Community Proposals shared with Sarasota Planning

Email regarding Community proposals sent to Sarasota Planning 4.23.19:

Dear Mr. Kirk and Ms. Grogg

Thank you for choosing to include proposals received from the community in the Critical Area Plan workshop on May 14 at the Church of Hope.

You have indicated that these will include the community input given to the County via Fresh Start. That initiative brought a lot of ideas to the table, which were presented to the Board on Sept. 12 of last year.

To ensure you have the complete set of our community's ideas, the links below will take you to that body of work. Many in the community wished to co-sign this email; their names are included below.

1. Fresh Start Sept. 12 Report 
2. Fresh Start July 11 Report
3. Video: Common Sense and Uncommon Opportunity: Our public lands at the Celery Fields 
4. Community proposals and ideas

We're happy to answer any questions.

Thank you,

Glenna Blomquist

Gary Walsh, President, Meadowwalk

Tom Matrullo

Signatories

Kathryn Young

Rev. Steve Baran

Phil Eboli

Mary M. Ostermann

Chris Bales

Christine Evans

James C. Wallace

President, Legends at Tatum Ridge (162 Homes)

Cathy Comora

Nicole Graham

Carlos Correa

Vickie French

Margaret Haas

Paula Berkowitz

Margo Rose - Gulfport

Wendy Oster - Bradenton

Dan Shire - Canada

Rhonda Stapleton 

Mona Johnson

Laurel Hamel

Diane Warmbier

Peter Blake

Ken Zajak

Andrea Courtney

Sue Schoettle

Joy de Bruyn

Virginia Pritt Hickey

Luigi Verace

Angy Angel

Suzanne Mauzey

Ximena Griffioen

Pat Coco Gill

Karyn Massi

Michelle Wilfong

Christine Hoffman

Fendell Dustin Pilsbury

Marsha Arrowsmith

Edie Dee

Chuck Behrmann

Ben Davis

Gayle Reynolds 

Conservation Chair, Manatee/Sarasota Sierra Club

Nancy Miller

Diane Wallace

Michelle van Schouwen

Lora Reed

Charles Preston Rawls

Bob Gorevan

Pam Koepf

Laurie Hutson

Pat Kaufman

Patricia Casey

Guy DiLullo

Virginie Zemler

Ligia Dovale-Kiamco

Harold Logan

Bertha Gabriel

Lynn Hautamaki

====

Fresh Start Sarasota Blog

FreshStartSRQ

YouTube Channel

Board takes unexpected action on Quad Parcels

The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners today considered its Miami consultant's recommendation that parcel #3 be rezoned industrial and sold to a private end user. County staff did not recommend the proposal from Lambert Advisory, the consultant that did the assessment.

Herald Tribune story here.

After hearing from the consultant, Board discussion took many twists and turns, bringing in members' thoughts on parcels 1 and 2. All said they wished to share ideas while they could -- sunshine laws preventing discussion outside of the public eye.

Upshot: At Commissioner Caragiulo's recommendation, the Board voted unanimously to direct planning staff to look at possible modifications of the Critical Area Plan (CAP) which currently controls changes to the area -- for example, to the roads. The roads have been the limiting factor as they cannot be widened under the current CAP.

Planning staff are to return after Jan. 1 after looking at what can be done if the CAP is modified. This could open a new spectrum of possibilities: If the county wishes, it could integrate our public lands into a larger area coordinated to highlight and support the Celery Fields (a possibility that Fresh Start has raised in its "visioning"). On the other hand, the County could also make the roads more robust, then justify industry on one or more quad parcel.

We'll keep an eye on things. The election is coming, and the results will be crucial for the Celery Fields area.

Fresh Start's latest input to the Board is linked below:

• Statement presented 10.10.18 in "open to the public"

• Letter to the Board regarding the Lambert recommendation for industrial use

Finally, thanks to all -- sincerely -- who have remained staunchly supportive of Fresh Start's efforts, over the past 10 months.

