Flying Blind: Citizen Comment for Hi Hat Public Hearing

Anyone wishing to testify regarding the Hi Hat public hearing can do so until Noon Monday, March 22 at this link. Comments are limited to 1,500 characters (not words).

Below is a complete comment submitted to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners regarding the March 23rd hearing on Hi Hat, a 10,000-acre proposed development. Submitted on Sunday, March 21, 2021 by Tom Matrullo, co-founder of Citizens for Sarasota County. An excerpt of this comment was submitted to meet the 1,500-character limit.

To the members of the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners:

As you address the giant Turner family Hi Hat Ranch project on March 23, 2021, it’s important that you consider the concerns raised by the Miakka Community Club. These include thoughtful, informed observations about water, the ecosystem, the environment, roads and traffic, all warranting close attention. Surely you have read Ms. Ayech's letter; for ease of reference it is linked here.

 

It’s necessary to consider the larger context here as well. It’s virtually impossible to do this, however, as the data necessary to fully grasp this context is not compiled in a manner that allows you -- or the public you serve -- to accurately see the future your actions are bringing about.

 

Hi Hat Map

Have you driven through the Hi Hat lands recently? It’s not simply a rural area of great natural beauty; it's also a vast segment of the county that lies between major roads -- Fruitville to the North, Clark to the South, and Bee Ridge (when extended eastward). There is also a major FPL Power line extending northward through the property from Clark to Fruitville.

When a project of the scale and complexity of Hi Hat Ranch comes to you, the impacts are manifold; they are likely to permanently alter the character of East Sarasota County.

 

Here’s my major concern: If you wish to hold a formal hearing that includes the participation of an informed public, it is incumbent upon you and essential to the process that the public of Sarasota County be in possession of crystal clear information, in plain English, of the context -- the proportions of the bigger picture.

 

What would such a picture include? At minimum it would communicate a dynamic image through time of the unfolding development of Sarasota County -- those residential, commercial, and industrial developments that are planned, approved and underway; those that are completed, and those natural  assets which as yet are undisturbed. Proportions expressing, for example:

 

• The number of dwellings approved for construction in each of the five districts, and in the county as a whole;

• The acreage of land already committed to future development in proportion to the total developable land mass, and to the total lands reserved for public uses and for conservation; 

• The miles of future roads, their numbers of lanes, clearly mapped as needed to adequately serve that future population;

• An accurate, detailed and realistic accounting of all costs of these roads;

• An accurate, detailed and realistic accounting of all costs for those public services necessitated by private developments -- police, fire, emergency, hospital, schools, evacuation routes, hurricane shelters and all others;

• An accurate, detailed and realistic assessment of how many dwelling units are destined for the many large scale developments such as Skye Ranch, Wellen Park, Sarasota National, Grand Park, Grand Palm and Pat Neal's many other Grand projects, Palmer Ranch, SIPOC, the Fruitville Initiative, the Villages of Manasota Beach, Waterside at Lakewood Ranch and many more, as listed in the Planning Department document below.

 

 

Without this data-rich picture, we who live here are blind. 

 

Furthermore it has now been demonstrated that key planning maps (RMA1 and RMA 3) have not been updated in decades, despite repeated requests from residents and County promises to make them current.(1) Is this proper custodianship of the public realm?

 

In the absence of a shared public vision, a “public hearing” -- in which the people of Sarasota are purported to participate -- borders on charade. 

 

So here’s my key question: Do you yourselves have access to the aforementioned detailed current and realistic accounting, or not? If you do, then why have you not done your utmost to share it clearly and openly with the people you were elected to represent? If you do not yourselves possess this information, then how can you claim to understand in any clear, rigorous and informed way the many impactful consequences that lie ahead? 

 

Over recent decades, public planning in Florida has jettisoned the essential elements of integral vision, thanks in great measure to the abdication of constructive regional and state attention and review. Random, piecemeal process has taken the place of a comprehensive approach candidly shared with all. Without that picture, the future of Sarasota is unknown. 

 

In this time of crippled comprehensive provision for our future needs and quality of life, each of you has a special responsibility to charge developers with moulding projects that contribute to our quality of life -- not just for their tens of thousands of future customers, but for all who live and work here. Without such a thorough, thought-out vision, we the people are adrift, experiencing the chronic nightmare of Sarasota County’s relentless blind growth.

(1)Herald Tribune, March 21, 2021, Residents call on Sarasota County to update rural planning maps before it’s too late.

 

 (2) See Rhodes, Robert M. (2020) "Florida’s Growth Management Odyssey: Revolution, Evolution, Devolution, Resolution," Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 11, 56-69.