Strong Comments on Proposed new Homes on Hand Road

This email from a Lake Sarasota resident offers six strong reasons why the Sarasota Baptist Church / David Weekly Homes proposal for Hand Road must be revised or abandoned. Feel free to use these arguments - emails of the Commissioners are below.

To the Board of County Commissioners

From Jami Caseber:

My family and I are opposed to the RZ3-19 as proposed for the following reasons:

1. Accumulative Traffic/Congestion

We assert that the traffic study was inadequate and incomplete because it did not include traffic measurements at peak times such as when school starts and lets out, commute hours, church hours and levels on voting days. Because of congestion on Bee Ridge around Cattleman many people in Lake Sarasota are opting for using Hand to Proctor. However passage on Hand when school lets out is impossible.

2. Restrictions, Stipulations and Safeguards

We request a revised Binding Concept Plan along with multiple restrictions stipulations and safeguards be implemented

Significant Flooding in larger storm events. A new and better drainage system should be put in. Flooding prevents access to the sidewalks for school children. An improved sidewalk and pavement section is needed to support the safe movement of children and parents.

The roadway including Lago Road is in significant disrepair including dangerous potholes and it needs to be upgraded.

3. Increased density

Allowing for increased density is not compatible with that of the surrounding community and existing surrounding developments. With the proposed level of increased density the quality of life for our entire community will decline

4. Reduced Open Space

It is a given that we humans need open space for quality of life. Because this proposed development significantly reduces open space, some offsetting mitigation should be included in the Plan prior to approval.

5. Evacuation Emergency

In the event of an emergency evacuation, two lanes on Hand would be the only route out and would be disastrously inadequate. It has been suggested that connection to alternate routes should be strongly considered. One would be to build a connecting road and widen Falcon Place. A second could be to connect Jarvis to an internal road within the new subdivision, or all the way to Proctor.

6. Inadequate Notification of Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners hearings.

We assert, despite minimal requirements to do so, that the entire Lake Sarasota Community should have been noticed because most -- if not all -- community residents will be impacted. For this reason, we believe that the Board should delay the vote and send out a wider notification to Lake Sarasota residents before taking action on this plan.

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Let the Board hear your thoughts:

All at once: commissioners@scgov.net

Individual Commissioners:

mmoran@scgov.net - Mike Moran          District 1 - Lake Sarasota's District

mhsmith@scgov.net - Mark Smith          District 2 

nrainford@scgov.net - Neil Rainford      District 3

jneunder@scgov.net - Joseph Neunder   District 4

rcutsinger@scgov.net - Ron Cutsinger   District 5 - Current Chair

Also include:

Brooke Fleming (County Planner assigned to this project). bfleming@scgov.net

cc or bcc: Lake Sarasota   -- lakesarasota@gmail.com 

Sarasota County Commissioners