Citizen Power at Fogartyville

This past Tuesday evening, Cathy Antunes spoke with Pat Rounds and Bill Zoller, both longtime advocates for sensible planning and for the public good. The topic was Single Member Voting Districts: how the new electoral structure put in place by a citizens' amendment will actually work in the 2020 election. 

Alice White District 5

Fredd Atkins

They also talked of pushback: The County immediately redistricted in order to remove potential opponents to sitting Commissioners Mike Moran and Nancy Detert, using a map fashioned by the invisible hand of Bob "Adam Smith" Waechter. 

And they noted that the County has also amended the Charter to make citizen amendments so difficult as to be essentially obsolete.

The video is here, with links to the entire evening's discussion. including a lively Q & A with those in the audience. 

Two candidates for the Board were also present: Alice White (People for Trees) is running in district 5, and Fredd Atkins, currently in district Limbo until a a federal lawsuit against the Board is resolved. This year's election holds the opportunity to change the course of Sarasota's public sector. Citizens for District Power is a new group working on getting out the vote. Have a look:

Rounds, Zoller, Antunes: Single Member Districts and Citizen Power

Coming right up

The WTF wall

Monday, Nov 18: Jim Gabbert's Waste Transfer Facility (WTF), approved by Charles Hines, Al Maio, Christine Robinson, Caroline Mason and Paul Caragiulo in 2015, has a nice wall around it. However, there's a glitch. Mr. Gabbert is seeking to move his stormwater partly offsite and underground. But since he has a binding site plan, this change amounts to asking for a substantial modification -- a Special Exception to his 2015 Special Exception. County Zoning says any substantial modification has to go back to the Board. Mr. Gabbert's attorney this modification is not substantial. See Rachel Hackney's free SNL story about Monday's Board of Zoning Appeals public hearing. This should be interesting: 6 pm at 1660 Ringling Blvd.

Bob Waechter

Tuesday, Nov. 19: The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners once again takes up redistricting. With time running short, it has to decide either to select a Bob Waechter map or another, or drop the entire process, which now is opposed by three civic groups. The Board has received advice from concerned citizens (video below), and now from Gerald Webster, Ph.D. Mr. Webster draws on a lifetime of experience with voter litigation to advise the Board not to pursue redistricting before the 2020 Census. The Board begins deliberating at 9 a.m.

For now, Hurrah!: The Board's Nov. 6 decision to preserve the Quad parcels near the Celery Fields for passive recreation came as a genuine surprise to citizens who had spent nearly three years addressing the issue with the Board. No better organization than Sarasota Audubon to protect the bird sanctuary. But those citizens, while hopeful, are wondering whether anything about the way the Board thinks, plans, listens and decides has really changed: was it a genuinely civic decision, or more like politics as usual? Media and, for now, euphoria, are here.

After the Nov. 2 Rally for the Celery Fields

A question:

What town, what community would receive the gift of an extraordinary water management system that not only protects our homes from floods, but also provides a fertile environment for birds, and a pristine open space beloved by people for its tranquil beauty -- what community would receive this inspired gift, and then direct public planners to put heavy industry right next to it?

We know the answer: The people elected as custodians of Sarasota County have never shown they have a clue about the evolving genius of the Celery Fields.

Board of Sarasota County Commissioners

In January it will be three years since James Gabbert brought his waste processing proposal to the Church of Hope. Three years since the community came out in force to tell him and the County: NO WAY.

Now, after saying little and doing less, the Board can come back on Wednesday Nov. 6 at 1:30 pm and direct the Planning Dept. to rezone these parcels for industry, offices, or affordable housing.

There are a lot of reasons why industry is wrong here. Here are two:

First, anything like what Gabbert wanted, or like the warehouses Bob Waechter owns, or a Restaurant Depot, would involve more big trucks or car traffic. Gabbert’s rising WTF there will soon be adding 100 trucks a day to Palmer Blvd., in and out, all day long.

Second, this is a gateway. Gary Walsh and others have noted the dramatic impact that they experience when, heading west on Palmer Blvd, they come through the underpass -- the world suddenly changes. The cramped corridors west of I-75 open up, turn green, then suddenly it's wetlands, birds, a huge open space and that radiant hill. 

Gary Walsh

This landscape is telling us a story - it’s introducing us to East County, to the rural Sarasota that's ranching, nurseries and farms, but increasingly getting sold and subdivided into single-family gated communities. East Sarasota's rural life is disappearing -- although Becky Ayech and others out East are fighting to protect it, with intelligence and determination.

