SCANNING Sarasota PLANNING

Meet the contenders to become Sarasota County's newest planning board commissioners Christian Casale Sarasota Herald-Tribune As concerns with development have become the preeminent political issue in Sarasota, the County Commission will appoint new members to its important Planning Commission next week. The Planning Commission advises the county on important development issues, including long-term growth and land use. In recent years, the board has been seen as a pro-development body and a breeding ground for future county commissioners. However, the momentum may have shifted in April with  the appointment of Jon Thaxton .  Thaxton, a former county commissioner, is the director of policy at the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and a public advocate against Sarasota’s explosion of development in recent years.  Planning Commissioners Donna Carter and Cullen Morgan have not applied for reappointment, so there are two open positions among the seven people who applied. The cand...

A new spirit is enlivening the land-use planning processes in our area, as  this Craig Pittman article makes clear .  Pittman looks at a radical shift in the approach to planning in Manatee County -- a similar awareness is present in Sarasota. The developers do not run the show as they once did. At the same time, there is increased pressure on our conservation lands and open space. What programs and efforts are working to preserve environmental lands, habitat, floodplains and open space at the state, county and local levels and how effective are they? SCAN's next meeting is Wednesday, August 27 at Jacaranda Library. We'll start at 5:30 pm -- f you have an issue you wish to talk about, this is the time to talk about it. Beginning at 6 pm, four speakers will share their perspectives on land uses. Each approaches land from a different angle: Charles Hines Charles Hines - a former Sarasota Commissioner - will talk about his work with the Trust for Public Land, involving the ...

July 1, 2025 Budget Workshop Sarasota County Commission and staff hearing from citizens flooded by Hurricane Debby: The result: The Board directed Administrator Jonathan Lewis to hire a Director and Manager David Ochs:  "Please hire new blood"  Jay Crabtree  "You guys have listened to us"  “Through our own research and talking to experts, we've found that the county may be exempt from both state and federal permits,” said Seth Johnson, a volunteer with the South Gate Community Association. “Because they are pursuing a navigational dredge instead of stormwater maintenance, they could be completely missing this process that could get a shovel in the creek within a few months, rather than taking delay after delay from going through the federal permit process,” he told WUSF. Kerry Sheridan, WUSF/NPR Connie Neeley  "You don't just have a flood problem -  you have a trust problem" \ Kristy Molyneuaux "Stormwater leadership is broken" " Sar...

Spencer Anderson 2022 Sarasota County officials downplayed flood risk. Tropical Storm Debby exposed their failures   Florida Trident & Suncoast Seachlight Laurel Meadows after Debbie 2024 Blame game begins after feds deny Sarasota County emergency dredging of Phillippi Creek   Herald Tribune Homeowner in Laurel Meadows  Confusion arises after Phillippi Creek residents learn county administrator said Army Corps of Engineers denied emergency permit for dredging   Sarasota News Leader PHILLIPPI Creek No emergency permit: Dredging of Phillippi Creek to wait another hurricane season    Florida Trident & Suncoast Searchlight Berm at Cow Pen Slough Residents express concern as Phillippi Creek dredging project reclassified to standard permit    Fox 13 Tampa Bay

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...