Sarasota Baptist's planned development: Careless? Indifferent? Dangerous?

The Lake Sarasota community wants its children to be safe, but a housing development proposed for Hand Road by Sarasota Baptist Church (Proctor Rd.) poses potential design dangers that have been ignored by the developer and by Sarasota Baptist.

Read on to learn why this project has come to be seen as CARELESS, INDIFFERENT, and DANGEROUS by residents familiar with the complexities of Hand Road.

Nowhere in the proposal are these issues of concern to parents and residents addressed:

• Neighborhood children walking to Lakeview Elementary cross Hand Road at a blind curve to and from school each day.
• Parents and teachers are tied up driving to and from Lakeview Elementary on Hand Road every weekday morning and afternoon.
• Buses of children converge on Oak Park School on Hand Road at 9 a.m. 
• Everyone in Lake Sarasota knows to avoid Hand Road during school opening and closing every day.
• Lago Road to Hand Road is a straightaway heading into to a blind curve.
• The plan proposes two entrances/exits onto Hand Road.
• Sarasota Baptist fills with hundreds of cars every Sunday morning.

When informed about the new construction, a crossing guard who has guided children at the curve from Lago to Hand Rd. for the past three years said, "That’s crazy! The road can’t handle any more traffic."

Why CARELESS?

• The plan produced by Bo Medred of Genesis Planning & Development Inc. seems fundamentally flawed -- nowhere does it address these unique conditions. 

• Sarasota County has a rule that a traffic study is only triggered when a certain number of new homes are to be built. The plan from Sarasota Baptist and David Weekley Homes seeks permission to build 141 homes, but they proffered a commitment (binding?) to build no more than 87 luxury homes, which is below the technical trigger for a study.

• Despite "NO" votes from two members of the Sarasota County Planning Commission, that board recommended approval without ever taking up the question of WHY, given the complex conditions and the presence of children walking to school, NO TRAFFIC STUDY HAS BEEN REQUIRED.

Pember



•  Moving the discussion away from fellow board members' safety concerns, Planning Commissioner Colin Pember said, "'I don’t think traffic’s an issue,' . . . eliciting laughter from the audience members." (Sarasota News Leader) He then drove the vote to recommend approval of the project. Pember is the Division Director of Land Acquisition at Pulte Group.

Why INDIFFERENT?

• Efforts to raise these issues with Pastor Michael Lewis of Sarasota Baptist went without a response. When a co-worker of Pastor Lewis was contacted, she assured us that Lewis had received emails of concern from Lake Sarasota (sent via the church site), but indicated that he would not be available to take calls or to speak with residents. Emails sent to him via his site have gone unanswered.
• When local residents brought intimate knowledge of traffic conditions that raise concerns, the Planning Commission voted for the plan without any stipulations or recommendations to scrutinize our safety considerations.

DANGEROUS:

• Hand Road is a major access driveway for our kids and parents every day (8am and 3pm). It's an extremely important access for safe and protected access for young ones, and the currently proposed site plan reflects two additional roadway connections, and 160+ additional vehicles which will create increased safety risks. 
• How is the developer and the County and/or school board mitigating these concerns?
• The proposed development would create two entrances/exits - both on Hand Road - one near to the curve from Lago Road to Hand:

• Sarasota County Transportation states that only an "operational analysis" commissioned by Medred has been done. It does not address the volume of cars, the walkways children use, or the straightaway on Lago leading to the sharp curve to Hand Road. And, it doesn't use actual traffic counts, only misleading estimates. For example, it states that the traffic levels on Proctor Road have not increased in the past three years - anyone hearing this who lives or drives along Proctor would laugh out loud.

On Tuesday Nov. 28 the County Commission will consider and possibly approve this project. To watch the meeting, go to this site, look for Nov. 28. On Tuesday a link to the meeting will be next to the agenda link. This is Item #38 on the agenda. If you can make it to the public hearing, please come and speak.

The safety issues outlined above are only part of the issue raised by this project. For more, see this series of observations raised by residents, including a professional planner.

Parents and children walking to school on Hand Rd.

Please see the related Sarasota News Leader story on the Planning Commission hearing.

