Support Old MIakka - Send this email

From Becky Ayech:

This is the second in the series of emails we are sending to the Board of County Commissioners in opposition to CPA 2022-B.

It is important they know about Old Miakka.  To know it is to save it.

I am the author of this email.  The other ALERTS will be excerpts from Attorney Richard Grosso's comments to the Board of County Commissioners.

PLEASE SHARE this email with your social media friends and ask them to email this to the County Commissioners.

The "drop dead " meeting is August 31st.  I do not yet have a time.

Becky Ayech

PS Be sure and sign your name.

Old Miakka

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Commissioners email:

• Mike Moran  mmoran@scgov.net
• Al Maio     amaio@scgov.net
• Ron Cutsinger  rcutsinger@scgov.net
• Christian Ziegler  cziegler@scgov.net
• Nancy Detert  ncdetert@scgov.net

Subject:  OLD MIAKKA

Good day Commissioner

Founded in 1850, the rural Community of Old Miakka predates Sarasota County.  Never the less, this is a uniquely special place in Sarasota County.  Special to the people who homestead there, special to all the residents of Sarasota and surrounding counties and special to Sarasota County.

In the early 80’s, John McCarthy, Sarasota Historical Department, wrote this:

The project focuses on the unique lifestyles and the values which Myakka residents share…

…a portrait of the people who live in the small rural communities of Miakka and Myakka City.

In 1989, Sarasota County funded A HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY OF OLD MIAKKA AND SELECTED PORTIONS OF THE MYAKKA RIVER, SARASOTA COUNTY, FLORIDA.

2005, the Board prioritized the Old Miakka Neighborhood Plan.

County Staff set the boundaries of the Old Miakka study area.  These boundaries have never been disputed.  They are the Manatee County lines to the north and east, the Myakka River State Park and Myakka Valley Ranches to the south and west by Dog kennel Lane known now as Lorraine Road.

The community spans approximately 57 square miles or 36,590 acres.  The western edge is approximately 5.8 miles from the city of Sarasota and occupies the northeastern corner of Sarasota County

“Old Miakka is particularly rich in local history.  With historical records dating further back than many areas of Sarasota County, and the county itself, the area not only prides itself on its impressive history but also its ability to continue to preserve it.”  This is a quote from Sarasota County Staff.

Many stories and articles have been written about the Community of Old Miakka:

• 1976 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE OF SARASOTA COUNTY FLORIDA
• 1986 Better Homes and Gardens
• 1987 Beall’s Sunday insert
• 1988 Publix TV commercial
• 2000 Old Miakka article by Linda Maree
• 2003, 2018, 2020 2019 Sarasota Herald Tribune articles
• 2019 Sarasota Alliance History and Preservation Coalition chose Old Miakka as one of the “Six to Save”.  Spotlighting the most threatened historic properties, archaeological sites, and cultural resources in Sarasota County! The preservation community in Sarasota County wants to bring awareness to historical resources at risk.
• 2019 Recognized as a “This Place Matters”, part of the Place Matters national campaign that celebrates special communities in the U.S.
• 2020 Sarasota Magazine
• 2020 Bitter Southern magazine
• 2020 ABC local station Mike Modrick's story on Old Miakka

All these stories/articles are about what a uniquely special place Old Miakka is and how it needs to be preserved.  NOT ONE said it should be paved over!

Linda Maree stated it best: “Heavy population density is not a component of true rural living, so we can’t all live in places like Old Miakka. But even us city folks like to know that the “country” is there when we want to visit it”.

CPA 2022-B is an intrusion into this 172 year old rural and agricultural Community, i.e. Old Miakka.

It is NOTHING reasonably close to the lifestyles/homesteads in Old Miakka.

Keep the Country …Country for current and future generations to live on, learn from and love the land.

Deny CPA2022-B

Thank you.

