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. 

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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. 

Public Workshops on County Planning Updates

The senseless proposal for an industrial waste facility at the Celery Fields revealed some disturbing facts about  how planning has been failing the people of Sarasota County.

E.g., Sarasota's land use map is out of date, its multiple codes do not mesh, and County planners apparently are not required to consult the community, or notify anyone of major changes to, or sales of, public lands.

The County is working on updating - and will have public meetings beginning Sept. 20th. 

Lots of info and a survey here.

All three public "workshops" are in Nokomis:

Public Workshops

Location:

Nokomis Community Center, Main Hall

234 Nippino Trail 

Nokomis, FL 34275

Dates:

September 20th – Public Workshop No. 1
October 18th – Public Workshop No. 2
November 7th – Public Workshop No. 3

Time:
6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible.

Developer-tailored Amendment to Greenway and Open Space Policies?

Public Notice Proposed Amendment to the Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan The Sarasota County Planning and Development Services Department will hold two public meetings on proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment No. 2015-G. Both meetings will present the same information. These are not public hearings. The purpose of the meeting is to inform the public about the content of the proposed amendment and to seek comments and suggestions regarding the amendment. The public meetings will be held on: Date:                 January 18, 2017 Time:                 6:00 p.m. Location:            Gulf Gate Library, 7112 Curtiss Ave., Meeting Room B, Sarasota Date:                 January 25, 2017 Time:                 6:00 p.m. Location:            Englewood Sports Complex, 1300 S. River Rd, Englewood The publicly-initiated amendment is related to the required Open Space and Greenbelts for 2050 Village developments, and proposes to revise Policies VOS5.1, VOS1.2.a, and VOS2.1 of the Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Chapter, Sarasota 2050 RMA System section, and other policies as necessary. The amendments could allow the County Commission to: 1. Grant requests for exceptions and/or reduction of the required 500-foot Greenbelt widths of a 2050 Village, with established criteria; and 2. Grant requests to reduce the Open Space of a 2050 Village to less than the required 50%, but to no less than a minimum of 33%, with established criteria. For more information or to send written comments on the proposed amendment, contact: Planning and Development Services Department 1660 Ringling Blvd, 1st Floor Sarasota FL 34236 planner@scgov.net Please call 941-861-5000 or email planner@scgov.net with your questions.

Planning Services Planning Services provides unincorporated Sarasota County with land use services in collaboration with businesses, residents and neighboring jurisdictions to build a sustainable, prosperous community that distinguishes Sarasota County.

Planning Services |  planner@scgov.net | 941-861-5000  www.scgov.net/planningservices

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Overdevelopment moves onward and upward

Residents' Over-development Pleas Fall on Deaf Ears at BOCC Meeting

Published Friday, January 9, 2015 12:09 am

by John Rehill

BRADENTON — At Thursday's Land Use meeting, Manatee County Commissioners once again listened to the impassioned pleas of citizens with deaf ears, approving a 1,103 residential unit development despite widespread opposition and logical concerns.

It was #10, the last item on the agenda, and the 30 or more residents who came to the dais, did so to defend their way of life and the qualities that brought them to rural Manatee County. They were more prepared than most groups that are later forced to shield themselves from over-development.

The project: 803 single-family detached units, plus a 300 multi-family structure and 100,000 square feet of commercial/retail on 441 acres south of 69th Street East, east of I-75.

Residents from neighboring developments said they were totally opposed to multi-family buildings, the high density that was requested, the destruction of wetlands and wildlife, and the considerable commercial retail that was involved.

The Manatee County Planning Commissionrecommended denial on December 11, 2014 by a vote of 4-1, with some members stating the project was inconsistent with the county's Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code.

Resident Donna Meadows said, there are sand hill cranes, scrub jays, indigos, hawks owls and alligators in the proposed site, most of which are endangered.

John Ward questioned Margaret Tusing's (Manatee County's principal planner) obligations to the the county, and the appearance of rubber stamping without adequate knowledge of the facts. Ward also expressed strict concerns to the impacts to schools, the environment and the additional traffic from the more than 3,000 additional cars that will occupy the only road.

Charles Chappione, who came with well over 100 signatures from other residents opposing the project, said the road wasn't able to handle the traffic, that the schools were already at 130 percent of capacity and that the density wasn't compatible with the area.

There were many, many more who spoke about how the safety of the bridge, the wearing roads and the deadly turn needed to enter or exit Buffalo Road would be amplified by all of the additional traffic.

It became almost embarrassing to all who were there to hear commissioners twist and turn those concerns around, as if those who spoke didn't know what they were talking about.

The vote was 5-2 to approve, with Commissioners Robin DiSabatino and Charles Smith voting against the project. Stay tuned for more on this issue in our Sunday edition. 

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Comment shared by Bill Zoller:

For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee..... the bell is being sounded in Manatee and Sarasota Counties as compliant commissions approve more and more development in our rural areas. By 2050, the world's population will have increased by 60%; that many more people to feed. How does our 2050 Plan recognize or address our area's responsibility to be part of providing food for its population? It doesn't. We will live on manna from heaven, I suppose. Our commissioners have an extreme focus on the short term, somehow thinking their most important task is to grow jobs, jobs, jobs. Their main means to that end is to build, build, build..... Sadly, they are choosing to encourage building, building, building on the land that will be needed to grow food one day. They call it "planning". To paraphrase King Richard III, "A cow, a cow...my kingdom for a cow!"

