Saturday, January 28, 2017

Update: 2nd meeting on Gabbert's Recycling facility next to Celery Fields

For those who missed the first Neighborhood Workshop for Mike Gabbert's (TST Ventures) proposal to put a recycling facility on a 16-acre site near the Celery Fields, a second meeting is planned for Jan. 30, 6 pm, at the Church of Hope (1560 Wendell Kent Rd).

At the first workshop, it was reported that the facility would precipitate 100 trucks a day of additional traffic, and have 35-foot-high piles of construction materials visible behind 8-foot walls, waiting to be recycled.



==

UPDATE: Gabbert already has an approved Waste Transfer Station to be situated nearby -  on Cattlemen Rd. Documents on this facility can be found here:
Notice of Neighborhood Meeting July 2014 (in Gabbert's offices)
Special Exception Meeting Request with Narrative
County Source Page
===


The proposed site is currently owned by the County. How long will our Commission and EDC avoid looking for higher, better uses for our land, especially land so near the Celery Fields, a green space, bird sanctuary and Audubon Nature Center that is garnering a national and even international profile for avid birders and eco-tourists?





The second neighborhood meeting has to do with a "critical area plan," according to one planner. The sale of the county's 16 acres is reportedly contingent upon approval of the development.





Here is the workshop data.



2 comments:

  1. There must be a better place for this project, one that is not so close to one of the great eco-tourist attractions in Sarasota County. people come from, literally, all over the world to see this Great Florida Birding Trail site, and this project with it's noise, heavy truck traffic will have a large impact on the viability of Celery Fields to continue as a major eco-tourist attraction. Sarasota County and the Sarasota Audubon Society have already put sizeable amounts of money in the Celery Fields site to create a very real tourist destination. This kind of heavy industrial activity next to Celery Fields will do great harm. Anybody with a modicum of common sense can see that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Apparently common sense and crony capitalism are not entirely compatible. Since the land is owned by the County (which must approve the project), one might see an inherent conflict of interest. In any event, residents alone can make the case you state very succinctly. The next meeting is Jan. 30th, 6 pm, at the Church of Hope.

    ReplyDelete