NEW SHERIFF PUBLISHING, INC.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA

With a seasoned staff of award-winning journalists, we provide hard-hitting, in-depth reporting on local government action and the major issues affecting Sarasota County. The news will be combined, as our publication grows, with fascinating feature stories, arts & entertainment spotlights and other news of importance to our readers. We urge interested readers to become annual subscribers. By becoming a subscriber for only $30 per year, you will never pay a higher subscription rate as long as you remain an active subscriber (with auto-renewal). We are a reader-supported publication, and rely on new subscribers to continue our expansion of local news coverage. Prepared by the Kimley-Horn and Associates consulting firm in Sarasota, the report notes that it has been updated to reflect comments from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Sarasota County staff, including those made during a Jan. 24 meeting. The Sarasota County Commission and county staff have talked of progress in ongoing negotiations with FDOT to swap the county’s control of River Road to the state in exchange for the county taking on maintenance of Stickney Point Road and Siesta Drive/Higel Avenue — west of U.S. 41 and Osprey Drive, respectively — as well as Midnight Pass Road on Siesta Key that if Stickney Point Road becomes a county road, FDOT no longer would have any say over traffic pattern adjustments made to accommodate Siesta Promenade — if the County Commission approves the project as proposed. Along with the residential units and hotel, the project would feature 140,000 square feet of “neighborhood retail space,” the Kimley-Horn report says. “Primary access to the site will be provided onto US 41 and [State Road] 72/Stickney Point Road,” the report adds, “with minor site access” provided on Crestwood Avenue and Glencoe Avenue. Kimley-Horn’s latest report further notes that the firm’s traffic analysis continued to focus on the following The project driveway located along U.S. 41 is proposed as a right-turn in/right-turn out only driveway. “In addition,” the updated report says, “this driveway was located as far north as possible to provide as much distance between this driveway and the U.S. 41 & SR 72/Stickney Point Road intersection, as requested by FDOT.” Mathes responded to county Planner Dary’s Feb. 1 letter that listed a number of facets of the proposed project for which Benderson had not provided sufficient information Among the February comments the letter addressed, Mathes noted that Benderson had removed street views it previously had provided in its application “to avoid any confusion.” Mathes also provided more details about the details of the development. For example, Block 1 will not exceed 479 residential units and it will have 5,000 square feet of commercial space. Nonetheless, a footnote said that “development shall not exceed totals of 479 [dwelling units],” including the hotel rooms. The letter also said that 15% of the residential density above 13 dwelling units per acre “will be attainable to families making 80% and 100% of AMI.” “AMI” refers to area median income. The 2017 AMI for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was $65,500, county Planner Vivian Roe told the County Commission last month. On Jan. 25, 2017, the County Commission voted 4-1 to allow Benderson to proceed with specific studies in accord with Benderson’s request for a Critical Area Plan designation The March 27 letter also noted that 133,000 square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) would be dedicated to retail business in the development, with 7,000 GLA designated for office space. Fresh Start plans roundtable beforehand to narrow down ideas offered by residents and business owners On April 25, advocates for care in planning the future of Sarasota County property next to the Celery Fields will present proposals to the County Commission and seek direction going forward. That discussion will come about five months after the commissioners voted 4-1 last November to give six months to offer, as Commissioner Charles Hines put it, “some realistic options” for use of one county-owned parcel at the intersection of Apex Road and Palmer Boulevard. The board members agreed to hold off on marketing that surplus land until after members of Fresh Start returned to them with suggestions. , the commissioners debated selling three of the county’s “Quads” parcels adjacent to the internationally known bird-watching and wildlife area the county also owns. Finally, they agreed to take one Quad — the southeast one — off the market. They also decided to pay a consultant to review the potential rezoning of the northwest Quad before they tried again to sell it. After a day-long public hearing on Aug. 23, 2017, the commissioners voted 3-2 to deny a rezoning petition that would have transformed that Quad into the home of a new construction and yard waste recycling facility owned by TST Ventures . Then-Chair Paul Caragiulo, then-Vice Chair Nancy Detert and Hines voted in the majority, with Commissioners Alan Maio and Michael Moran supporting TST Ventures’ owner James Gabbert’s vision for the site. Commissioner Maio asked when Detert met with the Fresh Start representatives. Commission Chair Nancy Detert. File photo “Right,” Detert said, though she added that she thought they had met with all the commissioners. When they spoke with her, Detert said, they felt it would be good to make a presentation to the entire commission, but “they thought it might be difficult to get on the agenda. … So if Mr. Lewis could make sure that they get 20 minutes for a presentation” before the end of April, she continued, she felt that would be appropriate. , either. The limited liability company that applied for a rezoning of the property for the warehouse project also had refused to disclose all the members of the company, which is a requirement of the county rezoning process. In the aftermath of both those events in 2017, a “group of concerned Sarasota residents then approached the commissioners with the aim of working together to explore uses proposed by the community,” the news release explains. “Forming the Fresh Start Initiative, they pledged in late November 2017 to return in six months with good ideas, vetted by qualified area professionals, and supported by more than 50 [homeowner associations] and area businesses,” the release adds.