Sincerely,

 

Help Save Old Miakka: Email the Sarasota County Commission

This email from Becky Ayech provides some of the background on Old Miakka, the rural NE corner of Sarasota County. Comprehensive Plan Amendment 2022-B would transform the land use in the Northeast to allow 5,000 more homes to sprawl eastward, basically paving 89% of what is now Old Miakka. 

The future of the rural area would be canceled - the opportunity for current and future generations to live on, learn from and love the land would be gone forever.

Ayech urges all who care about the county's history and legacy to write to the Board  -- the Commissioners' emails are below. It's fine if you wish to copy the text and send it as is. Becky writes:

It is important they know about Old Miakka. To know it is to save it.
PLEASE SHARE this email with your social media friends and ask them to email this to the County Commissioners.

The "drop dead " meeting is August 31st.  I do not yet have a time.

Becky Ayech

============================================================

Mike Moran  mmoran@scgov.net
Al Maio     amaio@scgov.net
Ron Cutsinger  rcutsinger@scgov.net
Christian Ziegler  cziegler@scgov.net
Nancy Detert  ncdetert@scgov.net

Subject:  OLD MIAKKA

Good day Commissioner,

Founded in 1850, the rural Community of Old Miakka predates Sarasota County. Nevertheless, this is a uniquely special place in Sarasota County. Special to the people who homestead there, special to all the residents of Sarasota and surrounding counties and special to Sarasota County.

In the early 80’s, John McCarthy, Sarasota Historical Department, wrote this:

The project focuses on the unique lifestyles and the values which Myakka residents shar… a portrait of the people who live in the small rural communities of Miakka and Myakka City.
 
In 1989, Sarasota County funded A HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY OF OLD MIAKKA AND SELECTED PORTIONS OF THE MYAKKA RIVER, SARASOTA COUNTY, FLORIDA.
 
In 2005, the Board prioritized the Old Miakka Neighborhood Plan. County Staff set the boundaries of the Old Miakka study area. These boundaries have never been disputed. 

They are the Manatee County lines to the north and east, the Myakka River State Park and Myakka Valley Ranches to the south and west by Dog kennel Lane known now as Lorraine Road.

The community spans approximately 57 square miles or 36,590 acres.  The western edge is approximately 5.8 miles from the city of Sarasota and occupies the northeastern corner of Sarasota County.

“Old Miakka is particularly rich in local history. With historical records dating further back than many areas of Sarasota County, and the county itself, the area not only prides itself on its impressive history but also its ability to continue to preserve it.” This is a quote from Sarasota County Staff.
 
Many stories and articles have been written about the Community of Old Miakka:

• 1976 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE OF SARASOTA COUNTY FLORIDA
• 1986 Better Homes and Gardens
  
• 1987 Beall’s Sunday insert
• 1988 Publix TV commercial
• 2000 Old Miakka article by Linda Maree
• 2003, 2018, 2020 2019 Sarasota Herald Tribune articles
• 2019 Sarasota Alliance History and Preservation Coalition chose Old Miakka as one of the “Six to Save.” Spotlighting the most threatened historic properties, archaeological sites, and cultural resources in Sarasota County! The preservation community in Sarasota County wants to bring awareness to historical resources at risk.
• 2019 Recognized as a “This Place Matters,” part of the Place Matters national campaign that celebrates special communities in the U.S.
• 2020 Sarasota Magazine
  
• 2020 Bitter Southern magazine
• 2020 ABC local station Mike Modrick's story on Old Miakka

 
All these stories/articles are about what a uniquely special place Old Miakka is and how it needs to be preserved. NOT ONE said it should be paved over!

Linda Maree stated it best: 

“Heavy population density is not a component of true rural living, so we can’t all live in places like Old Miakka. But even us city folks like to know that the “country” is there when we want to visit it.”

Comprehensive Plan Amendment 2022-B is an intrusion into this 172-year-old rural and agricultural Community, i.e. Old Miakka.

