The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

Update: On Nov. 28, 2023,  despite the absence of any traffic study. the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the Sarasota Baptist windfall proposal for 87 unaffordable homes on Hand Road.  Six people from the community offered several reasons that a rational judge would consider to be compelling, but not this Board. This commission reads the Comp Plan not as a set of strategies to prevent poor planning, but rather as a mandate to mindlessly approve growth. From the follow-up story in the Sarasota News Leader : The new homes will increase car trips from 66 to 847 daily on crippled Hand Road.  Commissioner Mark Smith noted Transportation staff had provided a chart in the report on the application showing that the daily number of trips on Hand Road linked to the existing zoning, Open Use Estate, was 66. That figure was attributed to data found in the 11th edition of the Institute of Traffic Engineers (ITE) manual, which the Transportation staff use...

  To the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners: From: Tom Matrullo Re: SE 1875/ RZ 23-19 Date: Nov. 16, 2023 Commissioner: 1. The community of Lake Sarasota has roughly 1,600 homes. Yet when a poorly conceived proposal to wedge 80+ homes onto a narrow road, at a tight blind curve, where two schools tie up traffic each day both in the morning and afternoon, very few residents were notified about the Neighborhood Workshop. I live on the street that leads to this proposed disaster - if built, I would see it from my home - yet I was not informed of two workshops held by Bo Medred months ago. A handful of residents actually attended. So the first point is, the County planning code should drop the 750-foot rule and replace it with a competent planner's sense of what homes, roads, and areas will be directly impacted by a proposed project. 2. The major problems with Hand Road pre-exist this intensifying proposal,  SE 1875/ RZ 23-19.  They are laid out...

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 Floo...

  Parents and schoolchildren on Hand Road - school traffic   Typically, in Sarasota, and with any SPECIAL EXCEPTION, AND REZONE if a landowner is seeking an increase in density, or change in use, or anything that does not explicitly meet the current code, specific RESTRICTIONS, STIPULATIONS AND SAFEGUARDS should be recorded and run with the land in perpetuity. Lake Sarasota is a 1,600-home community. We request a revised Binding Concept Plan  along with multiple restrictions, stipulations and safeguards be implemented in order to move forward at this time.  Sarasota County should not be adding additional burden to its current tax base by allowing a developer to increase its currently permitted density without such strategies for protection of its existing community members! We request the Developer and the County allow engagement of a Binding Concept plan that addresses the community’s CONCERNS!! List of Issues/Concerns:  Stormwater/Floodplain Hand Road currentl...

Notices about the proposed  80+ luxury home project with two entrances on Hand Road  have been mailed out, but it's unclear how much of the Lake Sarasota community is included in the mailing. Note that this project poses potential safety considerations for our school children as well as parents driving their kids to Lakeview Elementary and Oak Park Schools.  No traffic study has been done. The County Commission Hearing on Nov. 28th will be the final decision on this project. Here's a  link to the official hearing announcement , which indicates a 9 a.m. time, but this could be updated when the official Agenda comes out. - More information about this project and Sarasota Baptist's sale of acreage to David Weekley Homes, is at these links: We spoke at the Planning Commission Hearing . Two commissioners saw the potential hazard of the design and voted against the proposal.  Does this project invite danger? The Planning Commission is an appointed board  of Real...