Advisers of the Fresh Start Initiative

The Fresh Start Advisory Panel

Cathy Antunes' professional experience includes a twenty year career in executive sales with three Fortune 500 companies. A recipient of numerous national and regional sales awards throughout her career, she executed over a dozen successful product launches and served on national brand advisory committees. Antunes has served as an officer on the board of local civic non-profits, and currently hosts her radio show, The Detail, on WSRQ. She writes a monthly column for SRQ Daily and blogs at www.thedetail.net. She is married to Dr. Jose Antunes and lives in the City of Sarasota.


Kafi Benz author, illustrator, graphics designer, and publisher
- president, CONA — Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations, Inc.
- founder and president, Friends of “Seagate” Incorporated
- studio director, Jim Gary’s Twentieth Century Dinosaurs
- appointee, Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Org Citizen Advisory Committee
- curator and narrator for muralist and film maker, MTO
- was instrumental in accomplishments in the field of public land acquisitions:
- establishment of Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, a National Natural Landmark
- acquisition of “Seagate” (Powel Crosley Estate) by the state of Florida
- partnered with Sarasota effort to acquire Rus-in-Ur’be via Florida Forever Program


Brian Lichterman, President, Vision Planning & Design. An experienced Land Use Planner with over 34 years of public and private sector Land Use Planning experience, Brian was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin. He moved to Sarasota in 1983 and spent the next 22 years as a Senior Planner with the Sarasota County Planning Department. When working for Sarasota County, he was the recipient of numerous planning awards for innovativeness on some of the 33 corridor studies and critical area planning studies he managed throughout Sarasota County. In 2005, after leaving the County, he opened Vision Planning and Design, a Planning Consulting firm based in Sarasota, Florida.
         His firm is still very active, specializing in land entitlement by representing both public and private sector clients. As of 2018, he has successfully obtained approval of rezonings, special exceptions and comprehensive plan amendments on well over 50 properties in the Sarasota and Manatee County. In 2010, he obtained a Real Estate License and he currently works for Wagner Realty. He received a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of South Florida in 1996 and a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning and Sociology from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 1979. Reach Brian at 941-780-4166 or Brianl@visionplanning2.com.


Jono Miller has been a Sarasota environmental educator, activist, volunteer and sometimes consultant for the past four decades. He’s been a community leader on topics such as environmentally sensitive land protection, neighborhood parkland, voting systems, tree protection, comprehensive planning, coastal issues, cabbage palms, water supply, backyard chickens, and protection of the Myakka River. He is a member of class twenty of Leadership Florida, and in 2006 received the 1000 Friends of Florida, Bill Sadowski Award for public service at the regional/state level. He is retired from teaching and directing the Environmental Studies Program at New College of Florida.


Tim Rumage - Planetary ethicist and the Coordinator/Developer of Environmental Studies at Ringling College of Art and Design, Tim teaches courses on environmental science, sustainability, creating ecological cities, applied environmental design, food, water, biodiversity, and environmental ethics.
       Tim is also a Coordinator for Sustainability in Design Education at CUMULUS an international organization of over 200 art, design and media colleges from 50 countries. Recent work focuses on Biophilic design (the incorporation of nature’s services in urban design and infrastructure), the economic value of nature as well as climate change and sea level rise. 

       Previous endeavors include developing curriculum on sustainability and a variety of interdisciplinary projects involving habitat restoration and protection, local food production, water issues. Early research areas included Marine Mammals, Bats, Pelagic Birds, and environmental surveys. He is a frequent lecturer at other colleges and community organizations and leads workshops on Sustainability in the US, UK and EU.
       Along with David Houle, Tim co-authored the book This Spaceship Earth and co-founded the non-profit organization This Spaceship Earth, Inc.

Stephen Suau is a registered engineer with over 30 years of experience in southwest Florida. Although he has previously served as Executive Director of Sarasota County’s Growth Management and Development Services Business Center as well as Director of Sarasota County’s Stormwater Environmental Utility, he has spent most of his professional career in the private sector. His specialty is watershed management planning and water resources, including the Sarasota County’s Celery Fields and Dona Bay initiatives. Mr. Suau has engaged local communities relative to watershed management at the regional and neighborhood scales.
        A Principle and Managing Partner of Progressive Water Resources, he has a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Illinois in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Engineering Administration from Bradley University. He resides in Sarasota, Florida and has served as chairman of the Sarasota County Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee, co-chairman of the Sarasota County Environmentally Sensitive Lands Advisory Committee, vice-chairman of the Myakka River Planning Advisory Committee, and the Sarasota County Sustainable Agriculture Policy Committee. He has also served as the Southwest Florida areas representative on the Technical Advisory Committee for the proposed State Stormwater Rule, and chaired the Manatee County Chamber of Commerce’s Green Sustainability Task Force.


