Editor's note: Excellent letter from 1000 Friends of Florida explaining the reasons why a citizens' initiative to preserve the rural heritage land of Old Miakka is valid and should be approved. It also offers a brief overview of ways in which developers have vitiated the core principles of Sarasota's 2050 Comprehensive Plan through a subtle war of attrition. The letter was received in draft form. Passages with key points have been bolded for emphasis and schoolhouse image added.
The citizens' amendment is set for a public hearing at the Sarasota County Commission on Wednesday Sept. 23 at 1:30 pm.
September 16, 2020
Sarasota County Commissioners
Chairman Mike Moran mmoran@scgov.net
Nancy Detert ncdetert@scgov.net
Charles Hines chines@scgov.net
Al Maio amaio@scgov.net
Christian Ziegler cziegler@scgov.net
Re: Support for CPA 2019C
Dear Sarasota County Commissioners:
On behalf of 1000 Friends of Florida, the state’s leading smart growth management advocacy organization, we respectfully request that you APPROVE CPA -2019C.
How we got here: The rollback amendments to the 2050 Plan
Back in September of 2014, our organization reached out to you and commended the county’s history of robust comprehensive planning dating back to the John Nolen plan of 1925. ndeed, the county was the recipient of a Charter Award from the Congress for New Urbanism for the Sarasota 2050 Comprehensive Plan. But our congratulatory stance pivoted with the proposed major amendments that were being proposed for the the county’s 2050 Plan that sought to roll back the provisions that would protect the quality of life for residents and increase taxpayer expenses for infrastructure improvement associated with new development.
Hamlets = Urban Sprawl
A primary concern back in 2014 was the loosening of development standards for Hamlets. The Hamlet land use form outside of your Urban Service Boundary Area (USBA) was originally designed to accommodate new growth in a sustainable and innovative manner. Limits on residential capacity were established and density and intensity of use were to be derived by removing the Transfer of Development Rights (TDRs) on Environmentally Sensitive Land as well as other rural and open land uses. It sounded reasonable and was embraced as a form of new urbanism.
But those visionary intentions were rolled back through a series of major amendments creating an easy pathway to urban sprawl. Indeed, your own planning staff has explicitly noted that, “Hamlet designation is urban sprawl.” The rollbacks allowed for limited development within greenways and/or open space areas, reduction of open space, reduction of buffers, and the elimination of protective, recorded conservation easements that contradict the requirement that there be a clear separation between rural and open spaces as well as the protection of native habitats. The rollbacks also weakened requirements that communities be walkable, include a mixture of uses and, significantly, they reduced open space. Density bonuses were offered to developers in return for affordable housing that was already required under existing law. In short, the rollback amendments eviscerated whatever visionary planning that the hamlets land use form had originally contemplated in the initial adoption of the 2050 Plan.
Fiscal Neutrality: Needed now more than ever
What Sarasota residents are left with instead is a “Sprawl Land Use Form” that has the net effect of promoting costly, sprawling development and violates your fiscal neutrality requirement. Fiscal neutrality requires that new development pay for itself.
The proposed CPA 2019-C seeks to correct that expensive issue because there is far less fiscal impact to the County’s coffers from the Rural Heritage/Estate form of development than what is currently allowable under the 2050 Plan (and the fiscal impacts to taxpayers will only be exacerbated if CPA 2018-C is adopted as it seeks a tripling in density). As staff has noted, these lands are not developable in the form of Hamlet Land Use without the financial assistance afforded through a utility extension easement agreement with the County fronting the costs of utilities installation, among other burdensome expenses that the county will have to shoulder to accommodate Hamlet sprawl. This is failed fiscal neutrality.
Compatibility of land uses
As you know, CPA 2019-C seeks a re-designation of Village/Open Space Resource Management Area (RMA) to Rural Heritage/Estate RMA. The change would apply to the easternmost 6,000 acres in northern Sarasota County, as far from the urban corridor as possible. The amendment would eliminate the density incentive that is currently an option (and part of the rollbacks noted above). Density would be limited to 0.2DU/acre (1DU/5ac) rather than an optional 0.4DU/acre. It should be noted that none of the landowners in the affected 6,000 acres were seeking a rezoning at the time this amendment application was filed.
The objective in the amendment is to establish a land use designation that closely maintains the rural character of the land uses in the Miakka Community area. Under your 2050 Plan, the RMAs are designed to preserve and strengthen existing communities. Communities are defined by their history, natural boundaries and service areas. It is undisputed that the Hamlet overlay protrudes into the Community of Old Miakka. Fixing this incompatible land use is appropriate and necessary. CPA 2019-C accomplishes that requisite fix.
Publicly initiated comprehensive plan amendments
Finally, there has been considerable debate about the process for this citizen-based comprehensive plan amendment. Initially, when reviewing this proposed amendment, this is the single issue I focused on. The substantive factors in favor of the amendment were all highly meritorious, but after over two decades of litigating land use cases in Florida, I was surprised that this was an option. I examined the process carefully to determine if it was reasonable and afforded procedural due process. I concluded that it does, primarily because of the procedural protections put in place by the County.
Publicly initiated CPAs are insulated from random attempts by residents to force land use changes on property they don’t own. That is because all publicly initiated CPAs require a series of steps to safeguard private property owners. First, County staff works with the citizen group that obtains the requisite 20 signatures to establish a proposed scope for the amendment. Much like when staff meets with developer applicants, potential issues with moving forward are identified, flagged and discussed. Then, a public workshop on the proposed scope is required. All affected landowners are welcome to participate. The matter is then placed on a Planning Commission agenda, publicly noticed and public comment is taken.
At that stage, the Planning Commission makes a recommendation on whether the proposed amendment should be processed. In the event the proposed amendment gets a recommendation to proceed with processing, it then moves up to the County Commission, again for another publicly noticed hearing where the recommendation from the Planning Commission is considered and public comment is received. Only then does the County Commission make a decision on whether or not to proceed with processing review of the CPA application. This regulatory pathway is certainly more rigorous than what developer-initiated CPAs must endure. In this case, CPA-2019C passed muster with the County Commissioner at all levels and the application became a County initiated Comprehensive Plan Amendment and was sent to the Planning Department Development Review Coordination (DRC) staff, which then provided comments.
This innovative process is a highly responsive mechanism that affords the citizens of Sarasota County a pathway to implementing quality-of-life planning options, all while being subjected to rigorous review of county controls. For these reasons, not only do we find the citizen-based CPA process to be procedurally reasonable, we commend Sarasota County for affording its residents a robust voice in growth management.
For all the reasons set forth above, 1000 Friends of Florida strongly urges you to approve CPA 2019C. Please include this letter of support for the amendment in the agenda package for the upcoming hearing scheduled on September 23, 2020. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Jane West, Esq.
Policy & Planning Director, 1000 Friends of Florida
cc:
County Attorney, Frederick Elbrecht, Esq. felbrecht@scgov.net
County Planner, Vivian Drawneek vdrawneek@scgov.net
