SCANNING Sarasota PLANNING

  Request to Attend The Gulf Gate Golf Course Acquisition has been listed as a 2025 Policy Agenda item for the Sarasota County Board of Commissioners.  A key to purchasing the 49-acre parcel is funding.  Your prior participation in emails and attendance in 2023 was effective and thank you.    Sarasota County will receive $210 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to support long-term recovery efforts from the 2024 storms Debby, Helene and Milton.   The Gulf Gate Golf Course acquisition qualifies and will be submitted by the Gulf Gate Community Association.    We are reaching out to request that you attend and speak for one minute at the County’s Resilient SRQ public meetings.  Numbers of attendees is important. The County Commissioners will get a tally of how many people showed up for the public meeting about the Gulf Gate Golf Course acquisition  and the number of s...

On Tuesday Jan. 21, 9 am, the BCC will hold a workshop / discussion about the flooding after Hurricane Debby in the main Admin building, Why did Debby flood? There's a multitude of questions. Hydrologist  Steve Suau  has been given 20 minutes to present his findings after doing an independent study of the flooding. He has said that he'll focus on his stormwater  recommendations to the Board .  Suau's recommendations are at this link: https://scansarasota.blogspot. com/2024/11/recommendations- from-hydrologist-steven.html While all the recommendations are important, we think these in particular need to be emphasized after the experience of Debby, followed by Helene and Milton: 3.  inventory all dikes (or levees) 6. Rebuild internal technical expertise 7.  proactively prioritize floodplains for planning and protection through acquisition of public easements. Perhaps the most important of Steve's recs is: 8. Minimize Density Increases in Designated Floodplain...

The recent flood presentation by Steve Suau at Selby Library drew an overflow crowd. It has also generated media coverage.  Suau said he's still gathering data and should finalize his report and recommendations in early November, but what he had to say got a lot of attention.  So far, we have the stories published below. Ramon Lopez at WSLR News : Sarasota hydrologist has an idea. And what to do next. ======== Kerry Sheridan at WUSF / NPR: A YouTube video reveals a dike breach during Debby that caused mysterious Sarasota flooding :                                                                      ======= = Carrie Seidman at the Herald Tribune: Opinion: We know why Sarasota flooded during recent storms. How will we handle future ones?                 ...

The next SCAN meeting will be at Selby Library on October 24. Laurel Meadows after Debby, August 2024 Three serious storms in the past three months have people asking why flooding occurred in areas that should have had stormwater protection. Nearly 2000 residents have signed a Petition asking the County to study what went wrong when Hurricane Debby flooded inland communities. Join us on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 5:30 PM to hear a professional stormwater engineer talk about the recent experience of flooding in Sarasota.  Twenty five years ago, Steve Suau was head of the county's stormwater department and played a key role in developing the Celery Fields stormwater management facility. He went on to a successful career in the private sector. Hurricane Ian flooded North Port and the Myakka in 2022. Helene and Milton wreaked havoc with coastal storm surges. After Debby flooded several areas of Sarasota County including Laurel Meadows, Pinecraft, and homes along Phillippi Creek in August ...

An email sent by Lourdes Ramirez to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners (Commissioners@scgov.net)  Hello Commissioners, I am absolutely appalled that the 3H Ranch proposal is even being considered. There should be an immediate pause on all new housing proposals until the County thoroughly investigates why the "flood-free zones" got flooded a few weeks ago. What exacerbates the situation further is the outrageous idea of possibly reducing open space from the required 50% to 33%. It's utterly ridiculous! The more pavement that is installed in a gated development, the greater the likelihood of flooding in the neighboring communities. Sarasota homes inundated by Debby (HT photo) I know what will be said during the public hearing:  It's about Property Rights...I wholeheartedly reject the developers', recent candidates', and public officials' interpretation of 'Property Rights'. It is a deceitful ploy wrapped in the American Flag to justify overde...