If we rezone this gateway to allow industrial uses, this beautiful introduction to East County could also disappear. Instead of entering a prelude to a pristine open space, we’ll find a concrete barrier of 80,000-square-foot-buildings and parking lots. Instead of a walkable central open space drawing people and nature into communion, we’ll have Gabbert’s WTF, So and So’s What the Hell, and some other guy's Vision of Mordor piling on noise and traffic, devouring the light, and despoiling our landscape's story.

On Wednesday Nov. 6, the Board can try to “split the difference” by taking parcels 1 and 4, east of Apex, out of surplus lands and designating them for passive recreation or an urban forest. Great, so long as that’s a permanent and irrevocable designation.

But it’s still not adequate. Parcels 2 and 3 west of Apex should not be rezoned for industry, or for anything except simple uses that serve the community. They are public land.

Here's the chess game we're dealing with:

If the Board orders Planning to rezone parcels for industrial use or offices, the process will take several months, and then return to the Board for a vote. At this point, a public hearing will be necessary.

Note: the Lambert Advisory report the Board paid for to justify sale to industry did not consider actual conditions - neither surrounding land uses, such as the nearby Celery Fields, nor the poor roads, nor the community's input, nor the market's trending toward residential in the area. Its spreadsheet price study is also out of date.

Here's the big thing: The public hearing for the rezoning is likely to be entirely gratuitous -- that is, there will be no applicant. The Board will simply be voting on an application originated by itself. And yet, if for example they vote to approve industrial rezoning on Parcel #2, then it's a fait accompli: Gabbert, Waechter or someone else can buy the land from the County and build, so long as it meets whichever zoning the Board has approved. 

We see what they are doing here. They are pre-approving the sale of rezoned public land to a private developer, and once that rezoning is approved, the public has no further say, no public hearing. 

That's why, if the Board votes to rezone in ways the community feels are inappropriate, it will be essential to step up when Planning brings its plans back for approval. With no specific applicant named, Bob Waechter can wait in the wings till it's a done deal. This is just one way it all can go down. Let's call it the Waechter way.

Here's the thing: We've told our elected officials all this and more repeatedly over the past 35 months. We've told them that our wildlife area will need to expand and evolve to accommodate more visitors, some who come from overseas to explore this treasure.

We need to keep saying it:  Keep these parcels for public uses. We need our public lands to remain free from an industrial zoning concocted in 1975. For our central park to fully realize its potential, our planning process must totally be free from the degradation of developer greed and backroom cronyism.

We might have to give our commissioners hell so Sarasota’s Celery Fields can remain a heaven.

Elian Rosaire

Let's do all we can protect this beautiful place, and secure a healthy future for all of Sarasota County. We can start by sweeping out those who think it’s still 1975, and bring in people of vision, spirit, integrity, and common sense. 

Think of this not as our last stand, but as the first spark of restoring human sensibility and intelligence to Sarasota County in 2020.

Have you signed the Petition?

Board rezoning and sale of public lands at the Celery Fields

Wednesday, Nov. 6

1660 Ringling Boulevard

1:30 pm

Update from Adrien Lucas

Board discounts voters, moves to redistrict

Sarasota County redistricting map crafted by political dirty trickster makes final cut 

Black voters worried they will be disenfranchised. 

Critics also complained about using a redistricting map drawn by a GOP operative convicted of a political dirty trick 

And concerns about flawed population data underpinning Sarasota County’s redistricting effort remain. 

Bob Waechter

But the majority of county commissioners pushed past those criticisms Wednesday and voted 3-2 to advertise two redistricting maps for a public hearing, including a map based on one drawn by former Sarasota GOP chairman Bob Waechter.

Waechter’s map was heavily promoted Wednesday by Commissioner Mike Moran, who also may have the most to gain if it is enacted. . . .

Newtown resident Barbara Langston, who is African American, complained that redistricting is “about voter suppression and it is about racism." . . . 

Nobody from the crowd spoke in favor of redistricting. 

Read More . . .

Quick cuts from the 10.30.19 Board meeting:


R.N. Collins




Lourdes Ramirez

 


 Adrien Lucas

 


Two maps chosen by Board for advertising ahead of final public hearing, and more map analysis here.

