Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Voices heard at the Final Comp Plan Hearing 10.25.16

Some of the people's voices heard at the Final Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan hearing - apologies for inaccuracies,  just fragments. 

If you spoke at the Oct. 25th hearing, you are welcome to send a full copy of your comments to sarasotavision@gmail.com and we'll post them.


Mr. D.

  • "We need a clear picture of what we don't want."

Jono Miller -


  • The plan needs measures/benchmarks/dates to track progress.
  • Find better way to better engage the community on planning related projects
  • Slow the Comp Plan update process down
  • Staff is proposing vaguer language
  • We’ve lost ⅕ of our beach - replaced with rock


Margaret C. - (shows images of torn up wetlands at Whole Foods site on University Parkway)

  • Wetlands in process of being destroyed
  • Not against development - do it in thoughtful, gentle way
  • Environmental part of plan - “required” and “shall” being replaced by “may, voluntary,” etc.




Woman -

  • I would like to know how we keep natural parts safe from developers

Glenna Blomquist


  • As a county we need rules that protect us from ourselves.
  • Tallahassee has decimated state power to monitor local development
  • My neighborhood - rezoned from 1 unit per 10 acres to 2 units per one acre - 
  • Stringent language is lacking in the comp plan 
  • The proposed plan may make our plan less protective





Margaret Jean Cannon

  • In 2010 - Sarasota came in 11th in growth - adding another city the size of Venice - we had been 18th
  • Hypergrowth - challenges - look at 2050 plan 
  • County mission statement - enhanced quality of life - 
  • 1. protect the quality and integrity of our established neighborhoods
  • 2. Storm surge
  • 3. Looking at siloes - need traffic studies
  • 4. “Should” and “shall” 


Linda Hunter
  • I’ve lived here 26 years - love Sarasota
  • I’m sure your goal was to protect the citizens
  • Compatibility with neighborhoods
  • Traffic - do you want to sit on 41, or drive on it?
  • Environmental impact - Once you pave paradise, it’s gone
  • Make intelligent choices
  • The plan seems to remove a lot of your ability to protect our interests



Geraldine Swarmsted
  • One member of Sierra Club - 2,100 members -
  • I wish this were an update, not an evisceration
  • Meetings when 19 people speak against something, 3 or 4 speak for, and it goes thru


Tom Matrullo
  • "This new Comp plan is a behemoth. Few other than highly paid, specialized experts will master its intricacies." 
  • Do you aim to govern? Or just “encourage?”
  • "This is a moment of gigantism, and the new Comp Plan, in its size, complexity, and lack of clarity, looks strangely like the outsized growth it was supposed to control."


Dan Lobeck



  • Density or intensity “may be lower” - it doesn’t talk about mitigation measures
  • This is an evisceration of the neighborhood compatibility plan - you are taking away a very important provision
  • Traffic - you are not required by state law to eliminate concurrency. If you do, your cty attorney has pointed out that you can limit a proposed rezone or special exception based on traffic considerations
  • 1.3.12 - if you mean what you say, amend this to add “rezoning and special exceptions.”
  • The people are right -
  • Took out regs that affect mobility, environment - evisceration of 72? Policies.





Wade Matthews

  • Conservation chair of Audubon Society
  • We have about 1200 members
  • What I hope you do is don’t approve this today
  • Take some of the changes they have brought up
  • Pervasive elimination of “shall”
  • Majority of people don’t like the loosening of the comp plan
  • Susan McManus - study - prime concerns of people of Sarasota Cty - principle concern is overdevelopment, congestion, too many people, 2nd issue is traffic
  • I hope it’s not required that you make your decision today - deserves more time
  • Take account of the clear feelings of the people of Sarasota County



Man from Osprey



  • Your emphasis should be for the people
  • Do not adopt this current update as it stands.
  • Commissioner Robinson should recuse herself from this vote.







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