SARASOTA COUNTY — Passions ran as deep as the spring itself Thursday evening as 35 people gathered at the Gulfcoast Event and Conference Center in Sarasota to discuss the future of the Warm Mineral Springs Day Spa.

It was the third of three planning sessions about the day spa; the others were on Jan. 21 and Jan. 26 in North Port. Participants described the 81-acre spring and spa, jointly owned by the city of North Port and Sarasota County, as a health, ecological and archaeological asset. They approved future government efforts to develop North Port’s only tourist attraction. Some decried the entrance fees while others lauded current management. One woman even described the day spa’s
oft-criticized buildings as an
architectural asset.