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

Reynolds of Sierra Club: Protect Grand Trees

Please email the County Commissioners and tell them not to weaken protections for Grand trees, and come to the public hearing Tuesday, January 31st at 1660 Ringling Blvd.

From: Gayle Reynolds

To: Michael Moran <mmoran@scgov.net>, <mhsmith@scgov.net>, Nancy Detert <ncdetert@scgov.net>, <jneunder@scgov.net>, Ron Cutsinger <rcutsinger@scgov.net>, <countyadministrator@scgov.net>

Dear Commissioners,

The Manatee/Sarasota Sierra Club urges the Board of County Commissioners not to weaken protective policies for grand trees, to allow developers the right to determine the health, function and value of grand trees and if it should remain or be cut down for housing and commercial development.

There are many reasons to value and protect grand trees in the urban environment:

1. Trees reduce carbon pollution directly through sequestration and indirectly by lowering the demand for energy.
2. Trees reduce the heat island effect and mitigate the effects of climate change.
3. Trees play critical roles in controlling stormwater runoff, improving water quality and protecting surface waters from sediment and nutrient loading. 
4. Trees reduce the amount of runoff flowing into stormwater and sewer systems and decrease soil erosion.
5. Trees provide habitat for birds and endangered wildlife species.
6. Many municipalities consider trees as utilities and include them as part of their stormwater management plans.

Nonpoint source pollution results from stormwater carrying and depositing contaminants into surface and ground waters, contaminating drinking water sources and adversely affecting the health of plants, fish, animals and people. Nitrogen and phosphorus feed Karenia Brevis and destroy sea grasses, marine ecosystems and endangered wildlife.   

Excess volumes of runoff from the conversion of forested lands to impervious surfaces from overgrowth and urban sprawl, cause stream scouring, property damage as well as loss of aquatic habitat and floodplain connectivity.

For the past twenty years, this board has incentivised development to occur through the use of "mitigation." As reported by Sarasota News Leader, Benderson Development recently clear cut every Grand Tree on the 24-acre Siesta Promenade site.  Despite the county identifying grand trees on the property, every tree on the parcel at U.S.41 and Stickney Point Road was removed. Sarasota County conceded to Benderson Development to mitigate the removal of these mature trees with the promise of planting 509 new trees. This mitigation occurred without public input and without transparency, via emails and edits to the original approved site plan.

Eighteen years ago Sierra's Conservation Committee lobbied Sarasota County Commissioners to stop issuing "after the fact" permits to developers who prematurely moved earth, clear-cut land and habitats and killed endangered species without permits.

A reporter for the Pelican Press, Jack Gurney, wrote a series of articles on the plight of Gopher Tortoises, when developers were burying tortoises alive with earth-moving equipment. Jack's articles created an outcry in the community and the Board of County Commissioners sanctioned and passed a Pre-clearing ordinance and an Earth Moving Ordinance.  

The County owes the public an explanation as to why Benderson was allowed to clear the Promenade site without permits, when staff and the developer knew that permits were required.  

• Where is the oversight?  

• When citizens invested untold hours getting these illegal practices stopped in the past, why are developers confident they can ignore regulations now? 

• Because the Promenade property is located in a busy urban area, citizens noted that illegal construction was occurring without the required permits. But what happens when Lakewood Ranch South clear cuts hundreds or thousands of acres of agricultural lands and habitats east of I-75?  

• Jensen clear cut land on Lorraine Road and many miles east out Fruitville Road, out of sight, where public access is denied and no one checks to see if wildlife, grand tree and habitat studies have been done, the required permits issued for preclearing, earth moving and the relocation of endangered species?  

This Board claims that Sarasota "stakeholders" are demanding that protections for Sarasota’s Grand Trees must be diminished, when clearly the rules applied to most trees in this county are inadequate and illustrate that Sarasota County trees need MORE protections, not less. 