Glenna Blomquist, Carlos Correa, Tom Matrullo, Gary Walsh
Fresh Start Executive Council

Fresh Start Statement on Plan to Industrialize Quad Parcel #3

To:    The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners
Re:    Fresh Start statement in response to Lambert assessment industrializing parcel #3
Date: October 4, 2018

As many know, Fresh Start has engaged in a nine-month dialog with you and and staff regarding the fate of public lands in the Celery Fields Area. We've sought to understand why you would go against clear public opposition to industry at the Celery Fields. So far, answers have not been forthcoming.

Quad parcels near Celery Fields

A Consultant's recommendation to industrialize public Quad parcel #3 raises additional serious questions, both about how it was done, and more broadly why you would spend good money ($61,209) on a report that looks solely at monetary considerations to the exclusion of all else.

Some of our questions address larger issues of planning and policy. Others specifically concern the handling of the recently completed assessment by your consultant, Lambert Advisory LLC.

Surplus Land Policy: Why do you believe it's a good idea to sell public land? Why would you accept a "highest and best use" assessment that ignores traffic, environment, economic potential, quality of life, and basically everything that matters to residents? What benefit do you believe would accrue to anyone other than the private industrial purchaser of this parcel?

Planning: We have long sought to discuss a certain piecemeal approach to planning. Here, for example, you plucked one parcel (#3) from a complex interconnected area in transition and seek to rezone it -- to something appropriate in 1983 -- without a glance at the larger picture. Fresh Start spent 9 months attempting to paint this larger picture of an area undergoing major changes from the residents' perspective. As stewards of our public lands, surely you see the virtue of proactive integrated planning?

MEC and Industry: Lambert Advisory's blunt determination that "industry" -- with no qualification as to what sort of industry -- would bring the highest price for parcel #3 is at odds with market activity at the Fruitville Initiative. That nearby area has more than 200 acres, which, like parcel #3, are all designated MEC. 

Add caption

In reviewing various plans submitted to the County within the Fruitville Initiative's MEC area, it appears that proposed land uses are all multi-family residential. Further, it is our understanding that while office and retail uses are also being considered, there appears to be little interest in industry. Given that these property owners presumably are marketing their properties to the highest and best use, there seems to be a significant disconnect between the reality created by the Lambert report and what's actually occurring on the ground. Therefore, the Lambert finding warrants rigorous review and reconciliation to assure that the return on the public’s investment is not being short-changed.

Scoping task #4: Fresh Start asked to communicate with Lambert while the Consultant was doing its research. County staff opposed any communication:

Out of an abundance of caution to the process, I would not be comfortable with a private group directly communicating with a consultant on an item that will culminate in a quasi-hearing on a Board directive that was decidedly different from your own. (Email from county planner Michele Norton to Fresh Start dated 7.2.18).

How did this obstruction advance the intent of the county's contractually tasking the consultant (in Scope #4) to base his findings on "a general understanding of the community and its residents"?

Roads and Traffic: Road conditions were the largest factor in last year's hearings concerning industry on parcel 2. To an inquiry from Fresh Start as to what information the County provided to Lambert regarding roads and traffic, Eric Liff, the Lambert employee who did the main research for the report, replied:

At the time of the study, we were not aware of any documented issues related to development constraints, including roadway capacity.  

• Why was the Consultant tasked with assessing highest and best use not provided with essential data about the fragile road situation on Palmer Blvd. and Apex Rd? 

• Was Lambert informed of Mr. Gabbert's Waste Transfer Station planned at Porter Rd. and Palmer Boulevard? Mr. Gabbert has said his industrial waste operation will generate at least 100 trucks a day entering and leaving his facility at Palmer and Bell Rd.  

• If Lambert was not provided with all pertinent road and traffic study data for this "assessment," what possible relation to reality is the Consultant's conclusion?

Waechter warehouse ILW

Domino Effect: If parcel #3 goes to industry, parcel #2 will be surrounded by industrial uses on three sides. Mr. Gabbert's waste transfer station is already in the works for the six acres along Porter Rd. adjacent to the west side of parcel #2; Robert Waechter owns warehousing immediately south of it.