Rob Wright - Mr. Wright grew up in Sarasota County and has called the area home for most of his life. Living here has sparked a deep abiding love for our water and lands natural resources and the need to manage them wisely to enhance our quality of life. His overriding philosophy is “Development should blend within nature not be placed on top of it.” He is currently Conservation Chair for Sarasota Audubon Society (SAS) and a leading voice on environmental issues.
       He served as Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) Coordinator (Environmental Specialist) for Sarasota County (15 years) specializing in stormwater water quality enhancement/habitat restoration, shoreline erosion control and rehabilitation for ponds, canals and bays. He is a Certified stormwater inspector.

       Mr. Wright has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography/Coastal Zone Management, Florida Atlantic University and has been involved in the administration and implementation of water resource environmental management programs in the public and private sector for over 35 years. He has extensive experience as an environmental educator and troubleshooting water resource issues.


William C. Zoller, AIA. Architect. Born and reared in Manatee County. Graduated from MIT, worked in New York and Brussels, then returned to the area and settled in Sarasota in 1971. Established architectural practice in Sarasota. Past president of CONA, currently on Board of Directors of CONA.

Celery Fields Area

Fresh Start Update -- and, the interface between urban and rural

To all who have been following and participating in our Fresh Start Initiative, this article might be of interest. While it addresses considerations of the complex forces pressuring rural areas across the US, it happens to have been written by Randy Reid, a former Sarasota County Administrator, and by an urban planning educator at USF, Van Linkous. 

You might also be interested in a brief account of a long meeting between spokespeople for FPL and the communities of East Bee Ridge Road that took place yesterday. One option for a new power line would run down Palmer Boulevard from Porter to Apex, then turn north on Apex to Fruitville Road. From there it would go east toward Hi Hat Ranch.

Last week, our Fresh Start Advisory Board examined over 4o proposals and ideas shared by our communities for Parcels 1 and 2 of public lands near the Celery Fields. Another meeting  is set for later today. The goal is to soon have a list of proposals for each parcel that meet the criteria outlined in our vision statement:

• feasibility
• utility to neighbors (rather than large truck industrial uses that Palmer Blvd. and Apex Rd. cannot handle)
• compatibility with surroundings
• viability - economic and environmental enhancement

The selected proposals will go forward to a community roundtable workshop on April 10, at the Fruitville Library, beginning at 3 p.m. 

We hope to see you there on 4.10!

Best,

Tom Matrullo

For the Fresh Start Initiative Advisory Council

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

Fresh Start Update: Proposals are In

Fresh Start is happy to report more than three dozen ideas, suggestions, and proposals came in for its community-based public land initiative ahead of a March 1 deadline.

The citizen initiative invited people to send workable, area-enhancing concepts for two parcels - #1 and #2 of "the Quads" - totaling about 23 acres of public lands near the Celery Fields. The coalition, which has the backing of more than 50 HOAs circling the nature preserve, advertised for ideas after getting county agreement on a process to explore workable prospects for the public lands.

The Quad Parcels

The proposals from neighborhoods, non-profit groups and organizations provide a varied spectrum of uses for the lands. The enthusiasm, creativity and plain good will this process has aroused in our community has been gratifying. At a recent community meeting, people shared exciting ideas that

• relate to the needs of nearby residents and offices, 
• complement and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife, and tranquility of the Celery Fields,
• meaningfully connect with the larger surrounding area. 

Next Step

Once the proposals are collected and edited - the names of those making the proposals will be removed -- they will be reviewed by a select group of Sarasota residents with professional backgrounds in planning, land use, environmental science, architecture and more. We are happy to have these distinguished volunteers for the advisory panel.

Ideas will be evaluated for feasibility, value and compatibility to the area, economic potential, and environmental enhancement. Those felt to best meet these criteria feel will then be presented to the community at large at a public round table workshop on April 10, at the Fruitville Library, beginning at 3 pm.

Fresh Start aims to make this a small first step and a worthwhile catalyst for building more trust and shared vision. The goal is to restore a legacy of creativity and character in commonsense planning for the common good.

Fresh Start is a grassroots experiment in community-based dialog about proactive land use vision. Read more about Fresh Start here.

Red Shouldered Hawk - Chuck Behrmann