SEERD JUNE UPDATE

Happy June and welcome to the heat, humidity and early rains that signal the onset of hurricane season. Here are highlights of development related issues impacting the Bee Ridge neighborhood and beyond.

1. Notice of Violation and Order to Correct. Friday June 13th was the deadline provided by Sarasota County Code Enforcement for The Classical Academy (TCA) to comply with its Notice of Violation and Order to Correct requiring that its 30 modular classrooms that had been installed at the start of the last school year in three groups of ten each from its Bee Ridge Road be removed from its campus. The school year has apparently finished but as of this writing we have not seen any movement. The school erected a new sign and installed black metal gates similar to the fencing erected along Bee Ridge Road at the one entrance to its campus. SEERD and its attorneys remains in contact with County Code Enforcement, our District Commissioner and county staff to monitor enforcement proceedings and will report progress to our neighbors and other interested parties as we learn more.

2. Defamation Suit. We previously reported that the lawsuit against SEERD filed in the 12th Circuit Court, just before Christmas, was voluntarily dismissed, without prejudice in April by TCA, the plaintiff. We consider this legal action, based upon the vague and legally insufficient allegations, as an attempt to discourage public participation-commonly known as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP). Sadly, there has been a recent increase nation-wide in such actions taken by developers against citizens and community organizations to silence them and discourage public involvement. Additionally, one of the claims made by TCA provides for the recovery of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to be awarded to the prevailing party. Since TCA voluntarily dismissed and SEERD prevailed, SEERD will seek its rightful entitlement to reimbursement of some of those fees and costs. A hearing has been scheduled for August 12th before Judge Walker to establish entitlement to such reimbursement, after which the actual amount of the award will be considered and finalized.

   
   

3. Sarasota County to Create New Stormwater Management Department. The County Commission has taken some actions aimed at better preparing the county for hurricanes by better organizing and deploying its resources. After months of discussion and considerable frustration, the County Commission has called for creation of a new Stormwater Department separate from its Public Works Department and authorized the recruitment and hiring of an experienced engineer to lead that department. There are many unresolved concerns about the impacts this and future storm seasons will have on the county and its growing number of residents. The epiphany that better organization might help is welcome. However, there is a lot more to do by way of maintenance, new zoning and building standards, and additional infrastructure to respond to heightened weather-related threats and our growing population. The state government, in a nod to developers, is about to freeze local regulations for the next 2 years. Our County Commission, with the exception of one of its members, seemed happy to comply and approved a motion to this effect. This is not helpful. If this year is anything like last year, our inability to recalibrate building and development standards to reflect more intense rainfall and less open space to absorb storm runoff will not make us any safer nor help mitigate storm related damage.

4. SEUAC in need of a makeover. Sarasota County discovered that its Stormwater and Environmental Utility Advisory Committee (SEUAC) is not fully constituted, nor does it have a chairperson to lead this committee. Advisory committees are intended to inform the County Board on technical areas related to county governance, in this case stormwater threats and management. Problems with the functioning of this committee was discovered when the County Board asked for a presentation from the committee, rather than just accept its report without the commissioners being able to ask questions and get answers directly from a committee representative. As the hurricane season began, there was no one able to present the committee report. The committee's chairperson's term had expired and there were several other vacancies that have not been filled. We also learned that the committee, at its last meeting in March, voted for a new chairperson. However, not only has that new chairperson not been confirmed by the County Board of Commissioners, but her tenure as a member of the committee has since expired adding to the number of vacancies yet to be filled with nominees. SEERD together with its partners at SCAN are tracking this to encourage the County Commission to support its advisory committees so that they in turn can provide the expertise and information needed in this and many other areas of critical public concern.

   
   

5. Federal agencies face staff downsizing and reduction in funding. FEMA, HUD, NOAA and NWS are all undergoing significant changes both in terms of their mission, leadership, operations and funding. The timing could not be worse for us in Florida and here in Sarasota County with the onset of hurricane season and the important role that we have come to expect that our federal partners play in forecasting, storm preparation, response, recovery and rebuilding. It's still not clear what we can expect this year and beyond, but the county needs to plan, budget and organize itself with these changes in mind.

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