County’s updated Comprehensive Plan wins state honor

Florida Planning and Zoning Association recognizes it with Award of Merit

(From left) Sarasota County planner Elma Felix; Florida Planning and Zoning Association President Arleen Hunter; Sarasota County Planning Services Manager Allen Parsons; and county Planner Brett Harrington show off the 2017 Award of Merit at the FPZA Awards Luncheon on June 9. Contributed photo

Sarasota County’s updated Comprehensive Plan has received the 2017 Award of Merit from the Florida Planning and Zoning Association (FPZA), the county has announced.

The organization’s awards committee noted that it was impressed with the streamlined, user-friendly plan, which guides decision-making related to the physical development of the county, a news release explains.

Last year, the county’s Planning and Development Services Department staff, along with more than 50 subject matter experts from each county department, “completed an 18-month update to this important, overarching plan” to reflect changes in community characteristics and demographics, the release adds.

Staff received the Award of Merit during the 2017 FPZA Awards Luncheon, which was held on June 9 at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples.

The FPZA is a professional planning organization consisting of planners, zoning officers, property owners, developers, engineers, private and public lawyers, landscape architects, appointed and elected officials, laypersons, businesses and administrators, the release notes.

The Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan previously was recognized by the FPZA’s Gulf Coast Chapter, which awarded the plan the 2016 Outstanding Planning Project Award.

For more information about the Comprehensive Plan or to view it online, visit scgov.net/CompPlanUpdate or call the Sarasota County Contact Center at 861-5000.

1 thought on “County’s updated Comprehensive Plan wins state honor”

  1. Sarasota County residents should be grateful for the county’s Comprehensive Plan, a plan that deserved this merit award. If it weren’t for the county’s misstep by trying to sell county owned lands adjacent to the Celery Field, I wouldn’t have read the Comp Plan – in its entirety. The Comp Plan, like the county’s Charter is an effective tool in illustrating the failures of past county officials and current administrative staff (Harmer) who choose to ignore these documents by granting developers carte blanche with their special exceptions and amendments.

    It is time to usher in a new era of elected officials and administrative staff who will respect and maintain the county’s Comp Plan and Charter, not distort it and ruin it to placate just a handful of men (the Bendersons, Neals, Beruffs and Gabberts). These developers lack vision, taste and integrity and are decimating the future health of our county. Viva La Comp Plan, it is an outstanding document, and if used properly, we, the wee people, can defeat them.

    Our County Commissioners’ must respect the Charter and Comp Plan, that is not a suggestion, it is a fact.

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