Will this Benderson Initiative destroy the Fruitville Initiative?

To: County Planners and Planning Commissioners

RE: Rezone 21-02; SPA PED Rezone; Comp Plan Amendment 2021-B

To: Steve.Kirk <skirk@scgov.net>, Andrew.Stultz@sarasotaadvisory.net, Colin.Pember@sarasotaadvisory.net, Joseph.Neunder@sarasotaadvisory.net, Kevin.Cooper@sarasotaadvisory.net, Laura.Benson@sarasotaadvisory.net, Teresa.Mast@sarasotaadvisory.net, Neil.Rainford@sarasotaadvisory.net, Drew.Peters@sarasotaadvisory.net, Justin.Taylor@sarasotaadvisory.net, Frank.Strelec@sarasotaadvisory.net, Matt Osterhoudt <mosterho@scgov.net>

Dear Mr. Kirk, Mr. Osterhoudt, and Planning Commissioners:

This concerns the Aug. 5, 2021 hearing regarding the matters listed above.

I've heard from a variety of people who seriously question the changes Benderson Inc. wishes to impose on SPA-3.

Those who were involved in the development of the Ordinance for the Fruitville Initiative recall that its #1 distinctive feature was to disallow self-standing Big Box stores. The entire concept was of a walkable community not infested with giant trucks, a place built on MEC strictures in which workplaces and residences took priority. Retail was supposed to be local, not regional, in order to avoid a large volume of commercial consumer traffic.

I'm informed that according to the traffic study, the proposed 179,200 sf increase in stand-alone retail will increase average daily and PM peak trips 3,908 and 466, respectively.

But this is hard to prove - wouldn't the level of traffic depend on the nature of the retail on site? If instead of a nice butcher shop or cafe we suddenly have a Bass Pro, or Target, the traffic could become significantly greater in volume, drawing people from a distance. If this area were designed as a shopping center, that would be welcome. But the whole point of the Initiative was to create something different - local, walkable living/working neighborhoods. And the reason for that was to do something unusual, that set Sarasota apart. Indeed, I recall people in 2011 speaking about how as a "Gateway" area, the Initiative would send the message that Sarasota is not the same as every other place along I-75 - its unique attention to sensible, well-planned growth would be on display.

Basically, if that was the premise of the original form-based code of the Initiative, then allowing large, free-standing retail (requiring truck service areas) would disrupt the street grid and draw extraneous traffic in ways that would make a hash of that original premise. What Benderson is seeking basically undermines what started as a coherent, unified plan for a certain kind of community - sabotaging it, with County permission, into incoherence and conflicting goals.

It seems to me - and others I've spoken with - that what Benderson seeks is not a minor modification, but a transformation of the vision, purpose, and inherent nature of the Initiative. If this is the case, then we are not dealing with an "amendment" - rather this is a radical imposition of a shopping mecca upon what was conceived of as someone's living/working space.

What would it say if instead of creating a showcase for Sarasota's good planning sense, Sarasota County ended up compromising its principles and destroying that very goal?

Thanks for giving this your consideration at your hearing of August 5, 2021.

The Planning Commission hearing will be online here.

Tom Matrullo
Citizens for Sarasota County

Part II: Medred's lubricated "Terms of Art"

This is the second of two parts, the first is here..

Bo Medred brings a silken slipperiness to certain terms of art that are supposed to possess precise, clear meanings in the world of Sarasota planning and zoning.

For example, he regularly extends and distorts the technical meanings of terms such as MEC ("Major Employment Center") and “Industrial.” In presentations he repeatedly claims that “industrial” uses can be found all around the site at Apex and Palmer. Of course this leaves out the birds and people at the Celery Fields. But it also fails to articulate a crucial distinction: The industrial parks near the Apex/Palmer intersection are zoned for clean, light Industry - ILW. The dump is not ILW. There is nothing light about 15-ton concrete blocks being pounded into silica particulates -- and he must ask for a Special Exception to allow it.

MEC involves a coherent ordering of mixed uses -- offices, hi-tech workspace, commercial, perhaps some ILW, and residential (apartments, townhomes and so forth) in a campus-like setting to attract clean large-scale employers.

An industrial waste processing plant employing 8-15 people fails to meet this definition on every count.


Medred cites an MEC land use designation as the slender thread allowing him to ask for his rezoning. But that designation was set in 1981 - another age - to introduce a heavy industrial plant into a pristine area that already has issues with traffic. He is inviting us all to pretend nothing happened in this area since 1981, when in fact today a great deal is there, and none of it comports with heavy industrial use - or with its economic promise:

• We have clean, light industrial parks whose owners do not want the traffic, noise, and filth of a demolition waste facility near them.

• We have the Celery Fields - a park, preserve, recreation and birding area, and highly successful and visible eco-tourism spot. This is now the dominant feature of this doorstep to an evolving East county. Developers hoping to create new environments to the East will rely on this area to present the beautiful gateway to their creations.

• Just a few steps to the West of Mr. Gabbert’s proposed site, under the rare and very narrow passage under I-75, is the Packinghouse District. This retail, and nightlife area is a valuable complement to what’s coming East of the highway.

• To the north at Fruitville and Coburn will be the Fruitville Initiative, a large MEC that plans a linear park all along the north cell of the Celery Fields - imagine the synergy of this neo-traditional mixed use community and the natural beauty at its park-like edge:

"Riverwalk" at the North Edge of the Celery Fields

Clearly this adds up to a tremendous economic opportunity - for business, retail, tourism, and real estate -- if this is done well. In what universe does it make sense to jeopardize all this prospective good for the sake of an industrial project that could easily be done elsewhere?

Come out on Wed. August 23 to let the County know that while it might be silent, our voices will be heard.

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