Reading H-T's front-page article of Monday, October 14, 2019, one would be left with the impression that James Gabbert's TST Ventures plan for a giant debris demolition facility had been "successfully fended off" and the insanity of a waste dump being built right at the edge of an established nature preserve had been stopped.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Butting-up right next to the Celery Fields quads in question in that article, construction of a Waste Transfer Facility is well underway.
In August 2017, multiple ad-hoc groups and hundreds of protesters did beat back Gabbert's proposed giant 16-acre debris demolition plant in the quads. In voting to oppose Gabbert's plan, Commissioner Nancy Detert observed that the time had passed for industry in the area. Everyone thought that was the end of it.
Gabbert's WTF will service more than 100 trucks per day filled with waste, adding to already congested, inadequate roads.
Where are the current traffic studies?
WTF wall 50' from canal
A facility like this should be 200' from any waterway, Gabbert's is only 50 feet away from drainage that ends up in Sarasota Bay.
Truth to power be damned, who in the county and state signed off on any of this? And why?
The thousands who protested can now bring their toxic construction debris and pesticide-laden yard waste to his facility near an established preserve and Audubon Nature Center.
To add insult to injury, on Wednesday, Nov. 6 the County Commission, stewards of this nature preserve, will consider a plan to rezone and sell our public lands for yet more industry on parcels closer to the Celery Fields.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued two permits needed for construction but TST Ventures awaiting approval of county applications
This is the concept plan for the waste transfer station as approved by the County Commission in October 2015. County staff has told the News Leader that TST Ventures has to adhere to the facets of the plan, as required by county land development regulations. Image courtesy Sarasota County
Plans are proceeding for a waste transfer station near the Celery Fields, The Sarasota News Leader learned this week.
The owner of the business — James Gabbert of Sarasota — has received the necessary state permits for the site work.
In an April 30 email, Dee Ann Miller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), told the News Leaderthat the department had issued the Environmental Resource Protection and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits to Gabbert. However, she added, “[N]o application for the solid waste permit has yet been submitted.”
Gabbert is waiting on several permits from county staff.
On April 12, an application was submitted to the county for a commercial office building as part of the Palmer Transfer Station project, Mark Loveridge, the county’s land development manager, wrote in an April 30 email in response to a News Leader inquiry about the status of the TST Ventures plans.
The applicant officially is Rykin Construction Services LLC of Boleyn Road in Sarasota County, according to a News Leader search of county permitting records. “[The application] is under review at this time with comments due on May 24, 2019,” Loveridge added in his email.
The online permitting materials say the value of the construction would be $365,000.
An aerial map shows the proposed location of the waste recycling facility, outlined in red. Image from the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office
Then, on April 30, TST Ventures applied for a permit to install three new “motor truck scales,” noting the value of that project would be $60,000. Those scales would be needed to weigh the trucks carrying the waste materials, based on Gabbert’s testimony prior to his winning County Commission approval for the project in October 2015.
The review of the latter application is due to be completed on June 12, the document says.
Additionally, in its search of county permitting records, the News Leader found that an application was submitted in February for the construction of the 8-foot-tall precast concrete wall around the facility, as detailed in the site plans. The value of that construction was put at $113,600, with Permacast LLC of Bradenton listed as the company that would undertake the work. The most recent notation on that application shows that it failed a staff drainage review.
The staff comment said, “No boundary and topographic survey noted in the permit packet. Survey must be signed and sealed by a Florida Registered Surveyor and Mapper. Please provide a site plan of scale capable to review the wall and post footing locations in relation to any or all easements. Plan has a note the lot drainage is the responsibility of the owner. Drainage is part of the application process for the permit. Please note how lot drainage will be handled, will the wall have a panel gap at the base or scuppers and openings.”
This engineering drawing for the Palmer Transfer Station offers additional details about the plans. Image courtesy Sarasota County
The most recent staff remarks on that application — entered on April 25 — said the prior comments about the survey and the “site plan with scale to determine location in relation to lot lines or easements with dimension to footings, concrete poured or wall panels” still had not been addressed. The notation added, “Corrections Required.”
