Strong Comments on Proposed new Homes on Hand Road

By -

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.



=========

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


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bee Ridge Road Public Hearing: Update

By -
On Wed., Oct. 28, at 1 p.m., the Sarasota County Commission will hold a public hearing concerning plans for Bee Ridge Rd. east of I-75. Engineers will explain plans and probably answer questions, and presumably public comment will be invited. The hearing will be in the Commission chambers on Ringling Blvd. For more background on Bee Ridge projects, click here . Important update from the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee : The Public Hearing is still at 1 pm, but the actual presentation from the Engineers has been moved to 4:30 pm on Wed. Oct. 28: County Staff has met with Commissioners earlier this week to secure their input and questions in preparation for the Wednesday, Oct 28 Commissioner meeting. This meeting will begin at 4.30 PM. Bee Ridge Road Construction will be the third agenda item. The County Administration Building is located downtown on Ringling Boulevard, across from the Post Office, just east of Orange Avenue. Come early to secure parking, located behind the building...
Read more

Water Moccasin or Water Snake?

By -
Image
At the Lakeview Park Clean-Up, some residents were picking up some branches of a tree when a dangerous Water Moccasin slithered out and dashed into the water. It might be useful to know one when you see it, but the differences between the venomous Florida Water Moccasin (or Cottonmouth) and the wholly harmless Water Snake can be subtle. Here are a few images and links that might help. First, here's a Water Moccasin Another shot of a Water Moccasin (click for a huge image): Here's the plain old harmless Florida Water Snake: Another clue (thanks Ray): When in water, Water Moccasins move on top of the water - almost as if they were gliding on the surface, like this: Water Moccasins are to be met with extreme caution. "When a moccasin is nesting or has her young in their nest it will aggressively defend that area," says Ray. "Moccasins have aggressively attacked people." Water Snakes tend to be partly submerged, partly out of the water, more like this: Click f...
Read more