Those of you that were at the Annual General Meeting of SEERD on April 10th are aware that Miles Toder and I have switched positions. Miles is, and always has been much better suited to this position than I, and my time as president was only as a stopgap measure until Miles could return from a rather sudden recall to the Foreign Service.
I'd like to thank all of you for putting up with my somewhat clumsy and often inept leadership of SEERD in such a critical time, but as I seem to have managed it without any major calamities, I feel that none of you were done a grave disservice, and I am now handing you over into his competent hands.
The following is the first announcement/informational post from Miles himself, and I'd like to welcome him as the new president of SEERD, and invite you to offer him your attention by reading this carefully.
A Note of Thanks. Thank you again to those to were able to join us for SEERDs first Annual General Meeting. We had a good turn out of concerned residents, and had a chance to share the challenges facing our neighborhood and lay out options for the future of the organization. Some of our growth management partners working elsewhere in Sarasota joined us, and met our neighbors and the SEERD leadership team that has coalesced over the past year to continue our work protecting our neighborhood and mitigating the negative impacts of rapid growth in the future.
Threats and Opportunities Abound. We hope that we did not overwhelm you during the meeting with the development challenges facing Florida, Sarasota County, and our own neighborhood along what is currently the eastern side of Bee Ridge Road. There are many threats lurking and limited opportunities to get ahead of the problems that will accompany growth and large scale, often problematic land use development. These things can be solved, but it requires us to be organized, well resourced, and tied into networks of other likeminded partners. The truth is that we cannot count on our elected or appointed officials, now or in the future, to look after our interests.
SEERD at the Sarasota Planning Commission Public Hearings. As a prime example of County officials with little regard for our neighborhood or well being, we availed ourselves of the imperfect but still functional requirement for public hearings earlier this month. With considerable preparation by our volunteer planning and development professionals, we participated in a long and drawn out Planning Commission meeting on 4/18. Our resident rock star, Milt Herd, together with the support of Roger Zacks, provided analysis and testimony on behalf of SEERD during three back- to- back but separate public hearings. These focused on three different applications, or "petitions", by well-prepared, slick and well-resourced developers, who want to repurpose, rezone, receive special exceptions from current regulations, and secure County permission to build in and around our neighborhood. They will have a profound impact on our lifestyle and property, each in their own way. So SEERD, along with other speakers, some for and other against, raised both the benefits and concerns for the Planning Commissioners to consider in making their recommendation to the Board of Commissioners.
Development Applications of Interest to Bee Ridge-More Private Schools. One petition before the Planning Commission was denied (a very infrequent occurrence) and likely futile as you will see in #5 below. We presented this proposal briefly at the AGM, but the intent is to build additional structures and operate a larger private, for-profit Charter School for 1200 students from Pre-K-8th grade plus staff on the same site where TCA currently still operates, composed of 21 acres and located at 8751 Fruitville Road. The site use is currently governed by a previous Special Exception from the low intensity County zoning designation and can accommodate up to 800 students. The petitioner was seeking permission for a 50% increase in student enrollment and to build more structures to handle a larger school operation. While the inability of Fruitville Road to carry additional traffic consumed much of the discussion, neither the State nor County requires "concurrence", or the existence of adequate public road infrastructure at the time of application, so as we learned with TCAs Bee Ridge site, Floridians just have to suck it up and deal with traffic congestion. In a rare display of determination to thwart a development proposal, the Commissioners focused instead on the dangers posed by limited access and egress even though there was only sparse, anecdotal evidence to support this concern as the basis for denial. Why this matters to us? If permission would have been provided, TCA would have to speed up its move from the Fruitville to Bee Ridge locations, so for the time being that pressure is off to develop the new site, and advance site development of its approved Special Exception from Phase 1 to 2, in which the 301st student is accommodated. However, there is a good chance that the petitioner for the new Charter School will take their case to the BCC, which could result in the advisory recommendation to deny being reversed, with pressure on TCA to move and consolidate its operations on Bee Ridge Road with or without the few mitigation measures or stipulations attached by the County.
Upending Local Self-Governance on Growth Management Matters. We recently learned of a bill (2024/1285) passed by the Florida legislature, now awaiting the Governor's signature, that would pre-empt local decision making with respect to private schools across the state and waive most if not all growth management and land use development restrictions in order to promote alternatives to public education. Should it be signed into law, it would appear that even hearing these petitions by local commissions and boards to ensure some degree of compliance with local regulations to mitigate undesirable impacts will cease. Those citizens and interest groups like SEERD who are monitoring and objecting to these abuses specifically concerning private schools will have to refocus our efforts on State Representatives and officials in Tallahassee as these land use conflicts will be taken out of local hands. Any broader efforts to find enduring political solutions to this madness will need to be targeted at the State rather than County level as well.