Kurt Spitzer Associates

Bob Waechter map modified by Spitzer

Development interests seek to protect Moran -- Herald Tribune

Development Interests, Redistricting, Water Management and the fate of the Celery Fields all converge in this excerpt from Oct. 26, 2019 Herald Tribune article entitled: Redistricting criticism mounts as big vote nears" by Zac Anderson:

         . . . [Commissioner Mike] Moran is viewed by some political observers, including GOP insiders, as being more closely aligned with the business community, including development interests.

Some believe the redistricting effort is not simply about protecting Republicans, but protecting the Sarasota County power structure and development interests.

Dist. 1 Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran

Moran is an insurance agent who moved to the region from Michigan in 2002 and became active in local politics, serving in a succession of roles that involved key decisions on development proposals.

A former president of the Sarasota Republican Club, Moran was appointed to the Sarasota County Planning Commission — which reviews development applications and has been a springboard to elected office — in 2012.

Rick Scott

In 2013 Moran was picked by former Gov. Rick Scott to serve on the Southwest Florida Water Management District board, another position that reviews major development proposals. Prominent developer Carlos Beruff, who is close with Scott, served on the board at the same time.

Development interests appeared to view Moran as a friend when he ran for the County Commission in 2016. They donated heavily to his campaign.

The Herald-Tribune wrote in 2016 that “Almost half of the more than $72,000 in contributions Moran’s campaign has received through July are tied to developers, attorneys who work closely with developers, other politicians, contractors, investors and real estate agents, according to campaign finance records.”

Developers who give generously to local political candidates 

“Those donations include at least $7,600 from 38 separate $200 donations (the cap for local campaign contributions) from LLCs with addresses listed at the offices of Lakewood Ranch, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and Medallion Homes — companies owned by highly influential developers Pat Neal, Rex Jensen and Carlos Beruff.”

Waechter, his wife and corporations that Waechter controls gave a total of $1,800 to Moran’s 2016 campaign.

Waechter is a real estate investor who is aligned with key figures in the Sarasota County power structure and has been one of the most influential behind-the-scenes political players.

Moran also received extensive contributions from Sarasota businessman Jim Gabbert and his companies. After winning a seat on the commission, Moran supported Gabbert’s controversial proposal to construct a recycling facility for construction and demolition materials roughly 1,000 feet from the Celery Fields, a nature area beloved by bird watchers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

James Gabbert

WTF underway at Celery Fields

LTE to the Herald Tribune from Dennis Robertson:

Reading H-T's front-page article of Monday, October 14, 2019, one would be left with the impression that James Gabbert's TST Ventures plan for a giant debris demolition facility had been "successfully fended off" and the insanity of a waste dump being built right at the edge of an established nature preserve had been stopped.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Butting-up right next to the Celery Fields quads in question in that article, construction of a Waste Transfer Facility is well underway.

In August 2017, multiple ad-hoc groups and hundreds of protesters did beat back Gabbert's proposed giant 16-acre debris demolition plant in the quads. In voting to oppose Gabbert's plan, Commissioner Nancy Detert observed that the time had passed for industry in the area. Everyone thought that was the end of it.

It was not.

Bob Waechter

In 2015 county commissioners, urged on by warehouse landlord Bob Waechter, had approved Gabbert's plan for a "Waste Transfer Facility" (WTF) on 4.3 acres he owned next to I-75 and adjacent to our public lands.


After being beat down with common sense in 2017, TST Ventures reverted to that 2015 approval.

Anyone who bothers to consult the EPA's manual on siting transfer facilities knows that such sites must accommodate giant trucks.

Entrance to WTF at Palmer and Bell Rd.

Gabbert's WTF will service more than 100 trucks per day filled with waste, adding to already congested, inadequate roads.

Where are the current traffic studies?

WTF wall 50' from canal

A facility like this should be 200' from any waterway, Gabbert's is only 50 feet away from drainage that ends up in Sarasota Bay.

Truth to power be damned, who in the county and state signed off on any of this? And why?

The thousands who protested can now bring their toxic construction debris and pesticide-laden yard waste to his facility near an established preserve and Audubon Nature Center.

To add insult to injury, on Wednesday, Nov. 6 the County Commission, stewards of this nature preserve, will consider a plan to rezone and sell our public lands for yet more industry on parcels closer to the Celery Fields.

The public needs to be there.

Advocate: Unanswered Questions on county's bungled redistricting effort

Source: ScGov.net

To the Sarasota County Commission:

Below is information copied from the Redistricting page on scgov.net. It includes an official acknowledgment of the public participation in the selection of an Alternative District map, and the timeline to complete your redistricting project.  

