Clark Road Workshop: Update

The county workshop on the plan to connect Clark Road to the Landfill south of it was over-attended by a large number of interested persons Monday evening. So much so that at least one quarter of the crowd was asked to leave to avoid breaking fire regulations before the workshop got underway.

Why was it so well attended? One man standing in line to get in nailed it when he said, "Anytime something threatens to lower my property value by double digits, I'm there."

Another workshop will be announced, a mailing will go out, and those who were unable to get in tonight will have a chance to hear and to comment. No action will be taken by the county before that third workshop will be held (there was one last week in South County).

One odd note: This is purely speculative, and might never happen. But....according to some of the people at the workshop, the maps indicated that the Bee Ridge Extension would form part of a linkage extending from Bee Ridge to Clark to the Landfill. A further extension north of Bee Ridge could create a "landfill conduit" extending from Fruitville Rd. to the Landfill, and on south from there.

That would make Bee Ridge Extension vulnerable to the sort of hard truck traffic that people on Clark are concerned about. But are people in those communities getting the notices of the Clark Road Landfill Road Workshop? Lake Sarasota residents certainly did not. Yet all these roads form a living traffic network. What happens to one part impinges on the whole. Who is being notified, and who isn't, and why?