Development Applications of Interest to Bee Ridge-Many More Neighbors. Of the other two petitions featured at the Planning Commission meeting on 4/18, one had to do with 3H Ranch a very large ("massive" in the words of our attorney) residential, commercial and retail development south of the Bee Ridge neighborhood along Clark Road, immediately west of Sky Ranch. It would involve over 6000 new residences, 350,000 sq ft of commercial and retail land uses. The County was being asked to rezone the land-currently used for grazing cattle, approve its internal development structure using its Village Development concept, and provide a Special Exception from UDC standards when it comes to open space and buffers with adjacent roads and land uses. Speakers came from adjacent communities and individual land owners who expressed concern about traffic, ingress and egress, as well as adequacy of buffers. SEERD was also concerned about the adequacy of roadways surrounding the new community as well how the concept of Village clustering would be implemented and details worked out to create a more efficient and convenient settlement pattern. Also the fact that this and other recent development such as Sky Ranch and mega proposals north in the Old Myakka area breach the County's stated Urban Services Boundary was raised. This boundary is intended to rationalize development, ensure fiscal responsibility when it comes to providing public services and infrastructure, and preserve open space but none of these concerns seemed to matter when it came to the Commission giving its perfunctory approval to the developer. This will to the County Board of Commissioners where objections need to be raised and to at least go on the record that this development is reckless, irresponsible and will have profound impacts on the County that are being largely ignored.
Development Applications of Interest to Bee Ridge - More Shopping! Last but not least, a hearing was held at the 4/18 Planning Commission meeting about a developers plans to build another shopping center to the west and south of the current Publix anchored neighborhood shopping center at the corners of Bee Ridge and Loraine Roads. This five acre site is currently owned by Bayside Church and is the east most part of a Special Exception that permitted the church to build and operate at that location. The new petition involves a rezoning, amendment of the area/neighborhood shopping development plan under which the Publix-anchored center was permitted, and a revised Special Exception to allow the church to sell off a piece of its property. Oddly, there were no other groups speaking at this hearing so SEERD presented its concerns about access and traffic. We did not object to having more land designated for retail sales given the projected growth in and around the neighborhood. Our concern that the extensive and carefully crafted stipulations which make the Publix shopping center successful and better integrate with its surrounding land uses be applied as a condition for these changes by the County was not agreed to by the Planning Commission and so its recommended approval did not include what we believe to be an important caveat. When this petition goes before the County Board in the next few months, we will need to marshal the residents who worked so hard to get the stipulations for the Publix shopping center to come out in force and demand that this adjacent commercial development be subject to similar if not identical restrictions on its development and operation.
More Mayhem from TCA. On 4/23 SEERD participated in the latest County Board meeting, specifically to go on record in support of the findings of the Zoning Administrator which denied TCAs application for a permit to "install" 30 of the 54 modular classrooms brought onto its Bee Ridge site in August 2023 in three modular buildings of ten modular classrooms each. The County Zoning Department denied the permit based on a strict and relatively narrow reading of the regulations and the petition by TCA and approved Special Exception with stipulations to operate a school at the Bee Ridge site. The Board expressed some concern about how temporary modular classrooms were and about the ability of TCA, Sarasota’s reputed largest private school, to raise the funds needed to build out its campus with permanent structures. But despite abundent evidence of its failure to heed County Code regulations regarding these temporary buildings and comply with Code Enforcement and Special Magistrates orders, legitimate questions about TCAs intentions and those of the County Commission, they approved TCAs appeal. This will allow the County permitting process to proceed and further consider its request to install 30 of 54 modular classrooms on its Bee Ridge Road site as TCA begins its transition from Phase 1 of its Special Exception and site plan development to Phase 2, which will accommodate more than the 300 student limit stipulated by the County.
SEERDs Next Step. SEERD is now reviewing its options to challenge the latest insanity with an eye toward the pending State legislation that, if not challenged, will take these private school related land use cases away from local jurisdiction and settle them in what we believe will be harmful ways to communities and neighborhoods in favor of alternatives to public education state-wide. We will be sharing our plans, consulting with neighbors and partners across the County and hope to maintain your trust and support in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Miles Toder
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