SCANNING Sarasota PLANNING

  Becky Ayech proposes we all send this to the Board before the Tuesday May 6 meeting of the BCC, which will be in Venice: As many of you are aware, the current virtual Neighborhood Workshops are a dismissal failure.  This Tuesday, we have the opportunity to change that.  Please email our Commissioners individually and ask the following: Good day Commissioner ________ , (tmast@scgov.net; jneunder@scgov.net; mhsmith@scgov.net; tknight@scgov.net and rcutsinger@scgov.net) Tuesday, May 6 2025, the Commission will consider changes to the Neighborhood Workshop Resolution. I request you make the following change to the bolded, struck through, underlined red text: 2. Time, Location, and Procedure a. The neighborhood workshop shall be held no earlier than 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, Monday through Thursday, excluding holidays (County Holidays). b. The workshop shall be held within an enclosed building, within two (2) miles of the subject parcel if the parcel is located within the Urban...

From a powerful story from Suncoast Searchlight : Dozens of new local governments, led not by mayors or town managers but instead by businesses profiting from those who live there, have sprouted up across the Suncoast along with the sprawling new housing communities they bring. The real estate developers behind these independent special districts use their government status to float multimillion-dollar, tax-free bonds to finance construction and dictate how homeowners pay it back — all with no reins on the spending, a  Suncoast Searchlight  investigation has found. These districts now span the entire region — from Parrish’s 40-acre Rye Crossing district in northern Manatee County to the  more than 12,000 acres at the West Villages district in southern Sarasota County .  Community development districts “are a legislatively-sanctioned license to steal” . . .  “The bottom line on CDDs, if you look at them, they’re a powderkeg for the homeowner, who is paying for th...

  Hurricane Debby - Photo: Mike Lang, Herald Tribune Sarasota County Wastewater Utility Wake-Up Call  During the severe red tide bloom that plagued southwest Florida in 2018 and 2019, it was revealed that Sarasota County Utilities was -- and for years periodically had been -- releasing  millions of gallons of reclaimed wastewater each day for several weeks and months at a time from the Bee Ridge Wastewater Reclamation Facility to Phillippi Creek. While the wastewater was treated to remove pathogens, to break down organic matter and to reduce nutrients, the concentration of nitrogen that fuels red tide was elevated well above that for direct discharge to surface waters such as Phillippi Creek.  As residents and businesses suffered from the severe and prolonged red tide bloom, this revelation made Sarasota County Government seem tone deaf to the public it served. And stunningly, the County Commissioners at the time were surprised to learn that these reclaime...

Residents are finding their stormwater assessments have tripled or more in the past few years.  Typically, there was a significant increase between 2021 and 2022 and in some instances another significant increase between 2019 and 2020.  To find how much your assessment has increased, follow these simple steps: Go to the Mike Moran Sarasota Tax Collectors' Web Site   Click on the "View/Pay Taxes"  button.   3. Click on the "Property Tax Search & Payment" button.   4. Type in your address in the blank and hit enter. Note that Drive, Circle, Street, etc. may need to be abbreviated to Dr., Cr., or St.     5.  Once at the address, click on the "View Account" button. This will take you to a page where you can click on the last 11 years (2014 - 2024) of tax data. Click on any year and scroll to the "Stormwater Utility" line item under the "Non-Ad Valorem Assessments Heading."

The information below was shared by Connie Neeley, president of the Forest Lakes HOA, after the Resilient Workshop of April 22. Three line item discussions hit at the crux of the issues and are set up for future discussion at the  third Stormwater workshop to be held May 21: This link is to the video from the hearing held April 22: https://sarasotacounty. granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php? view_id=51&clip_id=6602 Items 31 and 33 are important to their concerns regarding creek dredging and staffing.  Item 31  presented by Commissioner Tom Knight which discusses hydrologist Steve Suau's stormwater flooding report and requires this topic to be discussed at the 5/21 workshop. Knight is also requesting Commissioner Neunder's email and his motion today to be discussed at the 5/21 workshop.  Review  Item 33 from  Commissioner Joe Neunder, which requested a review of existing and future road county thoroughfare plans.  Neunder also ask...

Sen Joe Gruters has filed an amendment to state parks bill that would remove hotels from the prohibited list in state parks (= would allow hotels in state parks). His district is Sarasota.  We are hoping that you can  call his office tonight  to tell him how deeply disappointed in him they are for filing his amendment to SB80? You can express concern for local state parks like Myakka River.  T he bill (and amendment) are up in committee tomorrow (Tues) 11 am, so timing is of utmost importance.  Please leave a message if nobody answers.   Gruters' Tallahassee office: (850) 487-5022 Give me a call if you have questions.   Kristen Kosik (she/her) Chapters Conservation Manager Audubon Florida 407-900-4441 fl.audubon.org/CLI More about Myakka River State Park