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 The document is not dated, and appears to be out of date.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

If you live in Sarasota County, come to the Public Hearing Wednesday afternoon

If you live on Stickney Point Road, 

come to the Board meeting on Wednesday Sept. 8.

If you're facing mega-hotels and their impacts on Siesta Key, you should be at the Board Hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 8 

If you live in North Port / Wellen Park, you should be at the Board hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 8.

If you live east of I-75 near Clark Road you should be at the Board Hearing Sept. 8.

If you live near Lakewood Ranch, you should be at the Board Hearing Sept. 8.

If you live in The Founders Club or Old Miakka, you should be at the Board Hearing Sept. 8.

Sept. 8 Agenda: Item 40 - Hi Hat Ranch

If you live anywhere in Sarasota County, come to the County Commission afternoon hearing on September 8 at 1660 Ringling Blvd.

Yes, the hearing is about Hi Hat -- a vast project of 12,000 housing units stretching from Fruitville Road down to Clark Road. But this and all the other supersized development projects in Sarasota County share one common denominator: The corruption of civic planning that gives the Board latitude to essentially approve anything a developer wants, despite severe impacts on nearby neighborhoods, on roads, traffic, water, and services, and despite the Comprehensive Plan -- the people's vision of sane, moderate, environmentally wise development -- which in fact is the law in Sarasota County.

40.	PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
(Public hearing) To adopt Ordinance No. 2021-007 approving Comprehensive Plan Amendment No. 2019-D, amending the Sarasota 2050 Resource Management Area map designation for approximately 1,258 acres of property located in the northeastern section of Hi Hat Ranch, from Hamlet Land Use to Village Land Use, and relocating the countryside line further east to include the village area.

If you can't make it Wednesday, here's what Becky Ayech recommends -- she has led the opposition to Hi Hat Ranch for months:

KEEP THE COUNTRY...COUNTRY HI HAT RANCH SEPTEMBER 8TH 1:30 AT 1660 RINGLING BLVD

This is the DAY.

First, thanks to EVERYONE who has supported this campaign!

If you can wear yellow, do so.  We will have yellow paper signs for you to hold up.. . . 

If you can't make it Wednesday, call and talk/leave a message for the Commissioners  The call center is 941-861-5000, ask for each Commissioner, Mike Moran, Nancy Detert, Al Maio, Christain Ziegler and Ron Cutsinger.  Mike Moran's cell number is 941-400-1140. The offices are closed on Monday, you can still call Commissioner Moran.  Start first thing Tuesday morning. Even if you can make it Wednesday, give them a call. I sent 124 email notices, so at the very least, there should be 124 phone calls. You might want to share where you live if it is somewhere in town.

A bundle of sticks cannot be broken.

Best,

Becky Ayech

Where to email the Board and other Sarasota planning agents

Cc: Board of County Commissioners

All Commissioners commissioners@scgov.net 

Alan Maio (Chair) amaio@scgov.net

Christian Zeigler (Vice Chair) cziegler@scgov.net

Nancy C. Detert ncdetert@scgov.net

Michael Moran mmoran@scgov.net

Ron Cutsinger rcutsinger@scgov.net