Fall 2024 Development Update for our Bee Ridge Neighbors

Congratulations to our neighbors for having survived three back-to-back hurricanes impacting everyone in Sarasota County this season! We know that nerves are frayed, and everyone wants to clean up, repair the damage to get back to work, school and living our normal lives as soon as possible. I know that I do.

The federal, state and local response and the help offered by voluntary not-for-profit organizations has been largely commendable. To be honest however, would we not be better off trying to get further ahead of these more intense and frequent storms headed our way instead of repeatedly cleaning up after them?

Why don't we consider a more proactive approach to systematically harden and upgrade our power, communications, wastewater and stormwater management facilities, roads and bridges as well as our homes, businesses and communities? Could we break with this seemingly endless cycle of storm monitoring, preparation, evacuation/sheltering in place, rescue, relief and rebuilding every year? It gets old quickly and is not exactly making Sarasota a better place to live and work.

Our future development plans involving flood prone and environmentally sensitive land puts many more people in harm's way and mostly without the infrastructure or the essential services needed. How is this a responsible approach to growth and what will this mean for the future of Sarasota County? These are questions for our elected representatives who so far seem to have few answers as many stand for re-election in about two weeks' time.

Update

Before the recent deluge of storms hit this summer, several things of note have happened with respect to development and growth in and surrounding the Bee Ridge neighborhood. Here is a wrap up:

1. Appealing approval to use modular classrooms. Oral Arguments were delivered by SEERDs attorney over the Writ of Certiorari filed with the 12th Circuit Court challenging the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approval of the modified Binding Development Site Plan (BDSP) under Special Exception (SE) 1874 which allowed The Classical Academy's (TCA) modular classrooms instead of brick-and-mortar structures as originally proposed and approved. The arguments included attorneys representing the County and TCA before Judge Walker on September 19th. We await the court's decision.

   
   

2. Appealing SE 1874 to a higher court. An appeal petition was filed with 2nd District Court in St Petersburg at the end of September challenging the 12th Circuit's decision not to overturn the BCCs issuance of SE 1874 (filed in August 2023, Order issued in July 2024). The 2nd District Court accepted the appeal and gave defendants-Sarasota County and TCA-30 days to respond. 

   
   

3. Inadequate communication. SEERD is working with our Sarasota Citizens Action Network (SCAN) partners to protest cryptic public notices and other communications between County and its residents. Future cooperation is anticipated among our organizations on poor access to information from the County's forward facing documents data base thus requiring costly and time-consuming public records requests and making public participation difficult and, in many cases, impossible.

   
   

4. Independent inquiry about flooding. There remains an urgent need for an independent inquiry about flooding from Hurrican Debby, lack of storm water management and other infrastructure concurrency, etc. SCANs next monthly meeting is on 10/24 @ 5:30 over at Selby Library to hear the findings from an independent study by Steven Suau PE of why Laurel Meadows and other communities adjacent to Phillipe Creek flooded during Hurricane Debby.

   
   

5. More TCA students and staff. With another 300+ students and teachers about to be consolidated from TCAs Fruitville Campus location to Bee Ridge Road, there are a number of concerns that we have raised, and actions taken. SEERD has been monitoring school operations and filed Code Enforcement complaints with Sarasota County over compliance with SE 1874 stipulations triggered by TCA proceeding to Phase 2 of its BDSP involving traffic, ingress and egress to the TCA site, and questions over occupancy permits for existing and new structures. We have added new concerns over buffers and signage as the school takes on more of a flea market appearance as seen from Bee Ridge Road.

   
   

6. Nationwide focus on Sarasota. There have been many provocative stories featured in the national media about impacts of successive storms in light of newly approved development in Florida. There is concern that the rest of the country may be subsidizing our lifestyle, the dangers of reckless overdevelopment and inability to get ahead of the storms. The damage being done to our communities and world-class recreation facilities, and our perennial insurance crisis is not a good look nor is it a sustainable position for us to maintain.

   
   

7. Questionable zoning practices. SEERD is about to begin research on the 1980's practice of "spot" zoning, how it differs from contemporary notions of "mixed land use" zoning and what precedents set in case law would apply. We will be exploring the prospects for legal action, challenging the vast number of exceptions granted by the BCC and excessive amount of land rezoned for residential development, far beyond any reasonable future needs. We are also as mentioned above, assessing current impediments to citizen participation in the working of our county government, especially when it comes to land use, building, permitting and code enforcement.

   
   

8. More new development applications. Many other development applications are working their way through the County's approval process. Upcoming hearings (delayed because of the storms) and workshops include the following: Public hearing on DR Horton's application at the Smith farm, adjacent to the Celery Fields rezoning for 177 residential units (Planning Commission on 11/7); Another virtual neighborhood workshop for the Lakewood Ranch Southeast rezoning for 1399 units; amendments to the UDC regarding building permits, site development plan procedures and review (BCC hearing on 10/23). For the time being, all County hearings are being scheduled for the administrative center in Venice because of storm related damage to its administration building in downtown Sarasota.

If any of our Bee Ridge neighbors wish to attend workshops or hearings to experience the working of our County Government or speak directly to our commissioners, please let us know. We will be glad to share the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners meeting schedules, agendas and background documents.

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Thanks for your continuing interest and support to protect our neighborhood.

Miles Toder Ph.D.

President, Sarasota East Enders for Responsible Development