Development near Celery Fields raises many questions

Below: An open letter to the Board regarding the adequacy of online Neighborhood Workshops. The workshop discussed below is scheduled to be on Zoom only, on Tuesday, May 23, at 6 pm. 

Zoom link:  https://kimley-horn.zoom.us/s/98962380195

To: The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners, Mr. Moran, Mr. Cutsinger, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Neunder

From: Tom Matrullo

Date: May 19, 2023

Re: Workshop for housing proposed next to Celery Fields Wetlands

A proposal for intense single family housing on some 49 acres along Raymond Road has lately come to the attention of the Sarasota community. As the Celery Fields is a beloved environment prized for its nesting and migrating birds -- a unique asset that brings tourists from all over the world, the cumulative impact of 160+ new homes in close proximity to these nesting wetlands raises a host of questions and concerns.

  

Part of site plan for Raymond Rd

In order to address important community questions that could involve everything from bird and animal life to ecotourism and water quality, neighborhood traffic, flooding, lighting and more, all steps in the planning process deserve to be handled with integrity.

To this end, I and others ask that you require a Neighborhood Workshop that will be held live (an online component could be included for those out of state.) I'm sure you've heard from citizens who have been frustrated when seeking to participate in various workshops via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Many citizens do not even use tools like Zoom, some do not own computers.

What's more, these online meetings depend on the developer's agent for their timing and informational quality. I can attest that at some online workshops I've attended, the information presented was minimal, the images were small and blurry, sound quality was poor, the question period was brief, and the opportunities for follow-up questions were non-existent. 

Given that the birding, hiking, fishing, kayaking and ecotourism at the Celery Fields are activities that mean a great deal to our citizens, the questions surrounding the impacts of this proposal go far beyond the number of homes, parking spaces, and entrances. An online Workshop will not do justice to the complications of this proposal.

A live workshop with stormwater quality experts, environmental and tourism personnel on hand as well as the developer's agent is warranted to address the full range of issues raised by this development.

For the sake of a fair, open process, please require a live workshop with appropriate staff to get the planning process off to a reasonable start. This project is likely to eventually land on your desks -- here's an opportunity to demonstrate that you understand our concerns and are doing what you can to allow the public to examine the potential impacts from this project's intensity and proximity fully and fairly.

Respectfully,

Tom Matrullo

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citizens for sarasota

From Ranch to Village: Another big development coming to Clark Road

A report on 3HRanch - a large planned development on Clark Road (more about the explosion of housing on Clark Road here):

 

Dear Area Residents,

 

I participated in yesterday's Neighborhood Workshop regarding the rezoning of 3HRANCH rural land to Village Planned Development (VPD). The photo below shows the Village Concept Plan. 

 

 

Here's a recap of the meeting:

• This Neighborhood Workshop was the official one, as there was County staff participation.
• The proposed VPD will consist of 2,733 acres.
• It will have 12 neighborhoods and one Village Center. 
• There will be 6,576 residential dwelling units in the 12 neighborhoods.  
• A minimum of six different housing types will be built consisting of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments.
• Due to a recent change to the County's Uniform Development Code, no affordable housing is planned to be built.
• A 250,000-square-foot commercial/retail center will be built to provide services for Village residents.  The plan is to build it either on Clark Road near the Village entrance road or near the south end of the Village. 
• A new school (marked in purple) for K-8 will be built on 57 acres.  A 36-acre recreational park will be located adjacent to the new school. 
• A new road for access to the Village will be built off of Clark Road (see small black arrow on the photo above). 
• The team working on the Concept Plan for the VPD is representing the multi-generational owners of 3HRANCH.  They have not selected any builder or builders yet.
• The Concept Plan team hopes to submit the application to the County Staff in late September or early October timeframe.  Since the number of dwelling units exceeds 1,000, a Development of Critical Concerns (DOCC) list must also be included with the application to the County. 
• It will take 12 to 18 months for the County to process the application.  
• If approval is obtained, additional time will be needed to construct the infrastructure (internal roads, water & sewer, electric, and other utilities) before the building of dwelling units could begin.
• The projection is that the home building would begin in 2025 and the Village would be built-out in 2040.

During the meeting, I made two requests on behalf of existing residents:

1. We don't want any access to the new Village via Ibis Street, as there is already too much traffic on it.
2. We want a 500-foot Greenway established on the 3HRANCH property (east side of Ibis Street)  across from the north point of Serenoa running south to the southern end of the Serenoa Lakes property line.  The Greenway must consist of dense, tall trees to mitigate the noise and shield the view of new homes in the Village.

I hope you find the above information helpful.  I plan to closely follow this land development project as it evolves.

 

David

 

David Anderson

External Affairs, Serenoa Lakes Community Association

Phone: 941-921-9302

Cell: 941-228-0309

Email: mdanderson4@verizon.net

Website: www.serenoalakes.org

Residents oppose cluster development on Rural Heritage road

EMAIL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TODAY!

