Sunday, May 12, 2019

Information page for Quads Critical Area Plan Workshop

The planning workshop that seeks public input on rezoning the public lands at the Celery Fields will be held at 6 pm, May 14, at the Church of Hope1560 Wendell Kent Rd, Sarasota, FL 34240. 

The Planning Department has posted community input and proposals here:

>>Index to county planning links <<
   
      Documents prepared by the Planning Department include:

1. Memorandum from Planning

2. Community proposals via the 2018 Fresh Start process:
3. Reports to the Board from Fresh Start: 7.11.17 and 9.12.17

     Proposals are still coming in, so more will probably be added to this page.

This is the one opportunity for all who love the Celery Fields to come, listen, and voice their thoughts and concerns. The workshop begins at 6 pm - 


at the Church of Hope, 1560 Wendell Kent Rd, Sarasota, FL 34240, where James Gabbert introduced his proposal for a waste processing facility in January 2017. 

The public record of this workshop goes to the Board, which will decide the future of these public lands. Here are some of our concerns:

Not everyone on the Board sees the point of using public lands for the public good. With thoughtful stewardship, public lands can provide needed public facilities and activities. Why sell them to enrich a couple of private developers?

Industrial uses will generate traffic, noise, dead space incompatible with the developing natural beauty of the Celery Fields area, and its recreational potential.

The scope of this process is narrow. When Gabbert proposed his waste processing facility, the county failed to acknowledge the existence of the Celery Fields. This plan should not exclude important considerations that PLANNING should be thinking about now:
1 - future protective measures for wildlife, residents and visitors;
2 - the impacts of coming growth in East County;
3 - quality of life benefits from safe roads and a tranquil environment.
With care and intelligent stewardship, this very special area will return investments a hundredfold -- more about this here.




2 comments:

  1. I like Virginia Pritt Hickey's idea.

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  2. We were in New York last week, at a funeral for a friend’s son, who lost his life very suddenly. Life is short, isn’t it? What do we leave behind for others, when we’re gone? While there, we transported ourselves into the timeless space and the most beloved treasure of that great city, Central Park, where we were enveloped by nature all around us. We felt relief and joy just being in that natural setting. Our visit made our day, as it does for millions of people, every day.

    What if the visionaries, the city planners and the architects of that great city, had not, in that important time in history, had never conceived of Central Park? How many residents and visitors do you think stop to thank, every day, the visionaries who brought forth the dream of Central Park, forever, for the countless future generations who would come to treasure and preserve the Park? Who were those visionaries? How many obstacles did they have to overcome, to come together with their many ideas and interests? How many landowners did they have to work with? It is the selfless work of so many great, ordinary people working together to preserve and protect, to whom we owe our deep respect and gratitude. Thank you to everyone for your tireless work to put forth alternative, thoughtful proposals! We must do better than to let another mindless, short-sighted commercial project or tract development threaten the character and rural heritage of the lands east and west of the Celery Field hill. We have a great opportunity to rise to the occasion, as a community, to plan and realize a better future for these lands!

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