On April 1, in response to a News Leaderrequest for an update, Media Relations Officer Drew Winchester also reported that, as of that date, TST Ventures had filed for two utility permits — involving fire and water lines — and those also were under review, too.
On Jan. 31, Sarasota County staff issued the primary permit for the Palmer Transfer Station to Weber Engineering and Surveying of Sarasota, agent for Gabbert’s firm, TST Ventures.
The Palmer Transfer Station is slated to be built on property located at 6150 Palmer Blvd., which is next to the county’s “Quads” parcels. Those, in turn, stand adjacent to the Celery Fields, a county stormwater project that has become an internationally known bird-watching park.
The 6150 Palmer Blvd. site comprises about 4.27 acres. It is located at the intersection of Porter Road and Palmer Boulevard, just east of Interstate 75.
This aerial map shows the proximity of the Gabbert property to the county’s ‘Quads’ parcels. Image courtesy Sarasota County
Gabbert originally planned to combine the waste transfer station project with a construction and yard waste recycling center on the Southwest Quad. However, advocates for the Celery Fields led a series of protests against the recycling facility and urged the county commissioners to deny Gabbert’s petitions for its construction. Gabbert had planned to purchase the Southwest Quad from the county if he won commission approval for the project.
The county’s Planning Commission voted to recommend the County Commission deny the petitions, largely out of concerns related to what members of that board characterized as a road network inadequate to support Gabbert’s plans.
An engineering drawing in the site plans shows these details about trucks that will be coming to the facility and traffic flow. Image courtesy Sarasota County
As for the FDEP permits: On May 28, 2016, TST Ventures received its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, which the company needed for construction activities on the Palmer Boulevard parcel. That permit will expire on May 27, 2021, a member of FDEP’s NPDES Stormwater Program wrote in a June 2, 2016 letter addressed to Gabbert.
TST Ventures applied for that permit on May 25, 2016, according to another FDEP document. On the form, the box for “Small Construction” was marked, indicating the project would “disturb between 1 and 4.99 acres of land …” On a separate line, the application noted that the “[a]pproximate total area of land disturbance from commencement through completion of construction” would be 2.34 acres.
Gabbert, who signed the application as manager of TST Ventures, indicated the start date of the work would be May 2016, with completion in June 2017.
In regard to the second FDEP permit: On June 5, 2018, the department issued an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) to TST Ventures for the construction of “a solid waste management facility.” That permit will expire on June 5, 2023, the document says.
The project description explains that the permit covers “the construction and use of stormwater management system consisting of drainage inlets, swales and one dry retention stormwater treatment basin.”
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CSC Editor's Note: More about Waste Transfer Facilities (WTF) here:
What can we learn from the processes that led to James Gabbert having the county's blessing to build a waste transfer facility in the wrong location? How can we do better next time?
Gabbert buys and receives special exception for Waste Transfer Facility (WTF)
April 1, 2015: Deed of purchase of six-acre transfer site: Shows that Gabbert's TST Ventures paid $100,000 for the parcel. The Appraiser shows the same property had previously sold on Sept. 2, 2004, for $840,000.
Gabbert Timeline The parcel Gabbert purchased did not allow heavy industry. He and Bo Medred had to ask the Board for a Special Exception. The Timeline show how Sarasota county bent rules, created special exceptions, and paved the way for Gabbert to operate a full, open-air Waste Processing Facility on 16 acres, including a 10.6-acre parcel of public land. Only the public outcry on Aug. 23, 2017 stopped this from happening - and even then, Commissioners Al Maio and Mike Moran voted for the Waste Processing proposal.
"I am watching everything I loved about Sarasota being destroyed by people who are supposed to represent me. This may be one of the more overt examples of putting personal gain over the voices of the people and protection of one of the only sacred spaces left in SRQ."