Help preserve our Rural Heritage Neighborhoods

SAVE THE DATE -- JULY 10th, 1:30 PM

Protect our homes and way of life.

STOP Proposed Rezone - 37-Cluster Homes on Boleyn Rd. - Canopy Road

This is important. Please EMAIL: Sarasota County Commissioners that you are OPPOSED to the proposed rezone RZ18-09 on Boleyn Road to a 37-cluster home development.

In your own words, here are some points you can make:

Please DENY the proposed rezone of 37 homes on Boleyn Road.

• * does not conform to the existing land use pattern of one home per five acres
• * more traffic & pedestrian safety concerns on overburdened Debrecen Road
• * potential loss of canopy oak trees on a designated protected Canopy Tree Road
• * not compatible to existing Palmer Farms Subdivision
• * would change way of life for existing residents and could negatively affect property values

(don't forget to put your address on your email.)

Your county commission needs to know that you are OPPOSED to RZ18-09, proposed rezone 37-cluster homes in our Rural Heritage neighborhoods and why.

Email: planner@scgov.net
Subject: RZ18-09, Arbour Lake Reserve
Please DENY the proposed rezone of 37 homes on Boleyn Road.

***SAVE THE DATE***

DATE: WED., JULY 10TH, 1:30 PM

WHAT: County Commission Meeting

Please Join Us at this final meeting to oppose the proposed rezone petition to develop 37-cluster home development in our rural heritage neighborhood.

Where: Sarasota County Admin.

1660 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota

DON'T MISS THIS IMPORTANT MEETING

WE REALLY NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Email Palmer East Group here

Boleyn Road Rural Heritage Canopy

More development

Once it is gone . . . it's gone

Palmer East Group

Housing vs Tourism: A new view in Barcelona

In 2007, Ada Colau put on a black leotard, a yellow cape, and a Zorro mask and gate-crashed a campaign rally in Barcelona. For two and a half minutes, Colau commandeered cameras, holding up a cardboard sign—“Housing Out of the Market, Like Education and Health”—while she delivered a speech on irresponsible development. “We don’t want to hear that the solution is to build more,” Colau told the crowd gathered in the small city square. “We have devastated our territory more than enough. There are a lot of houses. What we need is that these houses fulfill their social role.” When she was done, she dashed between a pair of parked cars and sprinted down the street. 

She didn’t know it then, but her appearance as a superhero was one of the first steps on a path to city hall. In June she was elected mayor of Barcelona, with the support of a coalition of leftist political parties. She campaigned on fighting inequality

         .   .   .   .

Colau sees parallels between housing and tourism; she worries the latter’s growth is hurting citizens and has declared a one-year ban on new hotel licenses. She has angered the Spanish government by removing a bust of former King Juan Carlos from city hall’s main chamber; announced her intention to rein in Airbnb; and taken aim at banks, threatening to fine those that keep their properties empty, rather than rent them out at subsidized rates.“As mayor, I can talk to the banks on a more equal footing than I could when I was just a citizen,” she says. 

“There’s a wide consensus to say, ‘Guys, we need these houses, not to speculate but for the families that need them. First we will offer you the opportunity to collaborate and lend us these houses that you’re not using and that aren’t going onto the market. We’ll improve them and put them to use. And if you don’t want to collaborate, we’ll try other instruments to give you an incentive.’ ”

More . . . 

Still More  . . .

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!"

Yet another special exception to Sarasota 2050

Developing story at the Herald Tribune:

Developer Neal gets OK to add gates at Grand Palm

By Zac Anderson

Published: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 11:25 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 5:49 p.m.

SARASOTA COUNTY - Residents of Venice’s new Grand Palm community describe the development in idyllic terms, using words like “paradise” to describe the large lakes, preserved natural areas, walking trails, community pool and other amenities.

The property has been a hot seller for regional developer Pat Neal, who reported this week that Grand Palm’s 18 home sales last month led all of his communities.

But home buyers have not been the only ones attracted to the community: Residents say people are coming from miles around to walk their dogs, swim in the pool, use the tennis courts and let their children play on the splash pad.

Grand Palm homeowner Patty Corvino confronted one outsider at the pool recently and was swatted in the face with a rolled up towel. The situation led Corvino and others to request that Neal put up gates to keep the public out.

There was just one problem: Sarasota County’s development regulations prohibit gates in communities such as Grand Palm that are governed by the county’s 2050 growth management plan. So on Tuesday, Neal asked the County Commission for a special exception to 2050’s policy.

Gates restrict pedestrian and vehicle traffic and one of the major goals of 2050 is to make communities more walkable and interconnected so that residents don’t clog major roadways traveling from one neighborhood to another. But commissioners unanimously sided with Neal.

The vote came less than two months after county leaders approved what was supposed to be the third and final round of changes to 2050, raising questions about why the debate over gated communities was not addressed then.

Neal said after the hearing that “we don’t want to make this policy universal for Sarasota County in case there’s different circumstances” and he preferred to deal “with the particular situation in Grand Palm.”