How long before someone comes to you proposing that parcel #2 should be rezoned for industry?


Avoid irreparable damage

For these good reasons and more, Fresh Start opposes Sarasota County's rezoning and sale of our public lands at Apex and Palmer to private industrial developers. Approving industry here will compromise everything planning is supposed to be about: Optimizing road safety, environment, community resources, aesthetics and economic value.

Sarasota has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the rare counties that's met developers seeking uncontrolled growth with intelligent restraint, a sense of design, and an awareness of tradition.

Should you go forward with this recommendation, you'll re-brand this county. Sarasota will be known as the place where, over the unequivocal opposition of its citizens, the Board compromised a 360-acre sanctuary, recreation and residential area.

As our nine-month effort has made clear, many commonsense, beneficial alternatives exist for these public parcels. Instead of selling our land for industrial use, we respectfully ask that you adopt this proposed resolution:

Sincerely,

Glenna Blomquist, Carlos Correa, Tom Matrullo, Gary Walsh
Executive Council for the Fresh Start Initiative

Fresh Start has spent well over 1,000 volunteer hours gathering ideas, community support, and expert perspectives on the Celery Fields Area. Its July report is here. A "big picture" presentation is incorporated in this report, which was presented to the Board on Sept. 12. 2018 in video format. More about the Lambert Advisory report here and here.

County sets discussion of Industry near Celery Fields for Oct. 10

Email Oct. 4 from Fresh Start:​

To all who care about the Celery Fields Area:

While Fresh Start was working to find, vet, and present community ideas for the public lands at Apex and Palmer, the Board hired a Miami consultant, Lambert Advisory LLC, to assess Quad parcel #3 for rezoning and sale.

In August, Lambert turned in an assessment that the county could obtain the highest price if parcel #3 is rezoned for Industrial Use. The parcel could hold an 80,000 s.f. warehouse or other such industrial operation, Lambert stated.

Without recommending for or against approval, County staff has scheduled the Board to discuss rezoning the parcel to Industrial on Oct. 10.

If the Board wishes, it will vote to forward the proposed Industrial rezoning to proceed through the public process: Neighborhood Workshop, Planning Commission, Final Board Hearing. 

Three questions stand out:

1. If the fragile roads near the Celery Fields need to be addressed before allowing a simple park on them -- as Commissioner Caragiulo stated to Fresh Start on Sept. 12 -- what would justify the Board's initiating an industrial rezoning that will generate additional large truck traffic?

2. Lambert Advisory's report compared industrial uses with residential, office, and commercial for parcel #3, and states unequivocally that an industrial zoning would bring the highest sale price ("highest and best use" actually means "best price"). Others question this conclusion, however. 

In reviewing various plans submitted to the County within the nearby 200-acre MEC area of the Fruitville Initiative, it appears that proposed land uses are all multi-family residential. Further, it is our understanding that while office and retail uses are also being considered, there appears to be little interest in industry. Given that these property owners presumably are marketing their properties to the highest and best use, there seems to be a significant disconnect between the reality created by the Lambert report and what's actually occurring on the ground. Therefore, the Lambert finding warrants rigorous review and reconciliation to assure that the return on the public’s investment is not being short-changed.

3. Fresh Start repeatedly asked to speak with Lambert, and was denied. Lambert was tasked with gaining a knowledge of the Community (see scoping document below); how was that mission helped by blocking communication with the community?

More industry

​In addition, ​James Gabbert is working out final details of his planned Waste Transfer Station on 6 acres along Porter Rd. and Palmer Boulevard west of parcel #2. Gabbert has said the facility will generate 100 trucks a day, entering and exiting on Palmer Blvd. at Bell Rd.​ If he meets a few technical hurdles, he can build without further public review, or even a new traffic study.​

Action Item:

This coming Wednesday, Oct. 10, the Board will consider the Lambert recommendation to rezone parcel #3 for up to 80,000 s.f. of industrial use (time to be announced). If you are able to attend, please put it on your calendar. No need to speak -- just being there will mean a lot. 

