Development near Celery Fields raises many questions

Below: An open letter to the Board regarding the adequacy of online Neighborhood Workshops. The workshop discussed below is scheduled to be on Zoom only, on Tuesday, May 23, at 6 pm. 

Zoom link:  https://kimley-horn.zoom.us/s/98962380195

To: The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners, Mr. Moran, Mr. Cutsinger, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Neunder

From: Tom Matrullo

Date: May 19, 2023

Re: Workshop for housing proposed next to Celery Fields Wetlands

A proposal for intense single family housing on some 49 acres along Raymond Road has lately come to the attention of the Sarasota community. As the Celery Fields is a beloved environment prized for its nesting and migrating birds -- a unique asset that brings tourists from all over the world, the cumulative impact of 160+ new homes in close proximity to these nesting wetlands raises a host of questions and concerns.

  

Part of site plan for Raymond Rd

In order to address important community questions that could involve everything from bird and animal life to ecotourism and water quality, neighborhood traffic, flooding, lighting and more, all steps in the planning process deserve to be handled with integrity.

To this end, I and others ask that you require a Neighborhood Workshop that will be held live (an online component could be included for those out of state.) I'm sure you've heard from citizens who have been frustrated when seeking to participate in various workshops via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Many citizens do not even use tools like Zoom, some do not own computers.

What's more, these online meetings depend on the developer's agent for their timing and informational quality. I can attest that at some online workshops I've attended, the information presented was minimal, the images were small and blurry, sound quality was poor, the question period was brief, and the opportunities for follow-up questions were non-existent. 

Given that the birding, hiking, fishing, kayaking and ecotourism at the Celery Fields are activities that mean a great deal to our citizens, the questions surrounding the impacts of this proposal go far beyond the number of homes, parking spaces, and entrances. An online Workshop will not do justice to the complications of this proposal.

A live workshop with stormwater quality experts, environmental and tourism personnel on hand as well as the developer's agent is warranted to address the full range of issues raised by this development.

For the sake of a fair, open process, please require a live workshop with appropriate staff to get the planning process off to a reasonable start. This project is likely to eventually land on your desks -- here's an opportunity to demonstrate that you understand our concerns and are doing what you can to allow the public to examine the potential impacts from this project's intensity and proximity fully and fairly.

Respectfully,

Tom Matrullo

--

citizens for sarasota

160 Homes Proposed next to Celery Fields Wetlands

A developer's proposal to build 160 single family homes on Raymond Road opposite the Celery Fields will be presented on Tuesday, May 23, beginning at 6 pm. The workshop will be online only. Concerned residents must use this Zoom link to attend:

Zoom link:  https://kimley-horn.zoom.us/s/98962380195

The land immediately south of Palmer Boulevard and across from the nesting area of the Celery Fields wetland has been mostly empty except for a few cows for many years. The property appraiser lists it here. 

The paperwork submitted by the planning firm calls for 160 homes to be built by D.R. Horton on the 49-acre site, but also suggests the number could be higher. 

Kimley Horn will present the Workshop, which will have no in-person gathering.

Although the Celery Fields is a publicly owned asset, the Planning Department only advertised the Workshop to homes within about 750 feet of the property.

About Neighborhood Workshops:

Neighborhood Workshops are a preliminary step in the planning process -- it gives the developer an opportunity to present a proposed project to the public, and receive public comment. 

With the arrival of Covid-19 in 2020, many public meetings moved online, including these workshops. This has led to a degradation of the value of this step in the process, for a few reasons:

1. Online, the presenters have made very brief presentations, leaving out important context. A complex plan for a Benderson project was presented in less than 10 minutes.

2. The public has no chance to view the maps and other data first hand. 

3. Some residents are not familiar with Zoom, or Microsoft Teams. In a recent meeting that utilized Teams, all that could be seen were small, blurry images, while the sound cut in and out. About half the meeting was inaudible. 