The Amendment is NOTHING reasonably close to the lifestyles/homesteads in Old Miakka.

Keep the Country … Country for current and future generations to live on, learn from and love the land.

Deny CPA2022-B.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

______________________

(Your name)

Alert: Help Stop the destruction of rural Sarasota - Meeting July 21

                   

DON'T LET DEVELOPMENT PAVE OVER OUR RURAL LANDS

NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION MEETING JULY 21st at 7pm in person at Bethel Mennonite Church or Via Zoom

Paving Pat Neal has set his bulldozer sights on rural Sarasota County. He wants to destroy over 4,000 rural acres with 5,000 dwelling units that will add 47,000 daily vehicle trips to our roadways. His comprehensive plan amendment (CPA 2022-B) will sprawl from University Parkway to Fruitville Road and from Cowpen Lane east for approximately 3.1 miles (ending east of the S-curve). This proposal is in addition to Hi Hat (already approved) and increases the density approved for Lake Park Estates (the destruction you see from Fruitville east of Cowpen Lane).

Please come at 7pm on July 21st to learn more about how we are fighting this proposed development.

JOIN US IN PERSON at Bethel Mennonite Church, 2985 Bethel Lane (on north side of Fruitville) 

 OR

JOIN US VIA ZOOM go to the website: SarasotaCountry.net for more information and to register for Zoom

                              

Also on July 21st:

Becky Ayech and the Miakka Community Club are working against Paving Pat's development by asking the Planning Commission to require the developers to hold another Neighborhood Workshop with the community. The workshop held on April 7, 2022 was totally inadequate and did not meet the County's requirements. We all need your support with emails and people showing up at the Planning Commission Meeting at 5 pm on July 21st. If you aren't on Becky's email list and didn't get her Action Alert, reach out to her at miakka1945@gmail.com and let her know you want to help.

(Then you can join our Neighborhood Action Meeting on your way back home or catch us via Zoom.)

If you can't make the meeting and want more information and to sign up for our emails, go to SarasotaCountry.net

See you at the Neighborhood Action Meeting! 

Susan Schoettle

President

Keep the Country, Inc.

Paving Pat Neal wants more paving

From Northeast Sarasota County citizens:  

Northeast Sarasota target area of Paving Pat Neal

Hi Everyone,

We need you to write to the County Commissioners about what Pat Neal is planning to do. He has now asked to increase the density to 2 houses per acre and bring another 5000 homes east on Fruitville. This can not go through or we will say goodbye to the future of rural Sarasota.

Please write a simple note to the Commissioners that says:

Keep the country...country for now and future generations to live on, learn from and love the land.

PLEASE HELP! TELL COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE “NO” ON CPA 2022-B

Email County Commissioners

Mike Moran mmoran@scgov.net

Al Maio amaio@scgov.net

Ron Cutsinger rcutsinger@scgov.net

Christian Ziegler cziegler@scgov.net

Nancy Detert ncdetert@scgov.net

 Below is from Becky Ayech, President of the Miakka Community Club.

“Proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment 20222-B is an attempt by Paving Pat Neal to change the allowable densities on 4,000 acres along and north of Fruitville Road.

Currently the existing zoning of 300 acres zoned at OUE-1 (60 homes), 2,570 acres zoned OUR (257 homes) and 1,030 acres zoned as Hamlet (400) houses totals 717 houses.

The total traffic generated under the existing zoning is** 5,722 daily trips**.

If the 4,000 acres were developed as Hamlets, the number of houses could be as little as 200 houses and as many as 1,600. If the land were developed at the highest density of 1,600 houses then that would mean 12,768 daily trips.

What Paving Pat Neal is proposing is 5,000 houses. This would be 39,900 daily trips.

Paving Pat Neal is also proposing a reduction of the 500' buffer to only 50'.

Paving Pat Neal is also proposing to limit the Open Space requirement to as little as 43%.