Sarasota County Resource Protection and Development Services must be responsible for oversight of land development sites and impose realistic fines for illegal pre-clearing of trees and habitats, earth moving, destruction of grand trees and killing endangered wildlife. Developers break environmental laws and ordinances with impunity, because the fines imposed are so miniscule, they're but a small cost of doing business.

Are citizens expected to trust the developer to oversee themselves and do the right thing, pay mitigation fees and save grand trees that don't benefit their site plans and bottom line?

The Sierra Club urges Commissioners to vote NO on weakening protections for grand trees.

Sincerely,

Gayle Reynolds

Conservation Chair

Manatee/Sarasota Sierra Club

How much are Sarasota Commissioners worth?

Maio continues to lead the way in net worth among Sarasota County commissioners, latest state Commission on Ethics filings show

Sour

Source: Sarasota News Leader, November 25, 2021 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Cutsinger in second place, with Detert reporting smallest figure

Sarasota County Commission Chair Alan Maio continues to outpace his board colleagues in terms of net worth, the latest Florida Commission on Ethics financial disclosure filings indicate.

However, Maio reported a smaller figure for 2020 than he did for 2019, his latest report showed.

As of June 17, Maio wrote that his net worth was $3,082,300. In June 2019, he noted that the figure was $3,252,097.

In second place, Commissioner Ron E. Cutsinger of Englewood reported that his net worth as of July 1 was $1,589,314 — slightly more than half of Maio’s total.

Commissioner Michael Moran narrowly edged out Commissioner Christian Ziegler for third place. Moran reported that his net worth as of April 30 was $927,150.25. That compared to $620,716.38 as of May 1, 2020.

On Dec. 31, 2020, Ziegler noted, his net worth was $876,233.25. That was more than three times the amount he listed as of Dec. 31, 2018: $206,324.83.

Ziegler won his District 2 seat during the November 2018 General Election.

Rounding out the board members, Commissioner Nancy Detert attested that her net worth as of Dec. 31, 2020 was $392,213. That was up slightly from her Dec. 31, 2019 total of $322,206.

More detail here

Board to consider proposal to dedicate a Quad Parcel to builders

Mike Moran and Al Maio – the two commissioners who voted for James Gabbert’s giant, outdoor debris pulverizing plant on the SW Quad parcel – are now pushing a building lobbyist's proposal that would put a builder's showcase there, despite the fact that the proposal violates the Conservation Easement approved by the Board in 2020.

M&M were joined by Cutsinger and Ziegler in the 4-1 vote to fast-track the BIA proposal.

Excerpts below are from the 4.29.22 Sarasota News Leader article.

With Detert objecting, County Commission authorizes staff to negotiate with Manatee-Sarasota Business Industry Association to take over Florida House lease and move building 

April 28, 2022 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Making the motion, Commissioner Moran calls for ‘plenty of public input’ on proposal during future board meeting

Commissioner Michael Moran this week won the support of his other three colleagues to authorize county staff to start negotiating with the Manatee-Sarasota Business Industry Association over the future of the Florida House.

Formally, Moran specified county talks with the Business Industry Association (MSBIA) “and/or any nonprofit that’s affiliated with [it]” to take over the county’s lease of the 4454 S. Beneva Road site in Sarasota where the Florida House stands. That lease will end on June 30, 2027, county staff has noted.

Further, Moran called for allowing the MSBIA or the nonprofit to move the building before that lease expires.

The MSBIA has created a nonprofit organization called the Building Industry Institute....

The MSBIA proposal in a June 7, 2021 letter from its CEO, Jon Mast, to County Administrator Jonathan Lewis — plus comments from MSBIA board member Teresa Mast, who addressed the commissioners at an Open to the Public comment period during the commission’s Feb. 8 meeting — included the desire to move the Florida House to one of the Quads. Those four county-owned parcels are adjacent to the Celery Fields.

Although the latter area officially is a county stormwater management project, it also is an internationally known bird-watching destination.

In October 2020, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve a conservation easement over the Southwest, Southeast and Northeast Quads, in collaboration with the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, which is based in Osprey, and the Sarasota Audubon Society.