"I seriously doubt that millions of dollars are being spent to attract tourists to our area so they can witness poor planning. Sarasota is rapidly turning in to the butt of an series of man-made and politically generated disasters. We have a plastic candy cane sewage system which is decades behind where it should be, adding to the pollution in the Gulf; are experiencing over-building which is having a negative impact on existing property; we’re ignoring infrastructure such as maintaining roads, monitoring and controlling traffic flow; avoided the politics of red tide until it became one of the most costly and devastating events our area has seen. And yet, you see fit to approve a noisy, toxic, airborne and ground water pollution-generating, debris center earmarked ‘light industrial’ near a beautiful watershed filled with wildlife and those who are seeing a tiny bit of nature in this rapidly 'pave paradise' world . . .."
"Any commissioner who received $$ from Gabbert, directly or indirectly, is compromised and should have not voted on this issue in the first place."
Sample of Gabbert contributions to Al Maio's campaign 2014
Relevant Laws
Federal and County efforts to restrain blight along the highway include:
Did the Board-appointed Planning Commission or the Board itself direct staff to look at best practices in the field of waste management to mitigate the impacts of a WTF near the highway and a celebrated Nature Area? No.
What was possible? Here's a Waste Transfer Station in Seattle creatively designed to reduce noise, odors, and visual impacts -- it even includes a playground.
An alternative vision
Beginning in December 2017, a group of citizens representing 50 HOAs sought to show the Board a better vision for the Quad Parcels next to Gabbert's WTF. The group, called Fresh Start, reported its work here.
Board voted to proceed with new Critical Area Plan for the Quad Parcels. The Board might seek to use this process to rezone the public Quad parcels for industrial use. The public voice might again be the only voice speaking for rational, environmentally sensitive uses that benefit our communities.
The Critical Area Plan process for the Quad parcels will include a public meeting, probably in mid-May. Anyone can be added to the notification list by simply asking - write to SKirk@scgov.net - that's Steve Kirk, the lead planner for the Quads Critical Area Plan.
This photo was taken from I-75 near Palmer Boulevard, looking east. In the distance is the Celery Fields Mound. In the foreground is the six-acre site where James Gabbert will build a Waste Transfer Facility:
Site of Gabbert Waste Transfer Facility
The site is immediately next to the highway, bounded by thin, fragile Porter Road on the west, and equally narrow Palmer Blvd. on the North. In the distance is the gorgeous mound and wetland area of the Celery Fields, an internationally known bird habitat. A home or way-station to over 225 species of birds, this area is so prized by bird lovers, recreationalists and tourists that that the Audubon Society spent over $1 million to build a nature center there.
Behind the row of trees lies a 10.6-acre parcel of public land, which Gabbert once wanted to buy to build a full-blown unenclosed waste processing facility. The citizens came out in August 2017 in droves to oppose that scheme, and the proposal was voted down (but supported by Commissioners Maio and Moran). But the six-acre waste transfer station - a facility that essentially serves as a temporary dump where waste is moved from small vehicles to large trucks - was approved by the County in 2015. Gabbert has revised his plan a number of times, and it is very close to getting final approval. Word is, that will come in February.
Waste transfer operation at a facility designed and built,
but no longer operated, by James Gabbert
Residents and highway motorists will soon be treated to the vision of mounds of construction debris being moved from small trucks to large a stone's throw from the highway.
In order for this to happen, the Board had to violate its own ordinance as well as a Federal law.
When the Board approved Gabbert's site rezone in 2015, it violated a county ordinance that specifically mandates that lands running alongside this area of I-75 present a "park-like setting." Here is the law -- I-75 Corridor Plan #89-35, Exhibit B, Item M -- which states:
In recognition of I-75 as an area of critical concern, all critical area plans within the I-75 Critical Area of Concern shall be consistent with the following where applicable:
(m) a positive image for I-75 through the establishment of quality development within a park-like setting.