The 4,000 is within the boundaries as defined in the Old Miakka Neighborhood Plan. These are historic rural and agricultural lands.

And don't be fooled, while the density request for 2 units an acre as a transitional zone to 1 unit per 5 acres is the narrative. the units do not have to be developed on 1/2 acre lots. the lots can be any size. How is that compatible with 5 acre homesteads?

CPA 2022-B is urban sprawl. Calling it a Village Transitional Zone (VTZ) doesn't change the fact it is urban sprawl. It is like putting lipstick on a pig, it still is a pig.

Detailed analysis here

Comprehensive Plan Amendment proposed by Paving Pat Neal

[Editor's note: The County Commission was delighted when Rex Jensen and Pat Neal offered to rewrite the Sarasota County 2050 Comp Plan.]

PLEASE HELP! TELL COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE “NO” ON CPA 2022-B”

PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION ON ALL YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA.

THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING IS JULY 21.

Mike Moran mmoran@scgov.net

Al Maio amaio@scgov.net

Ron Cutsinger rcutsinger@scgov.net

Christian Ziegler cziegler@scgov.net

Nancy Detert ncdetert@scgov.net

Ayech on Piney Point

September 22, 2021

RE: Piney Point

Good day

This email is on behalf of two organizations and my family.

The Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida (ECOSWF) is an umbrella group composed of environmental organizations, historic preservation organizations and individuals.  Some of which are your constituent

ECOSWF has been involved in water use for the last 50 years.

ECOSWF has consistently opposed deep well injection.

Here are case studies:

• For many years, Manatee County has had an Aquifer and Storage Recover (ASR) well near Manatee Reservoir.  The theory was excess water would be removed from the Reservoir and injected in the ground causing a “bubble” from which the injected water could be extracted for public supply.  We know the water retrieved from the ASR well was not the same water that was injected because the water quality was different.

• The Peace River Regional Water Authority used deep well injection in their ASR program.  The result was the pyrites released arsenic into the area of injection because the water chemistry of surface water is not the same as ground water.  For years, the authority was not given permission to use the water from those wells for public supply.  Years of purging the well took place to remove reduce the arsenic levels to acceptable one.

• The phosphate industry used to put “recharge” wells under their gypsum stacks.  The water would drain into the well and go into the aquifer.  The town of Mulberry actually heard the rumbling that accord as the acidic water ate away the limestone and bubbled up.  Tanker trucks of fuel oil were brought in and the fuel oil was dumped into the wells.  The result, when people on wells turned on their faucets, fuel oil came out.

There is also an argument espoused that says the injected water will not affect aquifers that are used by the public and agriculture.  The words FOR NOW should be inserted.

We used to have free flowing wells, but anthropogenic actions changed that.  So, we drilled our wells deeper.  With the existing growth in Florida, we DO NOT KNOW how deep we will eventually need to go.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s (SWFWMD) Southern Water Use Caution Area is declared because of saltwater moving into the coast from the Gulf and upconing of poorer mineralized water from the DEEPER AQUIFERS.

This shows movement of water inland and upward.

Although SWFWMD requires wells to be cased to the aquifer from which they are withdrawing, it is not enforced.  Both agriculture wells and the City of Sarasota’s Verna Wellfield are improperly constructed because they are not cased to the confining layer from which they withdraw.

The Miakka Community Club’s members rely solely on domestic wells now and into the future to meet their daily water needs.  There is a real potential for the movement of the injected water to contaminate the wells in the future.

My family relies on our domestic well.  I am on my third well because of the continued lowering of the water pressure/level.  Each well has had to go deeper and the water quality continues to decline with each new well and on a continuing daily basis.

THERE IS NO PROGRAM TO TEST DOMESTIC WELL WATER.  A domestic well only is tested for secondary drinking water standards and that is only when the well is drilled.

And it is important to remember, the existing rules and regulations state my well will not and cannot be impacted.  So much for the protection afforded by those regulations.