Commissioners said Grand Palm — slated for 1,999 homes at build-out — may be a special case because it is not as large as other proposed 2050 developments and may not need as much public access or interconnection.

“I think this one was unique because it’s smaller,” commission chairman Charles Hines said.

“I think this one was unique because it’s smaller,” commission chairman Charles Hines said.

Hines emphasized that Grand Palm’s roads and amenities are being paid for through private money and will not revert to taxpayers when the development is complete. Providing the property with a special exception preserves the overall 2050 prohibition on gates so that larger developments, such as an extension of Lakewood Ranch into Sarasota County that may have more public infrastructure, will be more accessible, Hines said.

“I think the policy should stay there,” he said.

Allowing gates at Grand Palm “by no means sets a precedent in any sort of way” for other 2050 developments going forward, added Commissioner Christine Robinson.

“This is where you have theory and practical application colliding,” Robinson said. “The theory is great and it sounds fantastic. Then the practical application is making life miserable to those folks in that area.”

Residents applauded when commissioners voted to allow the gates.

Nobody spoke against the proposal.

Ed Legere bought the sixth house built in Grand Palm. He and other neighbors like the aspects of 2050 that require large amounts of open space to be preserved, but the retiree from New York said other restrictions are impractical.

The 2050 plan was adopted more than a decade ago in an attempt to open up rural areas of Sarasota County to more development while providing higher standards for new communities. Projects approved under 2050 are supposed to be walkable, preserve more open space and conform with other “new urbanist” planning ideas.

Commissioners recently completed a major overhaul of the plan that was designed to make it less onerous for developers. The debate over gated communities may be a sign that 2050 could continue to generate controversy for years to come.

“There’s a difference between a vision and how it all works out,” Legere said.

EARLIER: Just when it seemed the controversy surrounding Sarasota County's 2050 growth management plan had started to die down, developer Pat Neal is set to go before the Sarasota County Commission Tuesday with another complaint about the regulations.

The issue this time: 2050's prohibition on gated communities. A representative for Neal says the absence of gates at his Grand Palm development in Venice is resulting in trespassing, vandalism and theft and that gated communities not regulated by 2050 have an “unfair advantage” over non-gated 2050 developments.

Gated communities are more desirable and more profitable. But gates restrict pedestrian and vehicle traffic and one of the major goals of 2050 is to make communities more walkable and interconnected so that residents don't have to clog up major roadways traveling from one neighborhood to another.

The commission recently completed a major overhaul of 2050, but it looks like developers continue to have concerns about the plan and may be pushing more changes for years to come.

Check back at HeraldTribune.com for more on this developing story.

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  Ray Porter ·  Top Commenter · University of Maryland, College Park
  

  What did I tell you?

  Reply · Like · 2 · Follow Post · 11 hours ago
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  Daniel Herriges ·  Top Commenter · Curriculum Development at C2 Education Centers
  

  Gated communities (as well as self-contained, non-gated ones with only one or two entrances / exits) have harmful effects on the public realm. They contribute to traffic congestion by funneling cars onto a handful of main arterials. And they're devastating to walkability—and thus reinforce our dependence on cars to do nearly everything, further adding to traffic congestion—because to get from A to B in a disconnected street system you may have to go a mile or more out of your way. Not a huge deal in a car, but a deal-breaker on foot.
  
  For a truly insane, extreme example, these two houses near Orlando have adjacent backyards but are 7 miles apart by car. SEVEN MILES. http://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/02/28/sprawl-madness-two-houses-share-backyard-separated-by-7-miles-of-roads/
  
  In urbanized areas, I'd like to see as a rule of thumb...See More

  Reply · Like · 1 · Follow Post · Edited · 9 hours ago

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    Patricia Nicolais ·  Top Commenter
    

    Perfectly said. My thoughts exactly. Thank you

    Reply · Like · 8 hours ago
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  Patricia Nicolais ·  Top Commenter
  

  The commission should have an outside third-party preview. Corruption appears to be rampant. And developers don't give a crap about anyone or anything but their pockets.

  Reply · Like · 1 · Follow Post · 7 hours ago
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  Chuck Smith ·  Top Commenter
  

  Grins

  Reply · Like · 1 · Follow Post · 3 hours ago
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  Robert Kaercher · Works at Retired attorney, retired teacher
  

  Gated communities are environmental disasters from their construction (every living thing, animal and plant, scraped away) to their landscaping....hundreds of acres of identical, often non-indigenous, flora that needs irrigation, fertilizer, and insecticides in perpetuity, until we are all dead and gone. No living thing survives a gated community development. They also continue the class segregation that has taken hold in this country and is most obvious in the exclusion of working-class homeowners.

  Reply · Like · Follow Post · 8 hours ago

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    Patricia Nicolais ·  Top Commenter
    

    Absolutely true.

    Reply · Like · 8 hours ago
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  Noko Joe
  

  Hey gotta keep the rif-raf out

  Reply · Like · Follow Post · about an hour ago