Importance of the Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan to be focus of April 9 CONA meeting

Discussion also to be held on plans for expanding residential areas at Bath and Racquet Club

Image from the CONA website

At 7 p.m. on Monday, April 9, the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) will host a discussion presented by former County Commissioner Jon Thaxton regarding the county’s Comprehensive Plan, the nonprofit has announced.

“Learn how this document expresses our vision of what we want our community to be and how it drives the decisions made by our local government regarding development and redevelopment,” a CONA news release says. That “plan for smart growth was carefully-crafted by citizens participating in a long process that resulted in a vision that garnered national recognition and awards,” the release adds. “The examination will reveal the devolution of our comprehensive plan through gradual changes that failed to adhere to the inherent vision expressed by the community.”

The release continues, “Understanding and participating in this process is essential to reviving our vision in time to avoid the Browardization [emphasis in the release] of Sarasota through compromise of the smart growth goals of our vision that include protecting neighborhood compatibility and the environment, limiting traffic congestion, constraining urban sprawl, and making growth pay its own way rather than being subsidized by existing taxpayers and degrading our quality of life.”

“Browardization” refers to the development in Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale is the county seat.

Following the traditional half-hour social at 6:30 p.m., the CONA meeting will open with resident Ben Cannon bringing attendees up-to-date on a redevelopment application involving the Bath and Racquet Club in the city of Sarasota, the release notes.

A question-and-answer session will follow both discussions.

See www.conasarasota.org/meetings.html for more about CONA.

The meeting will be held at the Sarasota Garden Club, which is located at 1131 Boulevard of the Arts in downtown Sarasota. The building may be reached from the Van Wezel Way intersection with U.S. 41; it is south of the Municipal Auditorium.