Fresh Start is still seeking more information and will update soon.

Thank you,

The Fresh Start Executive Council

Restaurant Depot, Tampa

A welcoming place

Matrullo: Protect sites near Celery Fields

A slightly modified version of this Op-Ed column ran in the Herald Tribune on 9.11.18

A consultant's report commissioned by Sarasota County recently recommended selling Parcel #3 of the Quad Parcels near the Celery Fields for an 80,000 square foot industrial operation. 

In the course of its analysis, the Consultant, Lambert Advisory, offered the image to the left, which shows parcel #3, a nine-acre site, surrounded by an office/industrial area to the north, and a similar smaller grouping to the west.

The image seems to suggest that the prevailing zoning supports selling Parcel #3, now public land, to a private industrial developer.

Is the "aerial" image a reasonable representation upon which to make a fair judgment? Let's go to Google Maps, and see what happens if we slightly widen the view from the air:

Relative size of industrial area and Celery Fields 

From this vantage we see that parcel #3 actually faces the quite large (360 acres) open area of the Celery Fields, rich in wildlife, wetlands, and recreation, to the East. The single most imposing feature of this entire area is formed by the plateau and waters of the Celery Fields -- a much used and touristed area that already lacks sufficient parking or complementary uses necessary to support it. (Audubon report.)

It appears that Parcel #3 could be sold on the pretext that the county needs money. The Commission won't consider raising taxes or raising impact fees, which would balance the costs to the taxpayers of new development. Yet one Commissioner recently stated that the county is in terrific financial shape and has no shortfalls. Thus the pressure to sell our public lands would appear to be non-existent.

The Lambert Advisory study makes it seem like the only reasonable option is industry, recommending an 80,000-square-foot building on parcel #3. It finds vehicular traffic insufficient to consider commercial use, even though the site is within a short walk of the very busy and successful Detwiler’s produce market through the Palmer Boulevard underpass.

If rezoned to industry, our public lands would likely be saddled with large warehouse operations, manufacturing, demolition, or other uses whose sole object is to maximize a private developer's own profit. The impacts feared by many who opposed two industrial proposals last year -- Restaurant Depot and James Gabbert's waste processing operation -- would be there: truck traffic, potential pollution, disruption of the natural flow of the area, potential disturbance to nesting birds, and more.

The Fresh Start Initiative opposes the sale of these public lands to private industrial developers. Our communities love the Celery Fields, and desire nothing more than a sensible area plan that could address the lack parking and of complementary support systems. It's as simple as having a place to walk to for a bite to eat, or where one could relax with friends before or after walking Mt. Celery, near the birds and other wildlife. One could add community programs for children that would offer opportunities to learn about ecology, birds, water, stormwater engineering, and more.

A combination of environmental precaution, neighborhood prudence, and common sense provision drives Fresh Start's effort to preserve all three Quad Parcels for public benfit.

This is not a political issue. It's simply neighbors taking a clear-eyed assessment and finding that the "highest and best use" of our public lands is to invest in our communities, protect our valuable natural treasure, and serve the people who live and work here, whose lands these are.

On Wednesday, Sept. 12, Fresh Start will ask that the County dedicate the Quad parcels to beneficial public uses in perpetuity.

On the Anniversary of the Gabbert Hearing

August 23 marks exactly one year since hundreds of Sarasota residents came out to oppose an incomprehensible proposal -- a developer seeking to operate a giant open-air industrial waste processing facility on public land at Apex Road and Palmer Blvd., a short walk from the Celery Fields bird sanctuary, wetlands, and recreation area.

Had the Board's 3-2 vote gone the other way, we might now be seeing diesel trucks on Palmer Blvd and Apex Road, coming and leaving a 16-acre construction debris and yard waste pulverizing operation on parcel #2. (Video: Gabbert hearing) Mr. Gabbert still has Board approval for a 6-acre waste transfer station at Porter and Palmer.

