A community's mental health isn't something you kick down the road - unless you're Sarasota County's Board of Commissioners. Local experts volunteered 526 hours to review and recommend the most valuable mental health services for our citizens -- only to watch Moran, Maio, Ziegler, Cutsinger and Detert punt -- incoherently. Carrie Seidman.
The same five Commissioners agreed there's no space west of I-75 left for affordable housing, then granted Pat Neal's request to dodge a formal commitment to build affordable housing east of it. Sarasota's moneybags developer apparently can't afford affordable housing -- details in The Sarasota News Leader.
Few knew that an old horse farm sat right on Palmer Boulevard. Graceland, as this small acreage had long been known, was a reality before all the development east of I75. Gradually it became a patch of rural life nearly invisible within a network of roads, gated communities, and developer ambitions.
Now Graceland's gone, as the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners ignored the arguments of residents, and even of its own Planning staff.
Bye, bye Palmer Horse Farm and our Rural Heritage Lifestyle
Tuesday afternoon four of our five Sarasota County Commissioners (Commissioner Detert voted NO) voted in favor of HORTON HOMES paving over our Rural Heritage Neighborhood with 46- Cluster homes! It was extremely disappointing that Commissioners Mike Moran, Christian Ziegler, Al Maio and newly elected Ron Cutsinger chose to vote against the voices of local residents asking for denial of this rezone. They also voted against their own planning staff recommendations that this land did not fit the criteria to be rezoned to 46-homes. BYE, BYE HORSE FARM
A big thank you to all our Palmer East Neighbors who emailed the commissioners, zoomed in, attended, and gave excellent testimony at the meeting. This loss is very disappointing to us all, but we will push forward and continue to be a voice for our rural neighborhoods asking/demanding our county government abides by the zoning regulations of the 2050 Comprehensive Plan principles to protect the Rural Heritage Lifestyle and Open Vistas here.
Our elected officials have been bought and controlled by land developers and special interests who seek to profit at any cost at the Citizen’s expense:
We complain about the same problems every year; traffic congestion, overflowing sewage being dumped into our waterways, red tide, shrinking school resources, teachers that are not paid enough, and runaway development. Where is all the money going?
It is our elected officials who give tax breaks and direct handouts to their developer benefactors. They are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to plant their people in our Commission and School Board. They also control the Planning Commission,
The Charter Review Board and the Commissioners now want to sit in on the government procurement process that awards tens of millions of dollars in government contracts. Guess who will get the contracts? They do not spend this money unless they are getting a significant return. This is our money that should be used for the Citizens of Sarasota, not given to the developers for the favor of bankrolling political campaigns. Why aren’t the impact fees at 100%?
Developers had a record month in August, why are they not paying their fair share? Why are subdivisions being built on toxic land? Why did Commissioners Moran and Maio try to put a 15-acre dump next to the Celery Fields? Why are our water treatment system, roads, and infrastructure not being adequately funded and repaired? Because the money is being given to developers who control our local government by the elected officials they bankrolled into office.
We have a chance to put the Citizens back in control of our Sarasota County Board of Commissioners by electing three non-developer backed candidates this election. Regardless of party, this corruption must be rooted out. We can do this. We deserve better.
She cites population disparity in context of passage of Single-Member District Charter amendment, which will affect 2020 elections of commissioners
Commissioner Nancy Detert. Rachel Hackney photo
The last time the Sarasota County Commission adjusted the boundaries of the five districts of its members was in June 2011, in response to the findings of the 2010 U.S. Census.
This week, Commissioner Nancy Detert suggested that the board not wait until the data come in from the 2020 Census to modify the districts again. Her reason? The Single-Member District Charter amendment that won approval of voters on Nov. 6, 2018.
Beginning with the 2020 County Commission elections — which will occur before the next Census figures are final — a voter will be able to cast ballots only for County Commission candidates who live in the same district within which the voter resides. The process will be the same for primaries as for the general election.
Previously, in a General Election, any voter could cast a ballot for a commission candidate in each district race, regardless of where the voter or the candidate lived.
Detert, Commissioner Michael Moran and Chair Charles Hines all were elected in November 2016 to four-year terms. Hines must step down in 2020 because of term limits. However, Detert and Moran will be eligible to run again. Detert, who lives in Venice, represents District 3; Moran, who lives in Sarasota, represents District 1.
These are the results of the Nov. 6, 2018 vote on the Single-Member Districts Charter amendment. Image courtesy Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office
On Feb. 26, Detert told her colleagues, “We should probably look at redistricting our own districts, just because of the balance in population. There’s a pretty noticeable disparity.”
Even though redistricting will occur in the state after the next Census has been completed, she continued, “I don’t think that we legally need to wait … It’s just something that I feel we need to do, just so that we all serve as close to an equal [number] of people as we can.”
Hines then asked County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh about the authority the Sarasota County Charter gives the board in regard to redistricting.
“The commission can redistrict whenever it wants,” DeMarsh replied, though it must do so in response to U.S. Census results.
Hines then asked that staff look into how long the process would take, as well as the expense and “the best time to do it.”
In response to a Sarasota News Leader question, county Media Relations Officer Drew Winchester wrote in a Feb. 28 email that the last time the County Commission approved redistricting was on June 8, 2011. The board conducted the second of two required public hearings that day.
These are the County Commission districts with population figures current as of April 2011. Image courtesy Sarasota CountyThis is the graphic the County Commission considered in June 2011 for the revision of its district boundaries before it redrew them. Image courtesy Sarasota County
Winchester provided a map of the population of each of the five districts in April 2011.
He was not able to give the News Leader current population data for the districts prior to the News Leader’s publication deadline this week.
However, on Feb. 5, in response to a News Leader question, Rachel Denton, communications and voter outreach manage for the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office, provided the following figures for the number of voters in each commission district:
County Commission District 1: 57,353.
County Commission District 2: 61,755.
County Commission District 3: 66,030.
County Commission District 4: 64,238.
County Commission District 5: 73,769.
A graphic shows the five County Commission districts in effect since June 2011. Image courtesy Sarasota County Government
In framing her question on Feb. 26, Detert joked, “Just in case the staff had some free time …”
She brought up the topic of redistricting after a nearly two-hour workshop on overcrowding at the county jail. (See the related story in this issue.)
While the newspaper points out that rapid, uncontrolled growth is the #1 issue on Sarasota voters' minds, and despite what happened to Carlos Beruff's boat channel, we have reason to take this cum grano salis, and to anticipate the November victory parties of Mike Moran. Eric Robinson, Greg (Got Gun?) Steube, and Joe Gruters. Unless we wake up soon. This week might offer some alarm clocks:
*NOTE: Mike Moran is no longer on the Planning Commission - after enabling Carlos Beruff to develop two parcels that abut an old, potentially toxic waste dump, he moved on to become a candidate for County Commission. He reports a PAC-stuffed war chest of $76,758.13, built by the usual suspects: Carlos Beruff, Pat Neal, Bob Medred, Bill Merrill III, John Ask, Lakewood Ranch Communities (Rex Jensen), and many, many more.
The current County Commission is the least independent, most developer-friendly Board folks here can remember. They've brought us to what might be Sarasota's tipping point. If Pat Neal and his buddies push these plans through, we can say goodbye to the place we've known, called home, and fought for. Please share this with everyone you know who cares about Sarasota County.
Citizens for Sarasota County (CSC) is a new coalition 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.