Further, the Board approved Gabbert's WTF in violation of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, which among other things aimed to beautify highways by screening or forbidding junkyards:
How did this location ever get approved for a waste station in the first place? Gabbert and his pal Bob Waechter have financial and political clout. Both Gabbert (who is a developer, lender, and head of a local bank) and Waechter (who was once head of the Republican Party in Sarasota, and owns a group of run-down industrial warehouses immediately south of Gabbert's waste transfer site) are significant money-men behind key county commissioners. Commissioner Al Maio has held campaign strategy meetings in Gabbert's offices; Waechter has spent money viciously smearing Democrat and Republican candidates who ran against Maio, and was convicted of identity theft in an attempt to destroy a fellow Republican's reputation.
Despite (or because of) the dirty tricks, Waechter wields considerable political clout. As former head of the local Republican Party, he has participated in redrawing electoral districts to ensure Republican control of the Board of Commissioners, which appoints the Planning Commission. He is also closely involved with the Charter Review Board. His close associate, developer and waste king James Gabbert, has long been a member of that Board.
Waechter and Gabbert has worked diligently to put Al Maio and Mike Moran on the Board - and most recently have backed Christian Ziegler, who replaced the independent-minded Paul Caragiulo.
Gabbert
Small portion of Gabbert's contributions to Al Maio's 2014 campaign
A minor sample of Gabbert's contributions to Al Maio's 2018 campaign
Letter regarding the January 2019 Waste Transfer Station approval at Palmer Blvd. and Porter Rd. from Steve Baran, who has owned a business on Apex Road in the office park near the Quads since 2013. More letters and comments from residents here.
February 5, 2019
I disagree with the county's decision to approve a waste transfer station to occupy the property located at the corner of Porter RD and Palmer BLVD. It is my opinion which is based upon my daily commute to take my child to school at Sarasota Christian School every weekday and then traveling to my office located at 640 Apex Rd. I travel Palmer BLVD, no less than eight round trips per week, including the trips taking my child to and from after-school activities at Sarasota Christian School.
The issues I believe the county must address prior to any further approval of any business along the Palmer BLVD corridor is as follows:
The intersection at Apex RD and Palmer BLVD
Waste transfer
The intersection at Apex RD and Palmer BLVD, which is just east of Porter RD and Plamer BLVD- This intersection is extremely dangerous to traverse as there is no traffic signal nor a traffic circle. Vehicles traveling east/west on Palmer BLVD move quickly as the speed limit is 40mph. Couple that with the traffic that is trying to travel north/south across Palmer BLVD on Apex RD, this is very dangerous. I have witnessed multiple accidents and many more close calls. With the approval of a Waste Transfer Station at Palmer BLVD and Porter RD, my belief is that traffic will increase on Apex heading south to Palmer BLVD, which would be a natural path for trucks traveling the highway and exiting on Fruitville to get to the Waste Transfer Station.
The Intersection at Apex RD and Porter RD
This intersection has a traffic signal. This area is congested currently with commercial and residential traffic. There are several communities are accessed from Porter RD. Many homeowners use Porter RD for this purpose. WIth the Waste Transfer Property being on the corner, how will ingress/egress of construction trucks have a further adverse impact on the traffic congestion that currently exists at this intersection?
Celery Fields Area, Sarasota County, FL
The Intersection at Palmer BLVD and Packinghouse RD
This intersection is a nightmare currently. The traffic signal is not sufficient to handle the current traffic that travels this roadway. The roadway itself is in extremely poor condition. Detwilers and the Shell Gas Station are two of the main business that generates the majority of the traffic for this area. Between 7am-9am many commercial frequent the Shell station and rarely can you find an open gas pump. Again in the afternoon, the Shell station is very busy, not quite as the am rush hour. Detwilers is slammed busy most hours of the day, even more so during the busy season October til April. The congestion in this area is commercial trucks, parents taking kids to school either Tatum Ridge or Fruitville Elementary, in my case Sarasota Christian School. This is in addition to the folks trying to get to work in the business parks between Fruitville RD and Palmer BLVD, south to Porter RD. Again, how will increase construction truck traffic have an adverse effect on our current traffic issues? Furthermore, how much more damage will there be to the roadway at the underpass at Palmer BLVD and Porter RD and just west near Palmer BLVD and Packinghouse RD?