Last November, a group of citizens organized a coalition of neighborhoods to come up with a better idea for the Quad parcels. Fresh Start consulted the community as well as local experts, researching alternatives to selling the lands for industrial uses. The group received many ideas and conceptual proposals -- a final four were presented to the Board on July 11, 2018. All results were contained in the Fresh Start report handed in that day.

Fresh Start now has a Sept. 12th date to meet publicly with the Board. With hopes for a good decision the group will make a presentation, but is also grappling with the fact that since handing in its report, there has been no communication, no directed action, in response to our citizens' proposals. So far, Fresh Start has done all the talking. Will they find Board support? Or will each proposal in turn be weighed, found wanting, and dismissed?

We'd like to hear your thoughts -- here are some of ours: Regardless of the Board's view of any or all of our community proposals, our commitment and vision have one overriding purpose: to remove the Quad parcels from the County's surplus lands list.

So our position today is the same as it was a year ago: The Celery Fields is too valuable, too unique, too beautiful a natural treasure to degrade with industry. There's no reason to sell any of these 30 acres to a private developer when so much East Sarasota open land -- upwards of 20,000 acres at last count -- has recently been approved for private gated communities.

Before turning rural lands into sprawling housing projects, the County needs to think about the public's right to breathe clean air, travel safe roads, have police, fire and school resources at hand, and public spaces to gather, play sports, practice hobbies, and share and learn from each other -- in short, to exist as a community. The public lands at Apex and Palmer can and should be dedicated to community-oriented uses, and that's what we'll say -- with some new data and images -- in a few weeks to the Board.

So please join us Sept. 12 if you can. We'll let you know the time as soon as we know.

Meanwhile, please sign and share our Petition --- it's got hundreds of comments from those who've already signed.

Public Vision for our Public Lands at the Celery Fields

 Common Sense to Protect our Celery Fields

Herald Tribune

Video: Fresh Start's April 25th Presentation to Sarasota County

This is the County video of the April 25th Fresh Start presentation of community-based proposals for Quad Parcels 1 and 2 to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners.

The process by which residents came up with over 40 proposals, which then were vetted and narrowed through a rigorous community roundtable process to four, was outlined. The proposals were then described with a powerpoint including images, and an integrative vision for the entire Celery Fields area was briefly outlined.

Fresh Start was encouraged  to refine the proposals and return with a report before the Board's vacation break. Fresh Start returned on July 11 to present an updated complete report, entitled Public Uses for Public Lands at the Celery Fields.

The April 25 presentation below begins at the 30 minute mark, and ends at 1 hr. 27 minutes:

Public Uses for Public Lands At the Celery Fields

This is the updated report submitted to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners on July 11, 2018. It can also be downloaded here:

To:     The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners
From: The Fresh Start Initiative
Re:     Update Report
Date:  July 11, 2018

The Executive Council of Fresh Start is pleased to present this update report, Public Uses for Public Lands at the Celery Fields, which offers our communities’ sense of the highest and best use of the quad parcels at Apex and Palmer Boulevard at the Celery Fields.

This update focuses on progress made since our last report of April 25th, 2018 (our prior reports are attached for ease of reference). We anticipate that you will address this community request for action after your summer break, and we look forward to a positive outcome for our community.

Brief background

On Nov. 28th, 2017, the Board granted the Fresh Start Initiative time to determine the priorities of our communities in the area of the Celery Fields with regard to appropriate and feasible uses for two of the three Quad parcels. Specifically you removed parcel #1 from the surplus list, and chose not to put parcel #2 out for sale pending the Fresh Start effort. You directed that a consultant be hired to rezone parcel #3 for “highest and best use,” with the intent to sell it. [Minutes (1)]

On April 25th, we reported that our residents and an advisory panel had examined over 40 conceptual ideas and proposals from our communities. Through a process of expert evaluation and rigorous community selection (method described in April 25th presentation), four proposals were deemed to best meet the four criteria of feasibility, compatibility with the area, utility to the neighbors, and economic viability:

For Parcel 1:

1. A multi-use community facility - trails, gardens, a wedding pavilion, meeting area.
2. A Celery Fields-themed nature lodge/restaurant with platforms for birders.

