Last year, Lourdes Ramirez spent a lot of money to take Sarasota County to court, to prevent our elected officials from approving mega-hotels on Siesta Key.
She was successful -- the courts found that the county was about to violate its own Comprehensive Plan -- the pact between the County, the Developers, and the People that is supposed to set the rules for development. This blocked Commissioners Cutsinger, Rainford, Moran and Neunder from approving these plans. (Commissioner Mark Smith was the sole "no" vote.)
Benderson Development Inc. immediately applied to the County to change the Comp Plan. Benderson wishes to redefine hotels from commercial to residential. This would allow new hotels not just on Siesta Key, but anywhere in the county. Benderson is supremely confident because the County's Comp Plan is based upon this model:
This Monday, Jan. 8 at 6 pm, Benderson will hold a Zoom "neighborhood workshop" to present its ideas. As this proposal would affect everyone in the county, it seems fair that everyone in the county should attend. Click here to register.
For Ramirez's latest information on the mega-hotels and upcoming meetings, click here.
In the wake of authoritarian Board actions with regard to LWR and Benderson proposals, the Neighborhood Workshop format has become a desiccated shadow of its former self.
Instead of an actual meeting with live human beings, a recent workshop about the expansion of Lakewood Ranch - a proposal that threatens the very existence of Old Miakka, a rural community older than the county itself - we were treated to a glitchy, unresponsive meeting via Microsoft Teams.
There was no help for residents seeking to get into the Teams meeting - by accident we discovered that "anonymous" worked - nor was there clarity of sound or visual. I sent the Stantec presenter an email after the workshop - I received no response.
This was a new low for the act of meeting a neighborhood to talk about a vast and dangerous developer's proposal. Is this how Sarasota County is going to push through its illegal approvals of absurdly overambitious plans?
The unanswered email to Stantec's Katie Labarr is below:
Hi Ms. Labarr,
You invited us to offer further comments after last evening's "workshop" regarding the Lakewood Ranch East Plan. I have attended many neighborhood workshops over the years - most were lively in-person presentations, with clear visuals, audible speakers, and valuable give-and-take.
I believe a great deal is lost when such meetings are moved online, especially when captured through somewhat dysfunctional software like Microsoft "Teams."
There were problems with Teams last night meeting - these are detailed in the comment I posted online, and leave below.
More importantly, even if that app had worked well, the loss of the dimension of live interaction with people in the same room was a real deficit. The significance of a live workshop is that the public sector matters; the input of residents that goes beyond just specific questions. With a live give and take, people can look closely at the images, hear each other, and develop a sense of whether a plan can be fashioned to take into account the realities of the community impacted by the developer's plan.
For years our Commission has shrunk from asserting the rights and values of the public sector, and holding up the Comp Plan values and framework that was fashioned through a challenging process of compromise. To subject the small chance a community has of meaningfully interacting with the County and developers using the detached, remote, glitchy and ineffective software of "Teams" is yet another layer of alienation.
Below is my comment regarding specific difficulties:
Tom Matrullo Citizens for Sarasota County
Ms. LaBarr,
An entirely new workshop should take place in East County at a location where real people show up, are seen and heard, and questions can be asked, with follow-ups, so that actual information is exchanged.
This online meeting had serious communications issues. E.g.
1 - those unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams might have been foiled at the outset - the meeting was set up so that unless Stantec - the planning business that ran the meeting - recognized your email, it would not admit you. However, if you chose to be "anonymous," it would let you in - but no one would know who was there.
2. The "Teams" software proved glitchy as hell - the only two voices on the meeting - the host and the person reading questions - dropped out often - leaving us to wonder what answers they had offered to questions that were read out, or what questions they were answering.
3. Some images shown through the Teams software were blurry - so their value as illustrating the details of the development was virtually nil. See sample below. In brief, aside from the two Stantec people we heard no voices of any people in attendance, we saw nothing but the images presented, we had no visual or aural contact with the attendees to the meeting, and the entire presentation took only a few minutes. This is not how Neighborhood workshops used to be conducted, and given the failings of the software, this "workshop" was, for this attendee, pretty useless.
NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION MEETING JULY 21st at 7pm in person at Bethel Mennonite Church or Via Zoom
Paving Pat Neal has set his bulldozer sights on rural Sarasota County. He wants to destroy over 4,000 rural acres with 5,000 dwelling units that will add 47,000 daily vehicle trips to our roadways. His comprehensive plan amendment (CPA 2022-B) will sprawl from University Parkway to Fruitville Road and from Cowpen Lane east for approximately 3.1 miles (ending east of the S-curve). This proposal is in addition to Hi Hat (already approved) and increases the density approved for Lake Park Estates (the destruction you see from Fruitville east of Cowpen Lane).
Please come at 7pm on July 21st to learn more about how we are fighting this proposed development.
JOIN US IN PERSON at Bethel Mennonite Church, 2985 Bethel Lane (on north side of Fruitville)
OR
JOIN US VIA ZOOM go to the website: SarasotaCountry.net for more information and to register for Zoom
Also on July 21st:
Becky Ayech and the Miakka Community Club are working against Paving Pat's development by asking the Planning Commission to require the developers to hold another Neighborhood Workshop with the community. The workshop held on April 7, 2022 was totally inadequate and did not meet the County's requirements. We all need your support with emails and people showing up at the Planning Commission Meeting at 5 pm on July 21st. If you aren't on Becky's email list and didn't get her Action Alert, reach out to her at miakka1945@gmail.com and let her know you want to help.