Since the first public Open House on 9/18, additional disturbing information has been disclosed which warrants shutting down this early redistricting exercise. Yet your timeline suggests that flawed population methodology and appearances of compromise will not halt your quest to dictate the future of county voters.

Please respond to the following requests:

·      The County acknowledges the contributions of 2000 residents in the input survey, but at your meeting on October 7^th, you essentially dismissed the map preference selected by 90% of the respondents. Please account for this inconsistency.  

“…From Sept. 17 to Oct. 1, Sarasota County Government held five redistricting open houses as well as circulated an online public input survey. We appreciate your feedback — more than 2,000 public input forms were submitted. Read all the input submitted below….”

·      What is the agenda for your “special meeting” on October 30, 2019?  There are no details in the list of Next Steps at the end of this message, although other dates in the redistricting timeline specifically indicate an action or purpose.  On October 30^th:

o   Which maps will you consider---those “citizen” maps enhanced by Kurt Spitzer which show two Commissioners living in the same District—noted by red dots (See link and attachment: Waechter/alias Smith, former Commissioner Mason, Miller and Thomas)? Or will you display even more map options similarly unviewable on screen at a public meeting? 

Please be specific, since there’s an impression that the “Smith” map (aka Bob Waechter) may  serve as the template for the final District map. 

o   Has Mr. Waechter ever participated in configuring District maps for the County Commission in the past, e.g., post-2010 Census?  

o   How will the public be involved in your process---as spectators or active, meaningful participants? You touted this process as interactive and fair.  When will that happen?

o   By October 30^th, will you have shared your District boundary preferences privately with the consultant for a second time? If so, will you divulge what you shared since you also promised to be transparent?  

o   Will you accept additional map boundary ideas from political operatives identified by name or alias?  If so, please expound.

o   Will you go on record and dismiss the flaws discovered and confirmed by subcontractor Richard Doty, a recognized population expert at BEBR, the organization which provided the methodology for your contractor’s population study?  

o   Will you explain how it’s acceptable to demean justifiably concerned citizens by referring to them as “white noise”, when they include the Herald Tribune, Venice Gondolier Sun, SRQ Daily, the League of Women Voters and various City Commissions in Sarasota County?  

Since the “special” meeting on 10/30 is still two weeks in the making, I look forward to receiving your responses in a timely manner. 

Or, better yet---Finally do what’s best for your constituents and tell everyone that you’re waiting until after the 2020 Census to draw new District boundaries.  Displaying this questionable endeavor in plain sight does not make it right, and does not serve the public interest. 

Pat Rounds, 

District 1

Redistricting

Next Steps

• Oct. 30  - BCC Special Meeting on Redistricting

o   Time: 1:30 p.m.

o   Location: Commission Chambers, 1st floor in Administration Building, 1660 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota

• Oct. 26 - Advertise Nov. 5, 2019, Notice of Public Hearing to adopt map.
• Nov. 5 - Board action to adopt district boundaries and associated map.
• Nov. 10 and 17 - Advertise district boundary map adopted on Nov. 5, 2019.
• Nov. 19 - Board action to approve minutes from Nov. 5, 2019, including adopted map and acknowledge proof of publication for inclusion in the Nov. 19, 2019, minutes.
• Dec. 10 - Board approval of minutes from Nov. 19, 2019, acknowledging proof of publication of adopted map.

The "First Impression of Sarasota County"

The Quads -- four parcels near the Celery Fields -- are public lands. We own them, but we could lose them to James Gabbert's trucks or Bob Waechter's warehouses.

Here is the objective set in the I-75 Corridor Study, a forward-looking plan done by County Planning in 1989.

Here is James Gabbert's planned Waste Transfer Facility (WTF), approved to be built on six acres at Porter and Palmer -- on broken roads, in clear view of the highway, with the Celery Fields in the background for highway drivers to see:

WTF indeed.

Feb. 28, 2019: Two citizens met with the lead planner for the county's new process, revising the Critical Area Plan for the Quads. The planner assured us that they are willing to speak with anyone who wishes to provide input. Also, they intend to have a public meeting open to all - not yet scheduled, but likely to be set for mid-May.

Anyone wishing to be added to the notification list can send an email to planner@scgov.net or to skirk@scgov.net. Be sure to reference this Critical Area Plan process - say something like: "CAP for the Quads near the Celery Fields" and ask to be notified of all meetings and actions.