For Parcel 2:

3. A boulevard style set of shops, fooderies, and upstairs residences.
4. Outdoor sports courts and fields built, run, and maintained by the Sarasota YMCA.

The community expressed the highest support -- 84% -- for option 4, the $1 million YMCA proposal featuring pickleball, tennis, basketball, a shaded exercise area, open sports field, parking, pavilion and gourmet food truck area. Since April, at your direction we have focused on refining that proposal and addressing questions raised in our individual meetings with the Board and with staff in May and June.

Survey and Site Analysis

In May, Fresh Start performed a short survey (4) of its HOAs asking what sports fields -- for soccer, baseball, football -- and sports courts -- pickleball, tennis, and basketball -- currently are available to them. It turns out that none of these facilities are publicly available East of I-75. To reach the nearest tennis, baseball or soccer fields required drives of up to 9 miles. It turns out that nearly all public sports fields and courts lie west of the Interstate at Colonial Oaks, Fruitville Park, 17th Street, each with limited facilities to serve its nearby communities.

Also in the past couple of months, Tampa-based SEER Analytics performed a site study authorized by the Sarasota YMCA which is attached to this report (3). It reveals a substantial user base within a short radius of parcel #2: More than 43,500 households would be within easy driving distance of the facility. The SEER study includes detailed demographic data and finds a ready community of households to make use of a YMCA facility there.

Learning & volunteering: YMCA and Audubon

We’ve also learned more about the YMCA’s range of programs for children. In certain counties, YMCAs lease parklands to provide summer camps. At the Celery Fields, the Sarasota Y could offer a rich array of children’s programs making great use of the natural treasures right next door. Think of kids birding with Audubon volunteers, and fishing, hiking, and kayaking with YMCA leaders. A YMCA at the Celery Fields would amplify the range and richness of what our community’s seniors and children can experience.

Zooming Out

We thank you for the opportunity to present these proposals, which grew out of a half-year of serious community outreach, consultation, feedback and choices. The ball is now in your court. As a final consideration, let’s zoom out from this present moment, and remember what brought us to this point.

On August 23, 2017, this Board experienced the community’s shock and outrage that an open air industrial waste facility would even be considered for parcel #2:

• Residents of neighborhoods that didn’t exist when the area was zoned MEC in 1983 spoke of profound changes the area has seen, and how much the Celery Fields means to them. 

• Environmental groups reminded you of the County’s extraordinary good fortune in having an eco-tourist wonderland attractive to 224 species of birds evolve from a stormwater project. 

• Citizens wondered what planning principles and vision would allow consideration of heavy industrial uses in this ecologically sensitive area with fragile roads.

After the August 23, 2017 hearing, many believed the Board would direct staff to take a fresh look at this area, consult residents, and work to optimize its potential. Fresh Start arose out of that concern. Even now, a year later, an industrial proposal could compromise the community.

If we zoom out further, big projects are coming. Large-scale housing tracts plan more than 27,000 homes on 20,700 acres stretching from University Parkway at the north end down past Fruitville, Bee Ridge, and Clark roads to SR 681 near Venice. Sarasota County’s open spaces and country roads are vanishing forever.

Commissioners, it is the responsibility of your office to evaluate these large proposed developments in light of public infrastructure, services, and amenities. We take this opportunity to assert the public’s right to a vision that balances private development with public needs.

Fresh Start urges the Board to take this small step towards a proactive vision and a positive direction for the future of Sarasota’s people. On behalf of our 50 communities we ask your support for a YMCA sports facility on the 10.6 acres of Quad Parcel #2. Ideally, all four quad parcels should be dedicated to sensible, interrelated uses that will become more acutely necessary as East Sarasota builds out. Staff has outlined the requisite re-zoning actions for each of our four proposals (8).

