73.071(4) offsets any enhancement in your remaining adjoining property’s value against your remainder damages, with two limits that favor owners: it never reduces the value of the land acquired, and the state gets no recovery against you if enhancement exceeds those damages.

Business Damages

Section 73.071(3)(b) includes, within remainder damages, the probable damages to an established business that a partial taking may damage or destroy. Four conditions apply:

1. The condemnation is of a right of way by FDOT, a county, municipality, board, district, or other public body.
2. The business is of more than five years’ standing on or after January 1, 2005.
3. It is owned by the party whose land is taken and sits on adjoining land that party owns or holds.
4. Recoverable damages are those the denial of the use of the property taken may reasonably cause.

The claim must be set out in your written defenses. Our discussion of business damages under section 73.071 walks through the proof and the deadlines, and our introduction to business damages covers the elements plainly.

Is Losing Your Left Turn a Compensable Loss of Access?

Usually not on the median alone. In Capital Plaza, 397 So. 2d 682 (Fla. 1981), the Florida Supreme Court denied severance damages where a median built within existing right of way cut off a left turn, because the injury came from a change in traffic flow rather than from the taking.

Access loss can still be compensable when it is severe enough. In Palm Beach County v. Tessler, 538 So. 2d 846 (Fla. 1989), the Court held that a substantial loss of access is compensable even without a physical appropriation, but drew the line clearly: “the loss of the most convenient access is not compensable where other suitable access continues to exist,” and no taking occurs merely because traffic on an abutting road diminishes.

For a Clark Road owner, the compensable questions are more likely to involve the strip acquired, driveway reconstruction, parking, and drainage than the median itself. Which side of the line your parcel falls on is answered with plans and an appraisal, not a rule of thumb, as owners at I-95 and Broward Boulevard found.

Jimerson Birr represents Florida property and business owners in condemnation matters brought by the state, counties, municipalities, and utilities. We research corridor projects at the work program item level and publish what we find, so you walk into the first meeting knowing how your project is funded and scheduled.

What Should You Do Before the Right-of-Way Agent Calls?

Get the documents, and get them before you get an offer. Section 73.015 requires a condemning authority to negotiate in good faith before filing suit and to give the fee owner at least 30 days from receipt of its notice to respond. On request it must supply its appraisal within 15 business days, plus right-of-way maps and construction plans to the extent prepared.

Practical steps now:

1. Ask for the current design plans and read where the new right-of-way line falls.
2. Have the remainder valued independently, not just the strip.
3. Document parking counts, driveway movements, sign locations, and delivery patterns while they still exist.
4. If you operate a business there, start the five-year documentation.

Design concept acceptance came in May 2026, so the corridor concept is settled while parcel-level details are not. Early legal action is generally the stage at which those refinements remain practical. Once a case reaches an order of taking and title vests under Florida’s quick-take procedure, the dispute narrows to price. Our explanation of how FDOT buys right of way maps the sequence.

Who Pays for Your Eminent Domain Lawyer?

In most Florida condemnation cases the condemning authority pays the owner’s attorney’s fees, though the statute has exceptions. Section 73.092 provides that, except as otherwise provided in that section and in section 73.015, fees are awarded based solely on the benefits achieved for the client, measured against the authority’s last written offer before you hired counsel. Supplemental proceedings follow a different analysis, and where no monetary benefit is achieved the formula produces no fee.

That rule has a consequence owners miss: every additional offer you negotiate alone can raise the baseline the fee is measured from, which is why waiting rarely saves money. Our guidance on accepting an offer explains it, and the Westshore Interchange in Tampa shows what engaging late costs.

Talk to a Florida Eminent Domain Lawyer About Your SR 72 Parcel

Right-of-way money for SR 72 east of I-75 is programmed but not yet authorized. That interval is when owner input is most likely to be considered, and it narrows as design finalizes.

Jimerson Birr’s eminent domain practice represents owners from pre-condemnation planning through trial, and our real estate development and construction and land use and zoning teams handle the permitting and easement questions that surface alongside a taking. If you own property on Clark Road between I-75 and Lorraine Road, contact us to review the plans before the first offer arrives. More corridor coverage is in our Florida commercial real estate and land use law blog.