Waste Transfer Truck

Sarasota's "park-like setting"

This is the site of James Gabbert’s pending Waste Transfer Facility as seen from I-75, with the Celery Fields in the distance. The row of trees separates Gabbert’s planned facility from the Public’s 10-acre quad parcel #2. Gabbert received his permit Jan. 31.

James Gabbert received county approval to build his Waste Transfer Facility (WTF) (six acres at Porter and Palmer next to the highway) on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. Mr. Gabbert's parcel is immediately adjacent to I-75. He owns his site, the small rectangle at the left side of parcel #2. The numbered parcels are public land.

Maio

The land that Mr. Gabbert purchased in 2014 did not allow this use. He asked for and received a "Special Exception" from the Board in 2015, at a "public hearing" that few if any residents of East Palmer knew about. A copy of the WTF site plan is here; related documents are here. "This is a special exception that needs to be approved," said Commissioner Al Maio, in moving it to a vote. Here's the permit letter.

Why is this a problem?

• This is an open facility: Tall piles of construction debris will present a highway eyesore, blighting the view and character of the Celery Fields public lands (photo above).
• This WTF will be the first thing drivers see coming through the I-75 underpass at Palmer Blvd.
• Trucks entering and leaving the facility on Palmer by Bell Rd. could clog traffic from the industrial parks residents Palmer Blvd at the underpass. 
• Six acres is small for such uses, and the location is just plain wrong. There's no evidence the county ever did a diligent site study as advised by the Federal EPA Guide for Waste Transfer Stations.
• This heavy industrial use required a special exception (the land was originally zoned for light industry). This harsher use could influence future planning for the public lands at Apex and Palmer. For example, the county could consider affordable housing on the 13-acre public parcel #2 next to it - but given the WTF, they might incline to see heavy industry as "more compatible."

In short: The Board of County Commissioners used its role of public steward to create blight where none exists.

Gabbert

Mr. Gabbert's permit is granted for land adjacent to public land. That makes us all stakeholders. We can write to the County to require the developer to mitigate the negative impacts. Various kinds of mitigation are possible:

>>>>>ACTION ITEM<<<<<<

Write to your district commissioner (copying the others) and relevant county staff and demand that this incompatible plan be mitigated every way possible. 

• attractive buffering 
• landscaping
• appropriate hours of operation 
• enclosed facility (the plan calls for an open facility)
• compatible lighting
• sound fencing 
• themed fencing - perhaps something linked to birding or the celery fields?
• safe turning lanes

Email addresses:

Planning

• Mark Loveridge - Planning and development permitting: mloverid@scgov.net

• Matt Osterhoudt - Planning Director: mosterho@scgov.net

• Jane Grogg - Long Range Planning: jgrogg@scgov.net  

• Steve Kirk - Planner, Critical Area Plan for the Public Parcels skirk@scgov.net 

• County Administrator Jonathan Lewis: countyadministrator@scgov.net 

• CC or BCC: Fresh Start: freshstartSarasota@gmail.com

Elected Officials - This land is in District 1, Commissioner Moran's district:

(We recommend put your district commissioner first, cc the others)

District 1: Mike Moran: mmoran@scgov.net

District 2: Christian Ziegler: cziegler@scgov.net

District 3: Nancy C. Detert: ncdetert@scgov.net

District 4: Alan Maio: amaio@scgov.net

District 5: Charles Hines: chines@scgov.net

All five commissioners can also be copied by using commissioners@scgov.net

NOTE: Commissioners Maio and Moran voted FOR Gabbert's larger Waste Processing Facility that the citizens of Sarasota strenuously opposed, ultimately persuading three Commissioiners - Caragiulo, Detert, and Hines - to vote against the dump in August 2017. Gabbert already had his 6-acre site approval. Mr. Gabbert and Robert Waechter have long been paying supporters of four board members (only Detert is not funded by them), and political allies of Maio in particular.

=========

Further points

At least two legal considerations ought to have been addressed during the 2015 approval process for this plan, but neither appears to have been considered either by the Board or its attorney:

1. When the Board approved Gabbert's rezone of the six acres, it ignored a county ordinance that specifically requires lands along the I-75 corridor to present a "park-like setting." The I-75 Corridor Plan Ordinance #89-35, Exhibit B, Item M, states:

In recognition of I-75 as an area of critical concern, all critical area plans within the I-75 Critical Area of Concern shall be consistent with the following where applicable:

(m) a positive image for I-75 through the establishment of quality development within a park-like setting.

