June Update on Public Lands at the Celery Fields

Barely had June 2019 begun when two new proposals involving our public "Quad" parcels at the Celery Fields came forward -- one from a County Commissioner, the other from a private foundation. The differences in their approaches are revealing.

The Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast proposes to acquire 24 acres on Palmer Boulevard across from Tatum Ridge Elementary School to set aside for conservation. Currently it holds a horse farm called "Graceland," but a developer is seeking to put a housing development there -- 42 quarter-acre homesites.

The Foundation's vision goes beyond acquiring this parcel, however. Graceland, says Foundation President Christine Johnson, would be the easternmost parcel within a continuous area extending from the highway to Tatum Ridge Road: a 1,300-acre "rural heritage conservation area" comprehending the Quad parcels, Audubon Nature Center, the Celery Fields and a 140-acre wildlife conservation park that includes Big Cat and beyond to Tatum Road.

Under this plan, the 24-acre Graceland parcel would receive a conservation easement barring development in perpetuity. The land could be dedicated to equestrian uses benefiting the public: riding, hippotherapy, school visits, education, and more, says Johnson, who noted that several schools are nearby, including Tatum Ridge, Fruitville Elementary, McIntosh Middle, the Farm School, and more.

As the map legend below shows, the Foundation projects beneficial public uses on the Quad at Apex and Palmer, including an urban forest and wildlife habitat, a history center, a school bus shelter:

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The second new idea involving our public lands came on June 4, when Commissioner Charles Hines suggested selling the southwest public parcel (#2, 10 acres) to a developer of affordable housing.

Quads Parcels at Apex & Palmer

Mr. Hines noted that developers of affordable housing have not been knocking down his door, but didn’t articulate why. Perhaps, for example, the Board's willingness to tolerate developer overreach -- e.g. Siesta Promenade, LT Ranch, Waterside and more -- has disincentivized low-profit housing construction.

And, while affordable housing is indeed a goal that requires careful planning and policy incentives, Mr. Hines' fixing on public land that has been the subject of intense community interest for more than two years seemed to lurch suddenly out of left field.

In fact all four Quad parcels were the subject last year of a 10-month citizen effort to recommend compatible public uses that would rule out private industry. Sarasota Audubon has proposed an urban forest, others including Jono Miller have spoken of a history museum, a multi-use community estate, and more. Commissioners Al Maio and Mike Moran have both gone on record favoring sale to private industrial profiteers, including waste plant operator James Gabbert.

In January the Board found the Quads to be an area of critical concern, and, given the current narrow two-lane roads and levels of service, admitted that industrial development is not possible on these parcels. It ordered staff to reopen the Critical Area Plan, or CAP, for the area. This launched an in-depth, 11-month process examining all factors relating to potential uses of the public parcels -- roads, surrounding uses, trending demographic and environmental changes and much more. A public workshop held as part of the CAP process on May 14 brought out some 300 residents -- not a single one of whom spoke in favor of industrial development or affordable housing.

A Board decision approving affordable housing on parcel #2 by July 22 (Sarasota News Leader) will disrupt the methodical critical area planning now underway, as well as fly in the face of community and environmentalists' long-held views.

A view of "Graceland"

Clearly two very different approaches are exemplified here. The Foundation is advocating uses in keeping with the trends and surrounding human communities, integrating a long-range vision of a lasting rural heritage and wildlife conservation for future generations.

Mr. Hines conversely is promoting a quick fix to motivate the private construction of less costly housing, apparently without regard to how such an initiative would impact a host of significant social, environmental, economic and infrastructural concerns in a complex, radically changing area.

Another difference has to do with scope. The Foundation is looking wide and long term. The Board appears to be looking at one 10-acre parcel as if it existed in a spatio-temporal vacuum. The history, context and future of the Quad cannot be ignored -- which is why the county ordered the Critical Area Plan in January.

A credible CAP will form a faithful portrait of the entire Quad/Celery Fields area -- so that Sarasota as a community can assess the future needs and benefits of realistic options in a meaningful public process.

A lot is riding on this. If our elected officials have insufficient information, their decision-making authority is compromised. But if they have that information and choose to ignore it, a different public response will be needed.

It’s in our voting power to change the political landscape -- as dramatically as 246 species of birds have transformed the nature of a former industrial area. When good things happen -- like the Celery Fields -- they deserve prudent stewardship for all our citizens.

The Conservation Foundation seeks donors to help realize its vision

(This conservation effort ended June 30)

Thaxton snubbed for third time for Planning Commission

Courtesy of the Sarasota News Leader

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Thaxton once again loses out on bid for Planning Commission seat

May 9, 2019 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Stultz wins reappointment to advisory board, with Peters to fill out Neunder’s unexpired term

Former County Commissioner Jon Thaxton. Photo courtesy of Sarasota County

This week, for the third time in almost six years, former County Commissioner Jon Thaxton lost out on a bid to join the advisory board considered the most prestigious in county government.