Call for a Sarasota Foodshed Study

Cooper Levey-Baker

Two weeks ago, Sarasota County's ninth annual Sustainable Communities Workshop generated a three-ring binder's worth of bright ideas. The daylong event sparked conversations about how to plan for climate change, how to reach citizens who live in our area's 19 food deserts and how to more wisely invest public economic development dollars.

Amid all that, Transition Sarasota Executive Director Don Hall mentioned a simple and eminently doable idea: Let's raise $10,000 to commission a foodshed study by economist and author Michael Shuman, the event's keynote speaker.

Read more...

Brand Sarasota

Comments offered at the Sarasota County Commission Public Hearing on Amendments to the 2050 Plan, August 27, 2014

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I’ve lived in Sarasota for nine years. Before that, I lived for 16 years in an adjacent county. That perspective taught me that Sarasota is one of the few places in Florida that enjoys the aura of a distinctive brand name.

A complete inventory of the things that make up “Brand Sarasota” is too complex to go into here -- its roots lie in its natural beauty, and in artistic, literary and architectural movements going back generations. It’s always had visionary lovers of nature and culture.

The question is, how much longer will Sarasota enjoy that brand?

At stake in the proposed changes to 2050 may be nothing less than the extraordinary market value that comes with this distinction.

Sarasota is viewed as an “intelligent” community, boasting

• Educated and affluent retirees.
• Hi-tech, clean businesses.
• Creative design in public spaces.
• A regard for art, music, theater and film -- the life of the intellect in all its forms.
• A deep appreciation of our parks, beaches, and Conservation lands, and 
• An active scientific concern with native plants, marine life and wildlife of all kinds.

Folks with large life-experiences have come to Sarasota because it resonates with their quality-of-life values -- these values have been part of its fabric.

Today, the aspirations of Americans are changing rapidly -- many seek a more agrarian world -- a feature of rural East Sarasota that some proposed changes to 2050 threaten to diminish, if not to eliminate altogether.

If Sarasota County acquiesces in turning its rural sector into a cliched reflection of the banal developments that have paved much of the Gulf Coast (see, for example, what has become of the land between Fort Myers and Naples) it will lose its brand. The very thing that attracted people here will have been sacrificed -- and for what?

It takes time and many multi-sided conversations for an authentically grounded, complex vision to arise. The destiny of Sarasota County should not come from tired developer templates or business models hauled out of MBA syllabi for quick bucks. Our planners and fiscal experts as well as our Commissioners need to be savvy. They -- YOU -- should not fall for trite, outdated development practices, or for gung-ho scenarios pitched by self-serving prophets of endless growth. Look deeper!

It’s not yet 2015. Twenty-five years ago, the Internet didn’t exist for most of us. Today it’s transforming longstanding structures of living. Shopping malls are going the way of newspapers and 8-track tapes. Automobiles will eventually be petroleum and driver-free. Drones might fly fresh milk from the farm to our breakfast tables. Just as no one saw the Internet coming, no one today can foresee what forces will shape the world of 2050. Yet the developers have the hots to build for it now, and wish to tap taxpayer money to do so?

What exactly is the rush?

When the 2050 process began, Sarasota County took measured steps to ensure that the collective instincts of those who dwell here were deeply involved. If those same instincts are now to be ignored; if we residents are dismissed with the insider attitude that we "fail to grasp the intricacies of code revision," then our governance risks being usurped by the private profit motives of the few. When the public good is pushed aside, the result is often hasty, copy-cat style and insipid inspiration, instead of organic and original creation, which matures slowly with time.

East Sarasota could be the new Bonita Springs -- a Brave New Brandon!

When you ignore the gut sense of the people, you play with fire. What’s going to get consumed is the fair name and substance of Brand Sarasota.

So, again, I ask:

What exactly is the rush?

- Tom Matrullo

2050: Origins and Roots

The 2050 Archives contain documents from the formative period (1995-97) when a multi-stakeholder group (msg) of Sarasota citizens thinking ahead about the urban service boundary and lands east of I-75 reached consensus on the values and principles of a new form of urban planning.

What we offer: "The multi-stakeholder group seeks to bring common sense to future land use in Sarasota County."

What we believe:

"The current trend of spreading out from the urban core creates high infrastructure costs, loses the sense of Community, significantly increases pollution from automobile trips, destroys the natural heritage of Sarasota and reduces the open space value of water and air filtration."

"Current public lands will stay in public ownership and be managed as a valuable resource for future generations."

Where we stand:  Water, wildlife, native habitats:

"A different urban form is realized for Sarasota County besides 5-500 acre single use subdivisions and string commercial." 

"A plan for the future that serves the public interests while respecting the valid, constitutional rights of affected private interests."

What we learned: Statements from members of the MSG, a map series, and an analysis of East Sarasota lands, uses and biodiversity.

"The area east of I-75 still has a future that can balance several competing but legitimate interests. There are many alternative potential outcomes."

Villages (dark blue) & hamlets (turquoise)