Commissioner Knight seeks to address the larger issues of Growth in Sarasota County

 A MEMO from Commissioner Tom Knight that will be on Tuesday's Agenda under Item 29: 

County Commissioner Tom Knight

MEMO

To: Commissioner Ron Cutsinger Commissioner Teresa Mast Commissioner Joe Neunder Commissioner Mark Smith 

Cc:  County Administrator Jonathan Lewis County Attorney Joshua Moye 

From: Commissioner Tom Knight 

Date: March 3, 2025 

Subject: Outside evaluation of Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan and Sarasota 2050    

As you may remember, at our December 13 strategic planning retreat I requested a review of our comprehensive plan and Sarasota 2050. I was told at the time that it was not something typically included in an annual strategic plan and instead could be a simple staff assignment. 

 At our next regularly scheduled commission meeting, I plan to raise this topic again but will request that instead of it being a staff project we invest in a qualified and unbiased outside consultant (possibly with help from the American Planning Association) for a broader and different kind of review that, among other things, does the following: 

• States the guiding principles and intent of the comprehensive plan that was approved and passed in 2016 as well as the version of Sarasota 2050 that was originally completed in 2002  

• Identifies significant demographic and migration shifts since then that have impacted us, as well as rare but consequential events from recessions to pandemics and natural disasters  

• Provides data and insight regarding the rapid population and housing growth in our county 

• Explains what major changes have been made to the comprehensive plan and 2050 and what consequences resulted 

• Identifies cases in which we fail to follow our own guidelines 

• Provides case studies and best practices from other communities that have experienced similar challenges relating to growth.

 I ask for this because it has become clear that our county, and many of our municipalities, are struggling with unprecedented and unforeseen growth and I believe we have a moral imperative to take a step back and analyze what happened, so we have a better framework for making future decisions. (emphasis added)

Our citizens have made it abundantly clear that we are not keeping up with infrastructure nor listening to their pleas. We are bound by the confines of state statutes and local ordinances, but we are also responsible for creating some of the policies that later tie our hands.   

In preparation for this conversation, I am including two passages below from the introduction section in our comprehensive plan. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

Beyond the Urban Service Area Boundary, future development will utilize planning programs designed to balance growth in a way that protects unique environmental characteristics and minimizes the overall impact of development upon residents and visitors. 

Population increases will require a commensurate investment in the county's physical and social infrastructure. Public facilities will be maintained at adequate levels of service, partly by the construction of new facilities and partly by the use of new methods to conserve the capacity of existing facilities. Infrastructure systems should also be used to accommodate other Comprehensive Plan goals, such as economic development and protection of the natural environment.