(Then you can join our Neighborhood Action Meeting on your way back home or catch us via Zoom.)
If you can't make the meeting and want more information and to sign up for our emails, go to SarasotaCountry.net
A map submitted to the county shows the area where the density change is being sought. Image courtesy Sarasota County
The Sarasota County Commission has authorized staff to proceed outside the normal cycle with a proposed, privately initiated revision of the Sarasota 2050 Plan that could lead to a significant increase in the number of new homes planned near the intersection of Fruitville Road and Utopia Road.
The property is close to the Mote Aquaculture Park, based on documents filed with the county.
Owned by Hi Hat Ranch LLLP of Sarasota, the approximately 1,000-acre parcel is designated for a 2050 Plan Hamlet, which, the County Code says, is “entitled to a base residential density of 0.29 dwelling units per acre of Developed Area.” The maximum density allowed within the Developed Area is one dwelling unit per acre.
The owners of Hi Hat Ranch are seeking to change the designation of the property to Village Land Use, which has a maximum density of five dwelling units per gross developable area, or six, if the additional units are planned for affordable housing.
The property is in what has been classified as the Central Village Area of the county’s 2050 Resource Management Area, according to a May 21 county staff memo. The owners wanted staff to process the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment at the same time staff works on a Development of Critical Concern (DOCC) for Hi-Hat Ranch, the memo said.
“The balance of the Hi-Hat Ranch lands are designated Village Land Use and Greenway,” the memo pointed out.
County staff has scheduled a Neighborhood Workshop on the proposed amendment on Tuesday, June 4. The session will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. at St. Margaret Episcopal Church, which is located at 8700 State Road 72 (Clark Road).
A graphic included with the May 21 county staff memo shows more details of the affected portion of the Sarasota 2050 Resource Management Area. Image courtesy Sarasota County
As part of their May 21 Consent Agenda of routine business items, the county commissioners — without any comment — agreed unanimously that staff could work on the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment outside the annual cycle approved for such staff undertakings.
The County Code that covers the Sarasota 2050 Plan explains that the Hamlet Planned Development District “provides for detached residential uses, protected open space, Public/Civic uses and limited neighborhood type commercial. The district is not commercial in character.” The Code adds, “Hamlets are collections of rural homes and lots clustered together around a crossroads that may include small-scale commercial, Public/Civic buildings or shared amenities.”
The maximum number of dwelling units is 400, the County Code notes, but the “Preferred Size” is 50 to 150 dwelling units
At least 60% of the area must remain open space, the County Code points out.
An aerial map shows most of the property where the modification is being sought. Utopia Road is the north-south road west of the Mote Aquaculture Park. Image from Google Maps
On the other hand, the Code says, “A Village is a collection of Neighborhoods that have been designed so that a majority of the housing units are within a walking distance or one-quarter mile radius of a Neighborhood Center. A Village shall be supported by a mixed-use Village Center (designed specifically to serve the daily and weekly retail, office, and Public/Civic use and services needs of Village residents), and the Village shall generally be surrounded by large expanses of Open Space that are designed to protect the character of the rural landscape and provide separation between the Village and existing low density rural development.”
A minimum of 50% of the space must remain open, except for Villages in the Clark Road Properties area of the county, which is south of Clark Road and east of Interstate 75.
A Sarasota News Leader review of Hi Hat Ranch parcels on the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s website found several out of which the designated Hamlet area appears to have been carved. One of them, which comprises 378 acres, had a value of $3,006,700 in 2018, county records show. A portion of that parcel has been deeded to the City of Sarasota, which has a water reclamation distribution system in that area.
This is one of the Hi Hat Ranch LLLP parcels affected by the Comprehensive Plan amendment that is being sought. Its 2018 value is more than $3 million, the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office records show. Image from the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office
A second parcel, which contains about 388 acres, had a 2018 value of $3,319,700, according to Property Appraiser William Furst’s office’s records.
Hi Hat Ranch LLLP lists its address as 11708 Fruitville Road in the documents it has filed with the Florida Division of Corporations. Its registered agent is Richard E. Turner Jr. of the same address.
A News Leader check of the Property Appraiser’s Office records found 22 parcels in the county belonging to Hi Hat Ranch LLLP. All but five of them came under ownership of the company in August 1988, the records show.
Benderson development: Siesta Promenade at Stickney Point and US 41
Assuming that it will be in the sanctuary (the big round building.) Paved parking is located off of Crestwood and also Beechwood, next to the sanctuary, and overlfow grass parking at the intersection of Crestwood and Glencoe Ave.
... it comes as no surprise that they have chosen this date, knowing that it is a very popular time for people to be completing their summer vacations, and are out of town.
Note: ANYONE can speak at the Neighborhood Workshop. There are no restrictions to only Pine Shores residents. This affects all who live and/or work in the area, as well as Siesta Key residents-plus anyone that goes to the beach!
Please make every effort to be there, as this is the county mandated meeting that Benderson is required to hold to present the project and to "hear Sarasota resident's concerns." county staff will be in attendance.
It appears that Benderson is trying to fast-track the application to get it heard prior to the election, or at least before the new commissioners start their terms.