FEMA The huge public investment in the Celery Fields has paid off

 FEMA's statement on the success of the Celery Fields:

Sarasota County Drainage Project Protects Celery Fields

SARASOTA, FL – Sightseers in northeastern Sarasota County enjoy a natural bird habitat, walking trails, and scenic overviews in an area once flourishing with stalks of celery. An old machine that used to harvest celery and a series of canals remain as reminders of what local residents still call the celery fields. Even evidence of the annual flooding is gone.

Farmers designed the fields to retain water and nourish the celery crops, but development to the south continually flooded as new building subdivisions increased runoff and decreased the ability of the ground to absorb water. The slight southern slope of the land and the loss of natural turf, due to development, caused flooding when heavy rains fell.

The situation became critical in 1992 when 22 inches of rain fell over three days, and the resulting runoff inundated more than 200 homes in the former celery fields.

According to Kirk Bagley, Sarasota County drainage operations manager, the county not only wanted to find a way to safely reroute the water from the inhabited areas, but also ensuring that when flood waters were moved, they did not flood other homes.

Engineers analyzed the area’s flooding patterns and north-south water flows, and then developed a plan to control the water through a series of canals, ponds and mechanical flow devices. They created computer simulations with various flooding conditions and, upon review of the data, the design appeared to stop the damage without flooding other areas.

The county purchased the remaining former celery fields – more than 300 acres of property cut with ditches and framed by a series of canals. The design incorporated the canal infrastructure and added diversion gates, outflow pipes and controls.

After three years of construction on the first two phases of the project, the test came in November and December 1997 when two 100-year events (a level of flooding that has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year) deluged the flood-prone area. The design worked. Nearby homes were spared from flooding.

The county installed automated monitoring stations that allowed staff to watch the water levels remotely. Because of this remote operation, Bagley and his staff can track the amount of water in the canals, measure accrued rainfall, graph results and make appropriate decisions about holding and releasing runoff from the facility and control flow into the system.

To pay for the project, Sarasota County put into place a funding plan often used by cities: the county’s water division localized assessments. This way only those residents who benefited from the project paid for it, instead of taxing all county residents.

“We couldn’t do what we’ve done without the basin assessments,” Bagley said. “With them we don’t have to compete for the county’s general fund dollars.”

The county supplemented assessments for the $27 million project with a grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and funds from the state of Florida.

The celery fields project contained a hidden bonus for the county. The grass marsh created on the site lured many birds to nest in its high grasses and weeds. People drove for miles to watch the migrations.

A partnership between the county and the Audubon Society developed to enhance the natural bird habitat. Plans for a third phase will increase walking trails, picnic areas, park amenities and natural landscaping. Visitors will find signs that identify birds and plantings amid the pines, salt myrtles, and wax myrtles.

Water brought new life to the celery fields. What started as nourishment for agricultural land became aggravation for flooded homesteads, returned as a natural habitat for birds and became a great place for people to visit and enjoy the view.

Before 11.14: oppose "defunding" Sarasota's Public library's memberships

Sarasota Commissioner Mike Moran 

Kindra Muntz:

THE ISSUE:  Encouraged by the Sarasota County Commission’s recent swift approval of “medical freedom” and “Bill of Rights sanctuary” resolutions, several speakers at last Monday’s board meeting asked commissioners to “defund” the county library system’s membership to the American Library Association and the Florida Library Association over concerns about reading material made available to young people at local libraries.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Call or send an email to our elected officials before 11/14. The County Commissioners may vote on this issue and they are getting lots of support to "defund" libraries by the wacky right wingers.  

Go to the Commissioner's Meeting on Nov. 14 at 9:00 and Anderson Admin. Bldg,. in Venice.  Fill out a card to speak to the issue.

 

WHERE TO SEND AN EMAIL:

Sarasota County Commissioners -         commissioners@scgov.net

State Senator District 22 - Joe Gruters - Gruters.Joe@flsenate.gov 

State Rep. District 73 - Fiona McFarland- fiona.mcfarland@myfloridahouse.gov

District 74 - James Buchanan - james.buchanan@myfloridahouse.gov 

District 75 - Michael Grant - michael.grant@myfloridahouse.gov

 

SUGGESTED EMAIL WORDING:

[Subject Line]: I support strong Sarasota libraries! 