2. The Board also approved Gabbert's waste transfer facility in violation of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, which aims, among other things, to beautify highways by screening or forbidding junkyards.

The act called for control of outdoor advertising, including removal of certain types of signs, along the nation's growing Interstate Highway System and the existing federal-aid primary highway system. It also required certain junkyards along Interstate or primary highways to be removed or screened and encouraged scenic enhancement and roadside development.[2] Highway Beautification Act.

Most reasonable citizens would say that the Board's action violated both laws.

This project will blight the landscape and "brand" this area of Sarasota for tens of millions of drivers on I-75. The character of an area fortunate to have unusual natural beauty as well as recreational and international tourist activity will suffer.

The Board is about to reopen a critical area plan that concerns these public parcels. Some fear that the Board’s thinking about Parcel #2 might be impacted by Mr. Gabbert’s WTF, as well as Robert Waechter’s warehouses along its south side. The Board might find it easier to say, “Although this parcel is public land, it’s already bordered on two sides by industrial uses, so it should be industrial too.”

This is supposed to be the Board's' role as public steward and an opportunity to do something positive and of public value on our public lands.

Instead the process has been a chess game in which the public is treated like an opponent that has to be outwitted through sneaky stratagems. When planning and considering the sale of public lands, the only appropriate civic use of the term "highest and best use" is “a use that serves some significant public good.”

What are some potential public uses for these parcels?

Workforce housing

Civic center 

Outdoor arena 

History and tourist center

Athletic facilities 

Garden 

Food trucks or eatery 

New forested bird habitat to buffer the Celery Fields

Send us more ideas

Background:

County Ordinance #89-35, Exhibit B, Item M requires that development along the I-75 corridor offer “a park-like setting.”

Timeline of Board handling of WTF and Waste Processing Facility

08.20.2015: Planning Commission 8.20.2015 hearing on WTF Item 4 (video)

10.14.2015: Board of County Commissioners hearing on WTF Item 8 (video) Gabbert's waste transfer facility was approved. Moved for approval by Maio, approved by Commissioners Maio, Hines, Robinson, Caragiulo, Mason.

“Park-like setting”?

Spoonie courtesy of Chuck Behrmann

Waechter: Trucks before Community

Before the presentation given by Fresh Start to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners on Wednesday, Sept. 12, Robert Waechter told Sarasota County officials that large trucks are incompatible with pedestrians, and therefore should rule out community uses on 30 acres of public lands near a valued bird sanctuary and public recreation area.

Waechter, an influential political operative and owner of industrial warehouse properties next to Quad parcel #2, addressed the Sarasota Commission on Sept. 12, 2018.

The semi-truck traffic Waechter alluded to occurs on thin, fragile Apex Road, which runs North/South and connects the Celery Fields to Fruitville Road.

The presence of these large trucks is "incompatible" with uses that draw residents, children and tourist-visitors, Waechter said. Noting that the area is hazardous to pedestrian traffic now, he added, "It's going to get worse," because, apparently, more industrial development will be coming in.

Waechter and his friend James Gabbert are among those most resistant to the changes occurring around the Celery Fields -- changes which, due to an absence of proactive planning, has led to the simultaneous development in the same area of industry and residences, along with schools, a park and recreational uses. This has led to a clash of two distinct visions of the area.

In their presentation, Fresh Start noted that the County has approved new housing within easy walking distance to the public lands, which are adjacent to a large open bird sanctuary, a rare (for Florida) plateau, wetlands and recreation area.

With 2,500 new homes approved within walking distance of the Celery Fields preserve and recreation area, the County had a rare economic opportunity to create a walkable, community friendly area on the public properties, the group said.

With all the new homes, walkability in this area will become a much-needed, even essential asset, the group said.

Waechter, a former head of the Republican party in Sarasota County, Florida, has used money and connections to stuff government boards such as the Charter Review Board with developer and business associates. He has opposed advocates of using public lands for the community, and has advocated that the County sell the public lands to a private industrial developer such as himself.

Here's a photo of Mr. Waechter's nearby warehouse property on a recent day:

With new homes, and a new park and recreation area, such tensions with older industrial uses is inevitable. Which is why the Fresh Start group offered a recommendation for future planning in Sarasota County:

"We assert the people’s right to a vigilant public stewardship that addresses private development within a higher mandate: to raise the quality of life for all."