Sarasota County is at a significant crossroads: The Board can dedicate these public lands to optimal public uses, or sell them to industrial developer

                           THIS . . .         or              THIS?

Vote for your community’s future: Let’s make a healthy fresh start at the Quads for East Sarasota County.

Thank you.

The Fresh Start Executive Council
Glenna Blomquist, Carlos Correa, Tom Matrullo, Gary Walsh
Fresh Start HOA Signatories

Public Parcels at Apex Rd. and Palmer Blvd.

Parcel 1: Off Surplus List                  Parcel 2: Fresh Start                    Parcel 3: Consultant Rezone

Supporting Documents Introductory Letter to Jane Grogg Minutes Nov. 28th, 2017 Think Tank YMCA Field Proposal SEER Analytics Study for the YMCA Fresh Start Neighborhood Survey (Distance from Sports Facilities) Fresh Start April 25th Presentation Fresh Start Report of April 25th Fresh Start Report of Feb. 5th with updates Staff Zoning and Land Use Analysis East County Athletic Resources Map Letter to R. Waechter

•                   Parcel 1: Off Surplus List 

•                 Parcel 2: Fresh Start 

•                   Parcel 3: Consultant Rezone

Supporting Documents

Introductory Letter to Jane Grogg

1. Minutes Nov. 28th, 2017 Think Tank
2. YMCA Field Proposal
3. SEER Analytics Study for the YMCA
4. Fresh Start Neighborhood Survey (Distance from Sports Facilities)
5. Fresh Start April 25th Presentation
6. Fresh Start Report of April 25th
7. Fresh Start Report of Feb. 5th with updates
8. Staff Zoning and Land Use Analysis
9. East County Athletic Resources Map
10. Letter to R. Waechter

A tale of two updates

The Fresh Start Initiative presented to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners community-based proposals and for public lands at the Celery Fields as well as a broader vision for the Celery Fields area that came out of five months of discussions, panels, interviews, and a round table process (all documented on this blog).

Below a slide shows possible enhancements to the area, including a footbridge linking the public parcel #1 with the Celery Fields wetlands. Also a tourist center and a parking area, all from the April 25 power point presentation to the Board.

Also on April 25, 2018, James Gabbert resubmitted his proposal for a waste transfer station on 6 acres adjacent to public parcel #2, at Porter Rd. and Palmer Blvd.

Waste transfer station stock image

Gabbert's proposed demolition waste facility for the whole of parcel #2 last year triggered an uproar among Sarasota residents and visitors who opposed placing a dump on public land near the Celery Fields. (Timeline)

How to site a Waste Transfer Facility (EPA)

Fresh Start thanks its advisory panel, HOA presidents and signatories, delegates, and all who helped develop and refine community-based proposals as well as a larger, unifying vision for the Celery Fields area.

Fresh Start to bring community vision to Commissioners April 25

Feasibility | Economic Viability | Compatibility with the Area | Utility to Neighbors

MEDIA ADVISORY

April 18, 2018

What: Fresh Start Initiative Update
When: 9 a.m. Wednesday April 25
Where: Sarasota County Commission, 1660 Ringling Blvd.

Fresh Start to Present Proposals for Public Lands near Celery Fields

The Fresh Start Initiative will present the first-round results of its civic experiment in community-based visioning for public lands to the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners on Wednesday, April 25.

The community Initiative began November 28, 2017, after the Board agreed to hold off on surplus-land decisions for two public parcels near the Celery Fields for six months while the citizen group consulted the community’s wishes for the parcels. Fresh Start cites the support of 50 HOAs surrounding the Celery Fields for the effort.

The results offer a sense of the community’s vision that could transform the two parcels, which total 23 acres, by developing them in ways that would both enhance the natural treasure already there and serve the people of the community, according to members of the group’s Executive Council.