4. The online meeting is under the control of the planning firm hired by the developer. Some agents allow time for questions and follow-ups, but others end the meeting before attendees have all their questions answered. More on this here.

5. Advocates for fair land use planning have been asking the County Commission to return to live Workshops, but this one is still online only. The Zoom link should be live at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23.

             Zoom link:  https://kimley-horn.zoom.us/s/98962380195 

The 2023 Florida Legislative Session

 A few slides from the 1000 Friends of Florida's May 17 Review of Florida's 2023 legislative session.

Bills passed: 

ESG Invesments explained

Bills that should have passed, but didn't:

This legislative failure is why a Right to Clean Water Amendment needs to be in the Florida Constitution.

Some Florida counties don't leave their people in the dark

In some Florida counties, elected officials meet with constituents, take calls, and reach out through emails. If Sarasota County Commissioners ever did much of this, that ship long since has sailed. 

Our public hearings are often divisive, with poor information and little public awareness. These days the very time of a "public" hearing might be shifted at the last minute, without notice to the public.

How might our county be different if our elected representatives shared information about upcoming agendas the way this Board Member from Orange County has been doing?

May 2, 2023 BCC Meeting Preview Celebrating at the Florida Puerto Rican Day Parade & Festival on April 22nd Board of County Commissioners Update Happy Friday, West Orange County! Our next Board of County Commissioners meeting is on Tuesday, May 2nd. Residents are able to attend these meetings and speak about any specific item for which a Public Hearing is scheduled. This portion of the meeting begins around 2:00pm. We'll be happy to see you participate. It's been a busy month in District 1. If you haven't yet, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for daily updates from our side of Orange County. Also, Be sure to check out our Year in Review where we celebrate all of our office's accomplishments, progress, and fun times from 2022. Watch the BCC Meeting Live! Proclamations Proclamation recognizing May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month — click here to find a list of upcoming events to celebrate! Consent Agenda Item E-7: Approval of funding to repair the West Orange Trail Bridge. (click here for full report) Item J-5: Approval to decrease the speed limit on Turkey Lake Road from Central Florida Parkway to Vineland Avenue from 45 mph to 40 mph. (click here for full report) Item J-8: Approval to decrease the speed limit on Town Loop Boulevard from John Young Parkway to East Town Center Boulevard from 35 mph to 30 mph. (click here for full report) Item J-9: Approval to decrease the speed limit on John Young Parkway from Equity Row to Central Florida Greenway from 55 mph to 45 mph. (click here for full report) Item J-11: Approval of a multi-way stop condition at the intersection of Summerport Village Parkway and Lake Smith Circle. (click here for full report) Discussion Agenda Item A-1: Visit Orlando Annual Update from Cassandra Matej, the company's President and CEO. Work Session Agenda Item 1: Stormwater Management - Moving Towards a Resilient Future Since entering office, I've requested updates to our stormwater management standards and formulas, often after hearing from D1 residents experiencing standing water in areas that were dry in the past. In the aftermath of 2022's hurricanes, these concerns were amplified by the entire Board. As a result, two stormwater management work sessions have been scheduled for the May 2, 2023 and May 23, 2023 Board meetings. The first work session will review the impacts of the 2022 flooding events and will review the County's existing stormwater-related programs. This will include our design standards, basin studies, maintenance and inspection, and capital improvement program. Public Hearings Item G-14: Lake Dennis Planned Development/Lake Dennis PSP (Case # LUPA-21-11-335) Applicant is requesting to to subdivide 45.17 acres, generally located north of Lake Star Road and west of Avalon Road, in order to construct 95 single-family residential dwelling units. Click here for full report. Item H-17: Waterleigh Planned Development/ Land Use Plan (Case # CDR-22-11-355) The applicant is seeking to update the conceptual Village Center layout and add two new permitted uses in the Village Center District. including a liquor store and a self-storage facility. Click here for full report. Item I-18: Hamlin West Planned Development (Case # LUPA-21-11-335) The applicant is seeking to rezone 19.11 acres from A-1 (Citrus Rural District) to PD (Planned Development District) and add the property to the existing Hamlin West PD; and designate the area as Corporate Campus Mixed Use District on the Horizon West Land Use Map. Click here for full report. Item K-20: Village at Avalon PD/LUP (Case # LUP-22-06-199) Applicant is seeking to rezone property located west of Avalon Road, south of Grove Blossom Way, and east of the Lake County line from Village (V) to Growth Center-Planned Development-Commercial/Medium Density Residential in order to build housing units and commercial space. Click here for full report. ABC's of the BCC The Board of County Commissioners meets every other Tuesday. Come on down! Board of County Commissioners meetings occur every other Tuesday with a morning agenda and an afternoon agenda. The morning agenda allows public comment on any topic at 9:00am, where a constituent may come to the Orange County Administration Building in person and give your thoughts on any item except for a public hearing, which is later. Work Sessions or items on the Discussion Agenda are up for debate by the Board and are not voted on. Public hearings begin after 2:00pm, which include zoning variances, public appeals, ordinances, and more. This is where constituents can submit public comments in person on a specific issue. To attend the BCC, please find information here. As always, do not hesitate to reach out to our office with any questions or concerns at district1@ocfl.net

Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson, District 1 | 201 S. Rosalind Avenue, 5th Floor, Orlando, FL 32801

The decadent degradation of planning and community input in Sarasota County

In the wake of authoritarian Board actions with regard to LWR and Benderson proposals, the Neighborhood Workshop format has become a desiccated shadow of its former self.

Instead of an actual meeting with live human beings, a recent workshop about the expansion of Lakewood Ranch - a proposal that threatens the very existence of Old Miakka, a rural community older than the county itself - we were treated to a glitchy, unresponsive meeting via Microsoft Teams. 

There was no help for residents seeking to get into the Teams meeting - by accident we discovered that "anonymous" worked - nor was there clarity of sound or visual. I sent the Stantec presenter an email after the workshop - I received no response. 

This was a new low for the act of meeting a neighborhood to talk about a vast and dangerous developer's proposal. Is this how Sarasota County is going to push through its illegal approvals of absurdly overambitious plans? 

The unanswered email to Stantec's Katie Labarr is below: 

Hi Ms. Labarr,

You invited us to offer further comments after last evening's "workshop" regarding the Lakewood Ranch East Plan. I have attended many neighborhood workshops over the years - most were lively in-person presentations, with clear visuals, audible speakers, and valuable give-and-take. 

I believe a great deal is lost when such meetings are moved online, especially when captured through somewhat dysfunctional software like Microsoft "Teams."

There were problems with Teams last night meeting - these are detailed in the comment I posted online, and leave below.

More importantly, even if that app had worked well, the loss of the dimension of live interaction with people in the same room was a real deficit.  The significance of a live workshop is that the public sector matters; the input of residents that goes beyond just specific questions. With a live give and take, people can look closely at the images, hear each other, and develop a sense of whether a plan can be fashioned to take into account the realities of the community impacted by the developer's plan.

For years our Commission has shrunk from asserting the rights and values of the public sector, and holding up the Comp Plan values and framework that was fashioned through a challenging process of compromise. To subject the small chance a community has of meaningfully interacting with the County and developers using the detached, remote, glitchy and ineffective software of "Teams" is yet another layer of alienation. 

Below is my comment regarding specific difficulties:

Tom Matrullo
Citizens for Sarasota County

Ms. LaBarr,

An entirely new workshop should take place in East County at a location where real people show up, are seen and heard, and questions can be asked, with follow-ups, so that actual information is exchanged.

This online meeting had serious communications issues. E.g. 

1 - those unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams might have been foiled at the outset - the meeting was set up so that unless Stantec - the planning business that ran the meeting - recognized your email, it would not admit you. However, if you chose to be "anonymous," it would let you in - but no one would know who was there. 

