Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Hi Hat hearing to be postponed after procedural errors were identified by a citizen

A Public Hearing for a giant development in North Sarasota that had been scheduled for March 23, 2021, will be postponed after several rather glaring errors in the procedures used to publish the hearing and to allow for public participation were spotted by a former county attorney.

East Sarasota attorney Susan Schoettle-Gumm wrote to Jim Turner, the land use lawyer and family member of the owners of Hi Hat Ranch, citing certain violations of required procedures. Turner soon replied that he would request that the hearing be postponed in order to address the issues. 

One concern was the amount of time allowed for public awareness. Hi Hat Ranch is a complex project involving 12,000 acres and perhaps 30 years of developmental actions. Citizens were surprised when they saw they had been given just four days - from Friday afternoon, March 19, to noon on Monday, March 22, to receive, read and digest, and formally comment and testify. Elsewhere counties typically provide necessary documents two or more weeks in advance of public hearings.  

The errors included four violations of county requirements:

1. Noticing the proposed amendment as both a privately initiated amendment and a public initiated amendment in both the legal notice and the postcard. 

2. The Hearing has to be within 60 days of the Planning Commission's decision (the PC is Sarasota's Land Planning Agency) and today, March 23, is the 61st day.

3. The staff report and supporting documents had to be made available to the public two Fridays before the hearing. on the proposed development  The County only made them available on Friday, March 19 -- 5 days before the scheduled hearing.

4. The hearing Agenda listed two items, but only allowed one opportunity for Public input.

The exchange between Schoettle-Gumm and Turner was cordial. After receiving her email, Turner replied: 

While I believe most of the procedural issues you have raised are not fatal to the process , I have made the decision to postpone the Board hearing scheduled for tomorrow to ensure these issues are addressed. We will appear before the Board at the scheduled time, explain the situation and then reschedule.

A full copy of Schoettle's letter is here, and an image of the key points is below.

March 22 letter from Schoettle-Gumm to Jim Turner

Citizens who have followed or participated in many public hearings have suggested that the "public" component of Public Hearings has diminished. Citizens often prepare detailed analyses and are allowed 5 minutes - sometimes just 3 minutes - to present their findings. 

Bending requirements such as merging two distinct matters into a single opportunity for public comment could ignore significant issues and relevant data."Another example of how this County cares nothing about following the rules—breaking several, not just one," was one longtime activist's comment.

More on the Hi Hat Proposed Development here and here.

2 comments:

  1. Youve really thought this through. When I lived "out East" there was a required acreage around each residence. Traffic THEN on State Road 70 was badduring daily travel times. And,Fruitville Road has numerous crossroads,driveways, access turn-offs,making travel on Fruitville a "bump-em" drive. There is also a Preserve off the East end of Fruitville. All those thousand ofnew homeswill surely change the dynamics of that preserve and it's wildlife. It's mainly a wetland/forest . .and changing the landslopesfor development will also change the wildlife dynamics of that Preserve . .or will that not matter to your developer? And school bussing. With thirteen thousand new homes planned,where will the children attend schools. . or will you build new schools out in that area,also. Adding bus traffic to the dynamics And water. With the aquifers being dangerously low,where will the water come for all those homes? Are there even adequet sewer systems out Fruitville way for that development?Or will you ask homeowners to put in their own septic systems? Willl there be stop lights at every crossroad or turnoff now on Fruitville? And,with the added traffic,which sounds already horrendous,how long will a firetruck or EMT vehicle take? I think you better plan with an eye on "What's Best For Sarasota/Florida/the Florida people love and respect rather than another concrete nightmare. "It'll happen anyway?" Why now? Why on YOUR watch? You were chosentoprotect our wildlife, residents, the land . . .Do THAT!

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  2. Thank you for these totally valid questions. Will just note that in the last election, a candidate (Mike Hutchinson) lived out towards Verna Road; he raised such concerns. He lost by a small number of votes in the Rep. primary after a smear campaign run by his opponent, Mike Moran. Moran lives west of the Interstate, and has huge support from the builder/developer community and his party's Dark Money. That's the warped political context in which these planning decisions are made. More here: https://www.cdpsarasota.org/post/a-cosy-world-of-money-growth-power-and-greed

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