Although Commissioner Nancy Detert nominated Thaxton for a term on the Planning Commission on May 8, she was the sole commissioner to support him.

Instead, on a 4-1 vote, her colleagues reappointed T. Andrew Stultz to a seat on the Planning Commission. Stultz’s term was due to expire at the end of the month, according to a memo provided to the County Commission in advance of the May 8 meeting.

Each term is four years.

Stultz, a Venice resident, owns Atlas Building Co. of Florida LLC, a construction company, his application said. He has been a resident of the county for 13 years, the application noted, adding that his firm “pursues Sarasota County construction projects.”

Stultz also wrote that he is a member of the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange “and various industry groups.”

Detert did support the naming of Andrew Peters of Sarasota, vice president of wealth management for LCM Capital Advisors, to fill out the unexpired term of Dr. Joseph Neunder, who had resigned from the Planning Commission.

In his application, Peters wrote, “The most pressing planning and land use issues in Sarasota County involve strategies to properly [cope] with the immense population growth in Sarasota in ways that can appease both current residents of Sarasota while continuing to encourage new residents to make Sarasota their home. In order to resolve this issue a very long term planning view must always be taken into account when making current planning decisions so that new projects and developments do not negatively impact future developments that have not yet begun the planning process.”

Maio nominated Neunder, a Nokomis chiropractor, to the Planning Commission in January 2017. Neunder was one of the contributors to Maio’s re-election campaign in 2018, campaign finance records showed.

The May 8 staff memo said Peters’ term would be in effect through January 2021.

Andrew Peters. Image from the LCM Capital Advisors website

When Chair Charles Hines introduced the agenda item on May 8, county Planner Todd Dary pointed out that eight applications had come in for the two positions. However, the staff memo to the board noted that two of those “were received after the April 19, 2019 deadline, as indicated on the Applicant Appointment Worksheet.”

One of those was from Douglas Christy of Sarasota, which came in on April 26, the worksheet said. The other was from Ellen Silkes, which came in on April 22.

Christy is an attorney with Becker & Poliakoff in Sarasota, he noted in his application. Silkes is a retired “physician/surgeon,” she wrote on her application. She lives in downtown Sarasota.

Thaxton was the earliest of the eight to submit his application, according to the worksheet: March 25.

Thaxton stepped down from the County Commission in 2012 after three terms. A lawsuit filed by a citizens group had led to the implementation of a two-term limit for the board.

An Osprey resident, Thaxton is senior vice president for community investment with the Gulf Coast Community Foundation in Venice. He won respect on the County Commission as an environmental advocate, including serving as a champion of the endangered Florida scrub jay. He also was one of the primary proponents of the county’s ban on nitrogen-based fertilizers during the rainy season each year, an effort to reduce the runoff of those nutrients. Researchers consider nitrogen the biggest source of fuel for red tide blooms. (See the related story in this issue.)

With the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Thaxton has been prominent in community discussions regarding measures to help reduce homelessness and to create more affordable housing stock.

He noted on his application that he had learned of the unexpired Planning Commission term from Neunder. Thaxton previously applied for a Planning Commission seat in 2013 and in 2015. In that first attempt, he won support only from then-Commissioner Nora Patterson. On Thaxton’s second attempt, no county commissioner voted for him. The unanimous decision went to Kevin Cooper of Sarasota, then vice president of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. (Cooper went on to lead the Chamber for several years.)

The other applicants for the open seats this time were James DeNiro of Sarasota, a retired sergeant with the Sarasota Police Department and a licensed Realtor; Mark Hawkins of Sarasota, a general contractor who is a past candidate for the County Commission; and Bruce M. Iorie of Osprey, a retired electrician.

T. Andrew Stultz. Image from LinkedIn

After Chair Hines called for nominations for the two seats during the commission’s regular meeting on May 8, Commissioner Alan Maio put up the names of Stultz and Peters.

“I have a conflicting nomination,” Detert announced, noting that she wanted to nominate Peters and Thaxton.

After conferring with County Attorney Frederick “Rick” Elbrecht, Hines called first for a vote on Peters. Following the board’s unanimous approval of that appointment, Hines then called for the vote on Stultz. With Maio and Commissioners Michael Moran and Christian Ziegler voicing support for Stultz, Hines said, “I’ll vote ‘Aye’ on Andy Stultz,” which made that a 4-1 decision.

Then Maio told his colleagues, “I think we owe a thank you to Dr. Joe Neunder for his service for several years as he moves on to another thing in his life,” which necessitated his resignation.

Referring to the applicants, Hines said, “Great group.”

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