The MSBIA has shifted its focus to a Southwest Quad site. ...

Detert said she objected to Moran’s motion. “We haven’t had a lot of meetings about it,” she began. “We probably need to.” ....

She said she believed all of the commissioners have met with MSBIA representatives one-on-one. “You’re kind of writing a motion in favor of one corporation,” she told Moran. ....

When Chair Alan Maio called for the vote on Moran’s motion, Detert repeated her objection to it. The motion passed 4-1.

. . . leaders of the Florida House Institute — which has become Southface Sarasota — have adamantly expressed opposition to the MSBIA proposal.

... former Florida House director Matt Ross, who founded the company Eco$mart, in 1993, stressed to the commissioners during public comments on Feb. 23 that in his 29 years of working with the Florida House, he had “not seen the [MSBIA’s] presence at all.”

When the Florida House suffered through “lean times” in the early 2000s, Ross continued, “Where was the builders’ association? They weren’t there.”

MSBIA head Jon Mast

...

Notes below on key points -

===========

Some key takeaways:

1. The Board chose to promote one proposal – from a lobby, the Manatee/Sarasota Building Industry Association BIA – over Commissioner Detert’s motion to hear from staff about several options for the Florida House.

2. The BIA Lobby wishes to take for its own use a parcel that was given to the people of Sarasota (via two Environmental Non-profits, Sarasota Audubon and the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast) to protect a bird nesting preserve and to foster community with a civic use – a Sarasota history archive, for example.

3. The BIA Lobby wants to rezone the SW Quad to ILW – Industry, light manufacturing, warehouse – apparently not finding any incompatibility with the Conservation Easement.

4. The county’s own documents and Conservation Easement reflect the fact that the intent of the Conservation Easement was for civic or government use, and use by a private organization is expressly disallowed by its terms.

5. Those who have had long and intimate participation in the Florida House say the Lobby has lied in pretending to have helped the Florida House when it needed it, or taken any interest in it before now.

Citizens for Sarasota County (CSC) is a coalition founded in 2014 to promote ethical, responsive government that preserves and enhances Sarasota's unique natural environment and cultural heritage while building a sound local economy based on effective stewardship and innovation. 

Growth in Sarasota County and voter power

Growth in Sarasota 

County staff produced the information below to advise the Board about what large developments it has approved in North, Central, and South county. The document is not dated, and appears to be out of date. 

Some large housing projects the Board has approved in principle, such as Hi Hat Ranch, projecting 13,000 dwelling units, are not included. Then there's Wellen Park in South County, which projects 23,000 units totaling 60,000 residents. What other large developments, destined to be approved, are not included?

Add in Hi Hat and the total for North County alone is about 23,000 units. With Wellen, the county total comes to about 

79,000 dwelling units

What's not included are small developments, new developments, and developments yet to approach the Board for approval.

Most residents of the County never see this information, because it's not published for us, but maintained in-house for internal use.

Under Single Member District voting, you would be able to request this information for your district from your Commissioner, and ask him or her questions - such as, what will this do to our traffic? How much will the new services cost? What portion of these costs are paid for by the developers? 

And your Commissioner would have to provide you with real answers.

That's now how it is now. Under At-Large voting, you can ask all the questions you want of the 5 County Commissioners. They will just stare at you. They do not have to provide you with information, they often do not respond to emails from constituents, and rely on people to forget about the development issues in their district by the time the next election rolls around.

Single Member Districts count more than many imagine.

North County

Add Hi Hat Ranch: 13,000 units.

Central County

South County

                                    Add Wellen Park: 23,000 units

There's a way to slow this rampant growth. It's to make each Commissioner accountable to the voters of his or her district. In 2018, voters across all five districts approved Single Member District Voting. Now the Board is doing all it can to revoke the citizen Charter Amendment -- to avoid direct accountability to the people of their districts, whom they are supposed to represent.

Don't Let the Board Dumb Down Your Vote!

Retain Single Member Districts