Proposals for the Quad Parcels at the Celery Fields: How-To Guide

If you’re considering a use or activity that would genuinely enhance public parcels that lie between the Celery Fields and the Packinghouse district, the Fresh Start Initiative wants to hear from you before March 1.

The Fresh Start Initiative is a community-based effort that began after Aug. 28, 2017. That day, thanks to a huge turnout of concerned, articulate advocates, the Sarasota County Commission voted 3-2 against a proposed Waste Facility on Parcel #2 of “The Quads,” the parcels at Apex Rd. and Palmer Blvd.

Thanks to you, visitors to the Celery Fields today do NOT see a 16-acre, open-air waste processing facility under construction. Better ideas are out there, and we know where. They're in the minds and hearts of Sarasotans who know the Celery Fields, and what is necessary to make this area a vibrant and diverse gateway to East County.

The County says it needs to sell or use these parcels to help close a budget gap. Fresh Start has a goal to facilitate a few really good conceptual proposals that meet four criteria:

1 - enhance the beauty of the surrounding area

2 - provide practical benefit for residents and businesses who live and work nearby

3 - serve as a catalyst for a new and diverse destination that includes a fabulous natural landscape within walking distance of urban life.
4 - provide economic benefit to the county.

What to do?

• Submit your proposal FreshStartSarasota@gmail.com by March 1st.
• Attend the initial Proposal Review set for March 15th (details to come)
• Come to the April 10th public workshop where the community will choose proposals.

What should the proposal contain?

-- Fresh Start has compiled relevant info about each of the two parcels (SE and SW) which the County has given us a limited time to consider -- dimensions of the parcels, images of the area, underlying land use designations, and other conditions (see “Tools” below).

-- A proposal should present a vision of the use(s) it describes, and provide estimates of structures, sizes, costs. Would the parcel be purchased in whole or part by whoever is doing the proposed use, or leased? Or given to the entity that would make the necessary improvements?

-- A proposal need not have highly detailed plans, but should contain clear conceptual descriptions, accompanied if possible by visual aids, and a statement as to why the concept would be a good fit for the parcel and the area.

Some Tools for Proposals for Quad Parcels #1 and #2

Basic factsheet on the parcels

Specific Dimensions

Duany Study of Celery Fields Area 2006

County Land Use Data for Quads

Background & Context

That’s it. Please share this information with your neighbors, and bear in mind the March 1st deadline. Feel free to direct any questions to FreshStartSarasota@gmail.com

Thank you.

The Executive Council for the Fresh Start Initiative

Tom Matrullo, Marguerite Malone, Carlos Correa, Glenna Blomquist, Gary Walsh

Taking the Initiative

On Nov. 28th last, the Fresh Start Initiative got the County's "blessing" to begin a citizen process to generate good ideas for the Quad parcels between The Celery Fields - Sarasota, Florida and the Packinghouse District.

The Initiative worked out a process and a timeline, aiming for two goals: (1) To stimulate and evaluate creative, community-enhancing proposals that will protect the wildlife preserve we now have, and help integrate the diverse assets around it into a place that brings together urban and rural, West County and East, eco-tourism and local destinations, future development and memory of our collective past; and, (2) To build community support for ideas with practical, economic, and environmental value.

We've received some very interesting ideas already. To help get the word out, we have a new blog - this one. It will update the process leading from solicitation of ideas to evaluation, a public workshop in March, and a presentation to the County probably in April. Our County-mandated deadline is May.

The blog has materials to help with land use issues, history, ecology, and site details. It will add relevant data as we go along, but we've made a start here. Join in -- planning a community's desired future is only dull if you don't care to plan.

Planning a proposal? Here's a factsheet on the Quad Parcels

If you plan to work on a citizens' community proposal for the Quad Parcels, some basic info is below.

Timing:

We ask that proposals be submitted to CeleryFieldsForever@gmail.com by March 1. A review of proposals is tentatively scheduled for March 15, and a public workshop to determine which proposals will be submitted to the County is tentatively set for March 30th -- confirmation of dates, times and locations TBA.

Quad Parcels #1, #2, #3 at Apex Rd. and Palmer Blvd.

The Quad Parcels:

Parcel #1: 13 acres, Southeast Quadrant of Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road:

Immediately adjacent to Celery Fields wetlands, this parcel can buffer the preserve and offer low-intensity commercial and public uses on the east side of Apex Road that are compatible with the Celery Fields as an international birding area. 

Goal: Identify compatible and enhancing public and commercial uses for the community.

Update: The County Commission took this parcel off of the Surplus Lands List on Jan. 30, 2018. For now it is Open Use Rural Zoning, but further land use changes are possible. 

Parcel #2: 10.7 acres, Southwest Quadrant of Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road:

A planned, already approved, 6-acre waste transfer station is adjacent to the west side of the parcel, separated by a treeline.   

This parcel is a transition parcel between the Celery Fields and the Packinghouse district, west of Apex.

Currently authorized future land use: Office-professional with Apex corner set aside for commercial. 

Goal: Identify uses consistent with transition from Celery Fields to Packinghouse.

Linear Dimensions of Parcels #1 and #2

Not for community proposals:

Parcel #3: 6.9 acres in the Northwest Quadrant of Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road (currently has temporary fire station).

The Board has decided to hire a commercial broker to rezone Parcel #3:

Coordination between Fresh Start and County is recommended.

Aerial close up

Courtesy of the Sarasota News Leader

Community Proposals Wanted

What would you love to see happen on our public lands near the Celery Fields? A community center? An ecolodge? A market and public trails?

The Fresh Start Initiative wants to hear from folks with the vision to know that sensible, creative planning can produce a uniquely vibrant urban/rural destination -- connecting the open spaces of the Celery Fields with the commerce and fun of the Packinghouse Area.

Where else can you find a 400-acre natural preserve within walking distance of cafes, shops, and markets, thanks to an I-75 underpass that connects a burgeoning urban core with wildlife, wetlands, and recreational opportunities?

Three publicly owned parcels form the intersection at Apex Rd. and Palmer Boulevard, just east of the highway and just west of the Celery Fields. The County has decided to sell parcel #3. For parcels #1 and #2, it's given Fresh Start six months to invite the community to come forward with ideas, proposals, outside-the-box thinking to achieve a more integrated approach to the possibilities in this area, the anteroom to East Sarasota County.

Fresh Start's search for viable ideas is open to all. We contend that community consideration of the relationships among neighboring public lands will yield a greater good than making random land use decisions in piecemeal isolation.

We are preparing community workshops in late March. Fresh Start's role is to to facilitate these meetings. The community itself will choose the options it prefers, and we will bring them to the County Commission.

A basic proposal offers a rough idea of land dimensions, the kinds and sizes of structures, the envisioned purpose, and ideas about funding. Considerations include:

• impacts on traffic on Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road;
• compatibility with surrounding assets: the Celery Fields, Packinghouse area, homes and schools;
• economic enhancement: employment, raising land values, etc.

We need your proposal no later than March 1. 

Planning a proposal? A factsheet on the Quads.

Please send to CeleryfieldsForever@gmail.com.

Recently at the Celery Fields

Two Hoodies and a Spoonie

Roseate Spoonbill

Thanks to Chuck R. Behrmann for the use of these photos.