Thank you for your support of Sarasota County’s public libraries. Libraries play a vital role in creating a strong community where education and information is available to everyone. They are community spaces where residents from all walks of life come together. It is critical that libraries receive the funding they need to serve our ever-growing population. As a taxpayer, libraries are very important to me and I encourage you to allocate sufficient resources to ensure our library system continues to be the best in the state. Strong libraries aren’t a luxury - they are a necessity for a thriving community.  An enlightened County like Sarasota deserves the very best libraries

Sincerely,

_______________

TO PLACE A PHONE CALL:

County Commissioners: 941-861-5000

Joe Gruters: 941-378-6309

Fiona McFarland: 941-361-2465

Jameas Buchanan: 941-429-4560

Michael Grant: 941-613-0914

 

Sample Phone Script:

Below is a sample script you can use when calling your elected representatives in support of libraries. Please feel free to personalize these comments. 

Hello, my name is ___________________ and I live in District ________________. I believe strongly in the importance of public libraries and want to thank you for your past support for our Sarasota libraries. I urge you to please consider increasing the funding for our libraries so they can continue to meet the needs of our growing community and can keep pace with inflation and the rising costs of books and materials. Professional, well-resourced libraries are essential for our quality of life in Sarasota. Thank you for considering my request.

Talking points to protect the Celery Fields

DR HORTON 171-home high-density project on Raymond Road

From the Nov. 10 Sarasota News Leader:

The Sarasota Audubon Board is urging its members and opponents of the D.R. Horton initiative to contact their county commissioners to express their concerns. Audubon has included a link to “Talking Points” for those communications.

Among those points are the following, with the organization’s emphasis:

• “The Celery Fields is a wildlife, birdwatching, and recreational paradise in the heart of Sarasota attracting thousands of local residents and national and international tourists annually.

• ”The Celery Fields is a highly regarded, award-winning feat of creative planning — a triple purpose public facility: 1. a storm water control and cleansing operation, 2. wetlands protected as a natural haven for local and migrating birds and other wildlife, and 3. a place for people to walk, exercise, kayak, and learn about the wildlife of our area.

• “The Celery Fields represents Sarasota County’s remarkable achievement in highlighting and preserving the importance of ecosystems, wetlands, native and migrating creatures, and human relationships to all of these treasures.

• “This crowning achievement in civil engineering and in public/private cooperation must not be jeopardized. All these ecological and practical values, underscored by the millions of dollars invested in realizing them, require any impinging development to be examined with extreme care and attention. Just as a dumpsite or commercial development would be totally inappropriate, a housing subdivision would likely destroy or devalue what has been achieved. There is no way to guarantee that the Celery Fields would not be negatively impacted. Once done, it could be destroyed forever.

• “There are an estimated 100,000 visitors a year to the Celery Fields — photographers, nature lovers, walkers, joggers, bikers, families, and education groups — providing an enormous boost to the local economy. Since the pandemic, interest in eco-tourism and birding has surged greatly in popularity. Just this season (Oct – May 2023), Audubon has recorded over 31,000 visitors for bird and wildlife viewing, and for its education programs.

• “The Celery Fields has two famous and incredible boardwalks out into the wetlands — one from Palmer Boulevard and one from Raymond Road. On each of these boardwalks, Sarasota Audubon has Bird Naturalists who volunteer with telescopes and binoculars, and are stationed every day, October through May, to enhance visitor birding and wildlife viewing experience. Visitors come from all over the United States and the world to enjoy the wetlands. Increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic from a high-density development will negatively affect access, use, and safe approach to these boardwalks for birders, tourists, and their cars.” 

Estimated trips added by 171 high-density homes on Raymond Rd. (courtesy of SNL)

More information from Sarasota Audubon is here

Write to: 

District 1 Commissioner Mike Moran          Mmoran@scgov.net

Copy all five Commissioners by cc'ing        Commissioners@scgov.net
County Planner Tana Spencer                     Tspencer@scgov.net

In your email you can also cc:  

Head of planning Matt Osterhoudt:              mosterho@scgov.net 

Head of Park Nicole Rissler:                        nrissler@scgov.net 

Sarasota Audubon                                        info@sarasotaaudubon.org

Citizens for Sarasota County:                      sarasotavision@gmail.com

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