I am asking you on behalf of ECOSWF, Miakka Community Club and my family to NOT pursue deep injection.

Out of mind, out of sight is not a solution.  You are changing one problem for another.  One that will not easily be seen or detected.

Finally, I want to point out that in June of 2003, DEP was hoping to send water to the reclaimed water plants in Hillsborough and Manatee counties to the city of St. Petersburg and possibly to other phosphate plants that can use the water for continued fertilizer processing. (Herald Tribune, June 25, 2003).  What happened with that proposal?

Becky Ayech

ECOSWF President

Miakka Community Club President

Domestic well user.

Becky Ayech: Write to the Board Now

The formal application for the Hi Hat Ranch change said that the modification will provide “flexibility to respond to market demands and the needs of tenants, and residents" Sarasota News Leader

This commission has put community preservation behind short-term profits.  David Guest, Letter to the Editor, Herald Tribune.

What Sarasota County officials did the other day with the Hi Hat Ranch was "devastating," says Becky Ayech. The Commission threw out the planning principles designed to bring order and common sense to developers' supersized plans. 

The Board's action will affect us all, says Ayech. She's asking us to tell the Board that it's unacceptable.

Three quick steps (more background below):

======================================================

1. Copy the Commissoners' addresses into your email:

amaio@scgov.net

mmoran@scgov.net

ncdetert@scgov.net

rcutsinger@scgov.net

cziegler@scgov.net

commissioners@scgov.net

2. Tell the Board that abandoning rational plans for the sake of market trends is an abdication of their responsibility. Use her words or your own:

Commissioners: 

As a resident and taxpayer of Sarasota County, I ask that you use Facts and Supporting Data to determine a Comprehensive Plan Amendment -- NOT MARKET TRENDS. 

DENY CPA-2019-D

or,

Commissioners, 

None of the “Directions for the Future” contained in the principles to guide Sarasota County's long range planning and sustainability initiatives include “flexibility to respond to market demands."  

DENY CPA-2019-D

or,

        Commissioners, 

        In sound planning practice, 

Either: Facts and supporting data matter and market trends do not, 

Or: Market trends dictate planning and FACTS DON'T MATTER. 

DENY CPA-2019-D

 

3. Share a copy of your email with Becky at miakka1945@gmail.com

========================================================

Image from Sarasota News Leader

Thank you for helping. 

Clearly, a plan to put 13,000 homes on 10,000-acre Hi Hat Ranch will irrevocably alter the character of rural Northeast Sarasota County. But what Ayech is concerned matters to all, countywide: What the Board is doing to the practice of planning itself could be even more devastating. 

Here's how she put it the other day:

HI HAT RANCH. The BOCC voted to transmit to the State the comp plan amendment that changed the 1,200 acre Hi Hat Hamlet, with a limit of 1 unit per acre to Village with a limit of 5-6 units per acre. Again, thanks to those who sent emails and spoke.

The MOST EGREGIOUS act was allowing our Comp Plan (our Vision for the Future) to be dictated by market demands instead of facts and supporting data. Translated, that means whatever density will make the most money is the density the County will give to the developer. FORGET PLANNING PRINCIPLES. IN FACT, JUST FORGET ANY PLANNING FOR OUR FUTURE. This not only affects us, but everyone throughout the County. So, before, there was some comfort provided by the Comprehensive Plan, now THERE IS NONE.

So, where do we go from here? There is more to be written.
The Comp Plan Amendment goes to the State for review. Our attorney is determining if the public can ask to have different agencies review the Amendment. Currently, they must be asked to do a review. 

The Comp Plan will come back to the BOCC for a final vote. The June 9 meeting was for transmitting the Amendment to the State. This will be for adoption of the Amendment. 

We need to be a political force. We will need broad base support throughout the County like we had before. You need to reach out to all those folks you did in the past and ask them to help. Again, this decision affects EVERYONE. When this comes back to the Commission, we need to pack the room. We need to overwhelm the Commissioners with emails.