The Quad Parcel

The parcels are at the intersection of Apex Road and Palmer Boulevard. Parcel #1 on the southeastern corner is 12.7 acres and abuts the western edge of the Celery Fields wetlands. Two bird walks there draw tourists from across the country eager to see some of the rarer of more than 225 species known to visit there. Parcel #2 on the southwestern corner has 10.7 acres. The parcels have sat vacant for 20 years.

Fresh Start’s process required time to organize and implement.

"Over the past five months, we have designed, organized and implemented a three-step process,” said Fresh Start council member Marguerite Malone. “We first elicited interest, ideas, and then proposals from our communities. Secondly, we reviewed those proposals through a strong team of local experts in planning, architecture, environment and neighborhood organization. Thirdly, we established delegates from our community who attended a roundtable meeting to discuss, listen, modify, and then vote for the best proposals."

The proposals were vetted both by the community and the Advisory Panel for their congruence with four leading criteria: Feasibility, Economic Viability, Compatibility with the Area, and Utility to Neighbors. Utilizing a weighted vote approach, the roundtable participants selected four proposals -- two for each parcel.

The proposals combine a variety of public uses with private opportunities to offer goods or services on land leased from the county, said Fresh Start member and Meadow Walk president Gary Walsh. Instead of selling the lands outright to private developers, they would remain in public hands, but provide annual revenue to the County via leases, tourist taxes, and employment. Over time that revenue could exceed what a one-time sale would bring in, he added.

The group is scheduled to present details of the four proposals to the County shortly after 9 a.m., April 25.

“In some cases the final ideas combine two or more original proposals,” said Glenna Blomquist of Fresh Start, adding, “There was a creative ferment -- ideas evolved along the way.”

Fresh Start grew out of a community uproar over a developer's proposal last year to convert one of the parcels into an open-air demolition waste processing facility. More than 300 residents concerned about traffic, health, noise, environmental harm, property values and more turned out at the County Commission's August 23 public hearing on the petition, which lasted seven hours before the Commissioners voted the proposal down.

The waste plant was a wake-up call, the group says. While the waste proposal failed, nothing prevents another developer from seeking to convert the same public parcel to heavy industrial use.

“The Board didn’t use the opportunity to direct staff to review the underlying land use provisions for the area, which were put in place nearly 40 years ago -- before many of the residential communities and businesses -- before even the Celery Fields area itself -- existed,” said Fresh Start council member Carlos Correa, president of The Enclave, a residential community on Palmer Boulevard East.

That concern prompted the formation of Fresh Start, which offered to research the area, gather community participation and input, and to come back with some conceptual plans within six months of the November 28, 2017 agreement with the Board.

“The Initiative here was to facilitate a potential synergy of community vision and county supervision,” said Tom Matrullo of Fresh Start. “We are not backing any specific plan, nor are we associated with any organization behind any proposal. We facilitated a community-based method to produce and gain consensus on coordinated, viable plans, creating the opportunity for a positive collaboration between our elected officials and our residents, who were deeply divided over the County’s handling of the Waste Plant proposal last year.”

In addition to proposals for the two parcels, ideas came up along the way for enhancements to the common areas -- a roundabout, a bus loop, a footbridge, and more. The group says such features would unify the area and hopes the County will give them consideration.

The group will present the four proposals selected at the Roundtable meeting to the Commissioners and invite them to take the next step: To authorize staff to work with community representatives on refining them.

“The enthusiasm and creativity of our citizens working on this has been extraordinary,” said Fresh Start’s Blomquist. “A balanced collaborate effort of community and County can transform these vacant public lands into a win/win: a community catalyst that interrelates commerce, history, nature, neighborhood walkability, recreation and tourism.”

Fresh Start has been given 30 minutes for presentation and discussion beginning shortly after 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 25. The public is welcome to attend the meeting, to be held in the Commission Chamber of the County Administration Building at 1660 Ringling Boulevard. Supporters of Fresh Start plan to wear green shirts or tops.