Just to give you a mental picture of the distance between the three mentioned intersections, the distance is under four-tenths of a mile.
The intersection at Packinghouse RD and Cattleman RD
This intersection is treacherous. Now we are adding additional construction traffic to this intersection? No traffic signal or roundabout? How far do you think traffic will back up now?
I have shared all of this and have not mentioned the Fire Station that is located on Apex RD just north of Palmer BLVD. I believe there are plans to construct a permanent fire station. That is a good idea, it is needed with all of the residential development that continues less than three miles away at Palmer BLVD and Lorraine RD. The last thing we want is Fire/Rescue to be held up due to traffic in this area. It is my argument that currently, Palmer BLVD does not fully meet the capacity of the current traffic that travels it daily. Most of the homes (at least another 600) in the near future will come online at Artistry and Worthington subdivisions. People avoid Bee Ridge due to the traffic circles or at least I do. How many of the subdivisions along Palmer BLVD going east from Porter RD, have been built, after the land use code for this property was established? SRQ County got stuck with the bill to fix Palmer BLVD at Lorraine RD (which Artistry was originally required to accept the cost of) due to a technicality. Who will be responsible for connecting Lorraine RD to Fruitville RD? When will this happen? Only this project taking place, would allow me to briefly rethink my current position, as I believe most of the traffic comes from Tatum Ridge Elementary School and heads west toward the hornet's nest that is Apex RD, Palmer BLVD, Porter RD, Packinghouse RD.
Now on to the environmental concerns. It is my understanding from gathering information throughout this process as well as attending the county commission meetings online, that debris will be unloaded, stack, sorted and reloaded at this facility. Debris blowing extremely close to a bird sanctuary does not seem a very good idea. Most of our weather systems seems to come from the west and travel toward the east, correct? In the occasions that the weather system comes from the east and travels westbound, that would mean that debris could be blown onto Porter Rd or worse, Interstate I-75? Do we think that drivers need more distractions when they are traveling in the excess of 70mph? I don't think so. I am sure the experts can cite many other issues that will arise from this waste transfer station. I am sure that those are very important and I do not mean to downplay their importance in any manner. I am sharing from a homeowner, business owner and parent who travels this road quite frequently. In my opinion, putting a lemonade stand at the corner of Porter RD and Palmer BLVD is not a good idea. The roads in this area are in very poor shape now and will only get worse. Traffic in this area is very heavy already and the roads do not contain the necessary signals roundabouts needed to maintain safe traffic flow. These are issues I SRQ County must address prior to any further development anywhere South of Fruitville RD to the Plamer BLVD Corridor. Let's not forget, Lakewood Ranch BLVD is currently being extended and there is no doubt in my mind that Apex RD traffic, as well as the other intersections I mentioned above, will be further adversely impacted. Should this communication find its way to SRQ County, I am pleading with you to address these issues. This is only an issue that the commission can solve. I am begging to look into these items post haste!
Respectfully.
Rev. Steve Baran
As President
National Christian Counselors Association
640 Apex RD
Sarasota, FL 34240
This is the site of James Gabbert’s pending Waste Transfer Facility as seen from I-75, with the Celery Fields in the distance. The row of trees separates Gabbert’s planned facility from the Public’s 10-acre quad parcel #2. Gabbert received his permit Jan. 31.
James Gabbert received county approval to build his Waste Transfer Facility (WTF) (six acres at Porter and Palmer next to the highway) on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. Mr. Gabbert's parcel is immediately adjacent to I-75. He owns his site, the small rectangle at the left side of parcel #2. The numbered parcels are public land.
Maio
The land that Mr. Gabbert purchased in 2014 did not allow this use. He asked for and received a "Special Exception" from the Board in 2015, at a "public hearing" that few if any residents of East Palmer knew about. A copy of the WTF site plan is here; related documents are here. "This is a special exception that needs to be approved," said Commissioner Al Maio, in moving it to a vote. Here's the permit letter.
Why is this a problem?