Email the Commissioners and ask that Facts and Supporting Data be used to determine a Comprehensive Plan Amendment, NOT MARKET TRENDS. DENY CPA-2019-D

Board to Citizens: You Don't Matter (Update)

The County Commission sits in session on April 6. County Administrator Jonathan Lewis (foreground, left) and County Attorney Rick Elbrecht face the board members. News Leader image.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, April 7, the County Commission took less than 3 minutes to unanimously delete the citizens' right to initiate Comp Plan amendments. It did this in a "public hearing" that neither laid out the purpose of expunging citizen input, nor any reason for it. 

There was no discussion other than to render the suppression retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021, at the suggestion of Commissioner Moran, which effectively eliminated citizen Comp Plan Amendments in the past as well as any that might have come in the future. Partial video below: 

See also this story from the 4.6.21 Herald Tribune: 

Sarasota County Commission agrees to do away with citizen-initiated land use reviews. 

=======

On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, the Board of County Commissioners will pretend to deliberate on an ordinance that will, if approved, exclude citizens from initiating Comprehensive Plan Amendments (CPAs).

Here's the language of the Ordinance, and the proposed deletion of our citizens' right to influence thinking about future land use:

Deletion of citizen right to initiate a Comp Plan Amendment

The Board asked Michele Norton of Planning and Development why the provision was ever added to Sarasota's Code. She said she didn't know. And with that, the discussion concluded. The County Administrator has done his homework and finds that the deletion of citizens' rights will have no impact no one. At least, no one who matters.

According to this County paperwork, removing  the citizens' right 

to address future land use makes no difference

Much of the discussion to date has revolved around one perspective: The idea that a person who does not own land can propose consideration of how certain land can be used. *

Developers and their minions do this all the time. Bo Medred got a text amendment passed that changed the law on lands he certainly didn't own. He got the Board to approve a change in how distant from a home a dump can be. Not just James Gabbert's dump, but any dump lying within certain areas of Sarasota County can now be much closer to a home, thanks to the Medred-Gabbert amendment. 

Mr. Medred had no interest in any areas other than where Mr. Gabbert desired to build a demolition plant - right next to the Celery Fields. But he framed it so as to seem as if it were a disinterested modification of the county's land use law. And it passed both the Planning Commission and the Board, paving the way for cosier dumps.

Yet when Ms. Ayech, to protect a way of life of her Miakka Community that is far older than the County itself, sought to propose a change via a Comp Plan Amendment, here's the result -- taking away our right, and pretending it makes no difference.

After Tuesday, there will be even less public input, less public power to influence or speak to future land development in Sarasota County, than there has been heretofore.

In short, there is no public conversation about the future of Sarasota County. It's decided by a private chat among a few developers and the people sitting in the seats that Pat Neal, Gary Kompthecras, Randy Benderson, Rex Jensen, Carlos Beruff and a bunch of dark money bought for them. 

According to the County Administrator's memo, banishing citizens from land use amendments will move us toward the goal of making this "a great place to live."

Campaign Contributions 2020

*There are certainly many other perspectives that an open and public-minded Board might consider. A citizen might propose a CPA in order to correct certain errors in county methods or procedures. See, for example,

Residents throughout Sarasota petition to update flawed planning maps.

See the Sarasota News Leader story of April 8, 2021 about the Board action, with more background on citizen Comp Plan Amendments - a state mandated guarantee to residents of Florida instituted in 1977.

Citizen comments on this issue here and here. 

To the Planning Commission regarding development in Sarasota County

UPDATE: This Hi Hat proposal received a unanimous recommendation from the Sarasota County Planning Commission (PC) on January 21, 2021. The 8-0 vote means the project will go on to the Board of County Commissioners for official consideration.

The Planning Commission meeting is now available here.