The conflict has come about as the county has abdicated any role as steward of lands, especially the public lands, says Fresh Start, adding:

The conflict between older industry and new opportunities near the Celery Fields, with eco-tourism blossoming and new construction running to tens of thousands of homes and apartments, deserves nothing less than a deliberate honest dialog between the County and its citizens. 

Fresh Start's presentation:

About the August Primary in Sarasota

Recently at Tiger Bay, Sarasota Commissioner Al Maio said he thinks selling our public lands at the Celery Fields for industrial use makes sense, because an 11-acre industrial warehouse parcel sits next to it.

Tiger Bay Commission Candidate Panel l to r:
 Wesley Beggs, Mike Cosentino, Al Maio, Lourdes Ramirez, Moderator Kevin Cooper

The Commissioner didn't mention that the Celery Fields happens to be a short walk away, or that the 11-acre industrial parcel happens to be owned by Robert Waechter. It's separated from the public parcel at Apex and Palmer by a canal and a line of trees -- they are not exactly "contiguous," as Maio claimed. What's more, Waechter, the former chairman of the Sarasota Republican party, betrayed Lourdes Ramirez, one of his party's candidates in 2012, stealing her identity to make it look like she was donating to Democrats. Waechter tried the dodge to promote Al Maio over Ramirez for the County Commission. He was charged and convicted of both a felony and a misdemeanor, and sentenced to house arrest, probation, community service, fines and fees. 

This past April, Waechter sent a letter to the County arguing that public land near the Celery Fields should be sold for industrial use. He was writing to oppose residents who wish the County to dedicate public lands near the Celery Fields to community uses.  The citizens, who have done outreach, community meetings and polls, say residents favor community-friendly uses such as affordable housing upstairs from shops and fooderies, a birding lodge and restaurant, a YMCA sports complex, or even just a community center with a pavilion and landscaping to attract more birds. (Copy of Waechter's letter).

The Celery Fields has an international reputation as habitat, hosting over 225 species of birds. Known for its large plateau-like mound, it also has come to be a prime outdoor area for hiking, walking, exercise, picnicking, bicycling, stargazing, photography and more. The Audubon Society built a $1 million nature center at the base of the mound which sees thousands of visitors from all over the US and elsewhere each year.

Despite the community's wishes and strong opposition to selling our land for industry, Mr. Maio told the Tiger Bay audience that he sees no reason to change his vote in favor of James Gabbert's proposed 16-acre waste processing facility, which failed by one vote on August 23 last year. In his Tiger Bay statement, Maio says it was only to be a "waste transfer station," when in fact it was a full-blown construction demolition pulverizing facility.

Waste processing facility on Fruitville Rd. built by J. Gabbert

Since the Board's decision last August, the County has taken no steps to revise the land use of the public lands to prevent industrialization. That means that Gabbert - or Waechter - can come back after one year -- anytime after August 23 -- and propose large warehouses, or open demolition waste processing or some other industrial use, and apparently receive a sympathetic hearing from Mr. Maio.

Consider this:

Right now, Sarasota's shoreline is a smelly mess thanks to dead fish, manatees, turtles and more due to Red Tide, which this year has been the worst in recent memory. 

Given those conditions, the Celery Fields unquestionably is the best place for Sarasota visitors and residents to be outdoors, view birds, and hike in bright, clear air. Myakka State Park is very nice, but is near flood levels thanks to heavy rains.

Mr. Waechter, Mr. Gabbert and, apparently, Mr. Maio see no reason why we should not have more warehouses or waste facilities on our public lands. For them, nothing has changed since 1983 - when there were no homes, no schools, no Celery Fields. And the County has done nothing to modify the land use, despite all the attention given to this area.

If Waechter prevails, visitors climbing our observation mound -- "Mount Celery" -- will be able to see acres more of Waechter's warehouses:

The new Waechter warehouses will complement his existing ones (featured above), and go well with the Waste Transfer Facility that Gabbert still plans to build along Porter Road at Palmer Blvd. 

Here's what Gabbert's old waste transfer facility on Fruitville Road looks like:

If you want a Commissioner who approves the antediluvian views of Waechter, Gabbert and others, vote for Al Maio. If you do not, Lourdes Ramirez is his Republican opponent in the August Primary. 

*Al Maio's Tiger Bay statement - about 4 minutes