2. The "Teams" software proved glitchy as hell - the only two voices on the meeting - the host and the person reading questions - dropped out often - leaving us to wonder what answers they had offered to questions that were read out, or what questions they were answering. 

3. Some images shown through the Teams software were blurry - so their value as illustrating the details of the development was virtually nil. See sample below. In brief, aside from the two Stantec people we heard no voices of any people in attendance, we saw nothing but the images presented, we had no visual or aural contact with the attendees to the meeting, and the entire presentation took only a few minutes. This is not how Neighborhood workshops used to be conducted, and given the failings of the software, this "workshop" was, for this attendee, pretty useless.

Tallahassee is about to destroy our right to protect Florida

1000 Friends of Florida says: 

SB 540, “Local Government Comprehensive Plans,” and its counterpart in the Florida House of Representatives, HB 359, have moved rapidly through the legislative process, with only one committee stop left in the Senate. Join us in calling for Senate leadership to stop SB 540 from being placed on the Rules Committee agenda and shut down this bad bill. More here.

Why is this crucial? Let's remember:

Rick Scott

'RedTideRick' defanged Florida's Regional Planning Councils, depriving them of enforcement power over large scale developments. This power had kept DRI's (Developments of Regional Impact) from their worst excesses.

 Scott also extinguished the Dept of Community Affairs (DCA). 

Without those regional and state regulatory layers, the only thing standing between Carlos, Pat, Randy, Rex and their unlimited ambitions was local government. So Carlos, Pat, Randy and Rex bought the Sarasota and Manatee Boards. 

That left only We the People to oppose developments with bad impacts. 

When (if) SB 540 and House Bill 359 pass, if we file suit to oppose a terrible project, like building right alongside wetlands, the state and DeSantis will make us liable for huge attorney fees. 

The Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association says 

"HELP US STOP SB 540"

Click here to oppose SB 540 and HB 359

If you oppose paving over Rural Sarasota, be online Monday, March 27, 6 pm

 ALERT: THIS MONDAY, 6 pm, online:

Neighborhood Workshop for proposed Lakewood Ranch Rezone  -  March 27, 2023 at 6pm (Online only)

NOTE: As of now, the Comp Plan chapter penned by Rex Jensen and Pat Neal has not yet taken effect. Yet Rex and Pat wish to power along their expansionary plans for thousands more "dwelling units" in East Sarasota.

Pat Neal

Rex Jensen

Do the developers simply assume the County will crater to their wishes? They're probably right. The public has a chance to weigh in on Monday - the workshop is online only - no chance to meet in person, see plans, talk directly to the players.

Lakewood Ranch wants to rezone from rural to RSF-2/PUD to develop 1,718 dwelling units and related buildings. This is just the first part of the 4,000 acres in the comprehensive plan amendment that has been legally challenged and is not in effect.  The land in this rezone petition goes from the end of University Parkway at the north down to the entire north boundary of Bern Creek Ranches.  LWR doesn't care that this rezone is not legally authorized because of the pending challenge. 

 

Please participate in the online workshop and voice your concerns.  This rezone is incompatible with adjacent rural homesteads and agriculture. We need maintain our opposition to this development and to the breaking of all the promises the County made to us about protecting rural life.

 

The sign in for the online workshop is: https://bit.ly/LWRSEREZONE

     -- Or call in at 833-436-6264, Conf ID: 419 985 011#

From Becky Ayech, one of the Old Miakka leaders opposing the change to a higher density:

Lakewood Ranch Southeast is holding a virtual Neighborhood Workshop on March 27 at 6pm.

Below is the information from the county's webpage.  The link at the bottom will take you to the file on record.  It shows a map.  They say part of the land is OUA, but on their previous request that is being challenged, they said all the land was OUE, OUR and Hamlet.  Interesting.

Neighborhood Workshop: Lakewood Ranch Southeast Project Areas 1, 6, & 7

Date: 03/27/2023 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM  
Contact: Katie LaBarr, AICP (941) 907-6900

Link to Monday's meeting: https://bit.ly/LWRSEREZONE