A number of Sarasotans wrote the PC to advocate for much more detailed analysis and consideration before giving any recommendation to approve this giant plan. Below is one of many.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Planning Commission:

As you address the giant Turner family project that comes before you this evening, I ask that you consider the concerns raised by a spokesperson for the Miakka Community Club. There are thoughtful, informed observations about Water, the Ecosystem and Environment, and traffic that warrant close attention. Surely you have read Ms. Ayech's letter, but for ease of reference it is posted here for public awareness:

http://sarasotavision2050.blogspot.com/2021/01/hi-hat-project-could-change-whole.html

But I urge you to consider the larger context as well.

When a project of this scale and complexity comes to you, the impacts to be considered are manifold, and in this case, will alter the character of East Sarasota County permanently. This warrants a further observation:

Have you driven through the Hi Hat ranchland recently? It is not simply a rural area of great natural beauty; it's also a vast segment of the county that connects major roads - Fruitville to the North, and Clark to the South. Bee Ridge Road will likely be extended eastward to enable future residents to come and go. There is also a major FPL Power line extending north through the property from Clark to Fruitville..

While the Turner project might seem at first glance to have considered many aspects of this complex plan, there are surely elements of public value that can additionally be addressed. For example, there's the possibility of extending walking, horseback, and bicycling trails north from Clark to Fruitville, which then could link northward to Lakewood Ranch, and southward possibly to the Legacy Trail. This would add great value as a human and natural corridor - but often is not the sort of thing normally found in plans for housing developments and commercial centers.

One further point as to context: The public of Sarasota County really has no clear information regarding the number of homes already approved for construction, or the percentage of undeveloped land that is committed to future residential or commercial development. Given the rampant developer activity already approved by the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners - whether at Skye Ranch, or any of Pat Neal's many projects, or those of Mr. Beruff, or Mr. Kompothecras, or Wellen Park, or many more - we who live here are therefore unable to gauge in any clear, rigorous and informed way what impacts are coming. Unfortunately recent practice has abandoned comprehensive planning. Random, piecemeal plans of developers now take the place of a comprehensive vision shared with and benefitting all.The public would benefit from an overall mapping of exactly what's planned and what's approved -- without such information, the future nature and reality of Sarasota is in fact largely unknown. 

Given the absence of regional as well as of state oversight for local planning, I urge each of you to deeply consider what you can contribute to help developers with giant aspirations to make their projects the best - not only for thousands of future buyers who don't live here now, but also -- and especially -- for the people who live here, work here, and experience anxiety about the visionless direction of growth in Sarasota County.

Sincerely,

Tom Matrullo

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. 

CSC

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The best response to the Bert Harris scare tactic

“They said they couldn’t build this without using taxpayer dollars and getting greater density,” she says. “So, if you admit that what is on the books, you’re not able to do, then what kind of ownership can you claim?”

Becky Ayech, quoted in Becky Ayech Fights for Old Miakka’s Rural Way of Life, by Elizabeth Djinis, Sarasota Magazine.

What really matters: Tradition vs. development in Old Miakka

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing 

which stands in the way…  William Blake

Before our elected officials voted on a motion from Nancy Detert to sell out Old Miakka's rural corner of east Sarasota, Bill Zoller penned an eloquent letter reminding us that what was at stake is our connection to the past.  

Nothing clearer than the difference between Bill's view and that of Jim Gabbert and other developers who came to the Old Miakka hearing to say that what matters is not a community's integrity: Not the 170-year-old way of life of Old Miakka, but his investment (video). 

Becky Ayech led the effort to protect rural heritage lands. After the hearing she said: 

"There are many ways to skin a cat and one is to VOTE!"

Speaking of which, the local Sierra Group has released its candidate recommendations in all local races for November. 

While our "mainstream" media choose to offer no debates or forums, private organizations including the League of Women Voters, Tiger Bay, Control Growth Now, and WSLR are doing what they can You'll find links to upcoming forums here, and recorded recent forums here.