This is an open facility: Tall piles of construction debris will present a highway eyesore, blighting the view and character of the Celery Fields public lands (photo above).
This WTF will be the first thing drivers see coming through the I-75 underpass at Palmer Blvd.
Trucks entering and leaving the facility on Palmer by Bell Rd. could clog traffic from the industrial parks residents Palmer Blvd at the underpass.
Six acres is small for such uses, and the location is just plain wrong. There's no evidence the county ever did a diligent site study as advised by the Federal EPA Guide for Waste Transfer Stations.
This heavy industrial use required a special exception (the land was originally zoned for light industry). This harsher use could influence future planning for the public lands at Apex and Palmer. For example, the county could consider affordable housing on the 13-acre public parcel #2 next to it - but given the WTF, they might incline to see heavy industry as "more compatible."
In short: The Board of County Commissioners used its role of public steward to create blight where none exists.
Gabbert
Mr. Gabbert's permit is granted for land adjacent to public land. That makes us all stakeholders. We can write to the County to require the developer to mitigate the negative impacts. Various kinds of mitigation are possible:
>>>>>ACTION ITEM<<<<<<
Write to your district commissioner (copying the others) and relevant county staff and demand that this incompatible plan be mitigated every way possible.
attractive buffering
landscaping
appropriate hours of operation
enclosed facility (the plan calls for an open facility)
compatible lighting
sound fencing
themed fencing - perhaps something linked to birding or the celery fields?
safe turning lanes
Email addresses:
Planning
Mark Loveridge - Planning and development permitting: mloverid@scgov.net
Matt Osterhoudt - Planning Director: mosterho@scgov.net
Jane Grogg - Long Range Planning: jgrogg@scgov.net
NOTE: Commissioners Maio and Moran voted FOR Gabbert's larger Waste Processing Facility that the citizens of Sarasota strenuously opposed, ultimately persuading three Commissioiners - Caragiulo, Detert, and Hines - to vote against the dump in August 2017. Gabbert already had his 6-acre site approval. Mr. Gabbert and Robert Waechter have long been paying supporters of four board members (only Detert is not funded by them), and political allies of Maio in particular.
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Further points
At least two legal considerations ought to have been addressed during the 2015 approval process for this plan, but neither appears to have been considered either by the Board or its attorney:
1. When the Board approved Gabbert's rezone of the six acres, it ignored a county ordinance that specifically requires lands along the I-75 corridor to present a "park-like setting." The I-75 Corridor Plan Ordinance #89-35, Exhibit B, Item M, states:
In recognition of I-75 as an area of critical concern, all critical area plans within the I-75 Critical Area of Concern shall be consistent with the following where applicable:
(m) a positive image for I-75 through the establishment of quality development within a park-like setting.
2. The Board also approved Gabbert's waste transfer facility in violation of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, which aims, among other things, to beautify highways by screening or forbidding junkyards.
Most reasonable citizens would say that the Board's action violated both laws.
This project will blight the landscape and "brand" this area of Sarasota for tens of millions of drivers on I-75. The character of an area fortunate to have unusual natural beauty as well as recreational and international tourist activity will suffer.
The Board is about to reopen a critical area plan that concerns these public parcels. Some fear that the Board’s thinking about Parcel #2 might be impacted by Mr. Gabbert’s WTF, as well as Robert Waechter’s warehouses along its south side. The Board might find it easier to say, “Although this parcel is public land, it’s already bordered on two sides by industrial uses, so it should be industrial too.”
This is supposed to be the Board's' role as public steward and an opportunity to do something positive and of public value on our public lands.
Instead the process has been a chess game in which the public is treated like an opponent that has to be outwitted through sneaky stratagems. When planning and considering the sale of public lands, the only appropriate civic use of the term "highest and best use" is “a use that serves some significant public good.”
What are some potential public uses for these parcels?
Workforce housing
Civic center
Outdoor arena
History and tourist center
Athletic facilities
Garden
Food trucks or eatery
New forested bird habitat to buffer the Celery Fields
