SCANNING Sarasota PLANNING

This letter to the Board was sent May 31st, 2025: Dear Commissioners Neunder, Knight, Smith, Mast and Cutsinger, As a former reporter for the  Herald Tribune , I covered issues of development and planning that involve giving attention to the pulse of the public. I continue to do this as an independent journalist via social media, email, and attending public hearings. I’m no stormwater engineer, but I can gauge where the public sits on the stormwater issue. The public is not sitting, it’s standing -- out of anxiety and outrage. Today is May 31. Storm season starts tomorrow and we do not appear to have an actual plan, or a clear-cut understanding of what went wrong last year, and of what needs to be done to ensure that disastrous county failures do not repeat during this storm season or in any future year. Alarm bells went off during Debby .  I live next to a park with canals. Prior to Debby, the canals were completely dry. An unnamed storm, or invest, filled the canals nearly o...

Hydrologist Steve Suau's analysis of Sarasota County's process is essential to understanding the processes, necessities and preparatory steps of stormwater management: From:  Stephen Suau Sent:  Wednesday, May 21, 2025 12:02 PM To:  ' jneunder@scgov.net ' < jneunder@scgov.net >; Ron Cutsinger < RCutsinger@scgov.net >;  tmast@scgov.net ; Mark Smith < mhsmith@scgov.net >;  tknight@scgov.net Subject:  Stormwater Management - Moving Forward Honorable Commissioners - First and foremost, thank you for your committed leadership and strategic focus on improving the management of stormwater in Sarasota County. You understand that hundreds of lives and livelihoods as well as businesses were upended by the floods last summer. You also understand that these are our neighbors with families, mortgages, and responsibilities, with roots in the community.   This is also what compelled me to conduct an independent review to assess the Tropical Storm De...

An email from Argus Foundation's Christine Robinson on the Stormwatr Managemetn Workshop urging the Board to focus on the issues and keep the city Interlocal Agreement: May 20, 2025 Honorable Chair Joe Neunder and Honorable County Commissioners Re: Termination of City of Sarasota Interlocal Agreement for Stormwater Management Dear Honorable Chair Neunder and Honorable County Commissioners, The Argus Foundation wishes to express its sincere appreciation for your leadership in establishing the special stormwater maintenance workshop prior to storm season. Your diligent efforts to manage the agenda on this critical issue and ensure public transparency in addressing questions are commendable. We particularly value the empathy you have demonstrated toward flood victims who remain concerned about the upcoming storm season. We are grateful for your responsiveness to the diverse voices across the county advocating for public accountability regarding maintenance procedures. However, we must...

Ahead of the May 21 Stormwater Workshop, the Southgate Community Association's stance as given in an email to the County Commission is clear: Subject: South Gate's Requests for the Upcoming Stormwater workshop To: < commissioners@scgov.net >, < tmast@scgov.net >, < jneunder@scgov.net >, Mark Smith < mhsmith@scgov.net >, < tknight@scgov.net >, < rcutsinger@scgov.net > We strongly urge Commissioners to consider implementing the following policies at the next stormwater workshop on May 21: Make it crystal clear with a vote that Phillippi Creek is a stormwater conveyance in addition to a public navigable waterway.  It is the County's responsibility not property owners.   Ongoing maintenance is going to come with a price, so designating it as both navigable and stormwater allows for both funds to be available.   Assign full  responsibility for sediment removal and ongoing maintenance  of Phillippi Creek and its ...

Sarasota Commission Chair Joe Neunder sent this to the Board today: Policy Topics for consideration/discussion for BOCC Consolidation of the SEU (Stormwater Environmental Utility) and Fund 440 that should be overseen by a subject matter expert in stormwater management with a goal of creating a state-of-the-art program providing BOTH flood protection and stormwater quality that is truly a model for the rest of Florida. Internal core expertise of staff should be built to proactively manage the technical, operational and customer service aspects of the program. A restructuring would likely require that market rate competitive salaries be considered to attract and retain employees and should be a priority of leadership. County Admin would be responsible for filling said position at direction/funding from the BOCC. Independent of what business center the SEU resides, at this time it should be its own complete dept, reporting directly to County Admin. If stormwater funds are desired to maint...

Rescue teams in Sarasota helped hundreds of people get out of flooded homes due to Hurricane Debby NPR Kerry Sheridan, WUSF Tampa Many residents believe the county has fallen short on its duty to remove sediment and vegetation from creeks, ditches and drains that keeps heavy rains from causing massive flooding. 2024 showed stormwater management is in crisis. We are running out of time to fix it Sarasota News Leader Despite commissioners’ continued expressions of concern about staff progress in resolving identified deficiencies, not nearly enough has been accomplished to protect those who rely on the integrity of the Phillippi Creek drainage watershed. Wastewater / Stormwater: Two Wake-Up Calls A dramatic increase in the Countywide annual stormwater assessments in 2022 ha s been accompanied by a decrease in Countywide customer satisfaction in terms of stormwater maintenance . Did your stormwater assessment go up? Here's how to check Residents are finding their stormwater assessmen...