Staff memo lays out concerns of various departments
During the Oct. 23 Sarasota County Commission meeting, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis is scheduled to initiate a discussion about the anticipated effects that the planned construction of neighborhoods on Hi Hat Ranch, in the eastern part of the county, will have on “county properties and resources,” as a staff memo in the agenda packet puts it.
This issue is part of the commission’s 2024 Strategic Plan, the memo notes.
The Hi Hat Ranch property encompasses approximately 10,000 acres, the memo adds. The site is south of Fruitville Road, north of Clark Road and east of Lorriane Road.
“As background,” the memo continues, “the 2050 Resource Management Area (RMA) policy system in the [county’s] Comprehensive Plan works with the Future Land Use map and provides an optional policy framework for a new form of development outside the Urban Service Area Boundary as an alternative to Urban Sprawl. The Village/Open Space RMA developments are to be:
- “Formed around neighborhoods that include a broad range of family sizes and incomes in a variety of housing types that are integrated with commercial, office and civic uses;
- “Support a fully connected system of streets and roads that encourage alternative means of transportation such as pedestrians, bicycle, and transit; and
- “Integrate permanently dedicated Open Space, which is connected or added to the Greenway RMA where appropriate.”
The memo points out that three areas of Hi Hat Ranch can be transformed into Villages.
The memo reminds the board members that the County Commission seated onJune 9, 2021 approved a Master Development Order (MDO) for Hi Hat Ranch. The memo adds, “As part of the County’s 2050 regulatory framework, the MDO entitled the property with 13,081 residential units, along with a multitude of other uses,” including Village Commercial Centers, a school site for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, a high school site, a regional sports park, “and other linear, community and neighborhood parks. The non-residential (i.e., retail/commercial and office) land use shall not exceed 450,000 square feet.”
The memo also notes,” While the property has been entitled per the MDO, the property has not been rezoned to Village Planned Development (VPD) as of yet,” though applications for that rezoning are anticipated. County staff expects “no less than 2 and no more than 5 phases of development,” the memo says.
“The MDO contains Master Development Plans,” the memo points out, but they depict just “the proposed roads, greenways, greenbelts, open space, conceptual Village Centers, and general locations for regional sports park and schools. The details of the developed areas and neighborhoods that are typically seen for 2050 developments would be provided during the subsequent VPD rezonings.”
The item is No. 11 on the Oct. 23 agenda, following — among other business — the presentation of the county’s 2024 Citizen Opinion Survey and discussions about a proposed new correctional facility in downtown Sarasota and a new aviation hangar for the Sheriff’s Office.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Commission Chambers of the R.L. Anderson Administration Center standing at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice.
The road network
The memo provides numerous details for board consideration next week. Among them is the expectation that “several thoroughfare roadways” will be necessary.
A chart lists the road segments and related information in regard to Hi Hat Ranch:
That section of the memo also explains, “As part of Phase I … Hi-Hat proposes to build 3,000 residential units (1,772 single-family detached and 1,228 single-family attached). Access to Phase I development is anticipated to have a single fully functional access to Bee Ridge Road with emergency access to Fruitville Road and Clark Road via existing haul roads to the east.” That will result in “a significant increase in traffic on the roadway network to the north, south, and west of the development,” the memo adds.
“Bee Ridge Road (west to Bent Tree Boulevard), Lorraine Road (north to Palmer Boulevard), and Lorraine Road (south to Clark Road) are two-lane facilities,” the memo continues.
“Lorraine Road north of Palmer Boulevard to Fruitville Road is also anticipated to see a significant amount of traffic attributable to Hi Hat” after the development’s construction, the memo says.
“As subsequent phases of Hi-Hat develop, there will be significant impacts to Fruitville Road and University Parkway to the north, Lorraine Road to the west, and Clark Road to the south,” the memo points out.
Another chart shows the anticipated costs “associated with the off-site improvements needed to maintain a safe, convenient, and efficient transportation system,” adding that “University Parkway is primarily within Manatee County [and] Clark Road is a state [road].”
The fire station concerns
Yet another note in the memo is the fact that Hi Hat Ranch will need one fire station on “no less than 2 acres of developable land.”
However, the memo points out that “a key issue” is the fact that the MDO “does not specify which phase of the development will include the fire station, nor does it specify the location” of that station, other than the requirement that it be accessible to a planned public roadway.
“Furthermore,” the memo says, “a single fire station may not be sufficient” to ensure that the county’s Emergency Services Department’s adopted standard for the travel time of the first unit called to the scene of an incident is 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
Further, the memo notes, the fire station must be “optimally placed for the standards of emergency coverage.” If the fire station is constructed “too late in the phased development plans,” the memo continued, it “will likely not be optimally placed.” A related concern, the memo explains, is that the station also will “serve areas outside of the Hi Hat MDO.”
Moreover, the memo notes, “The MDO also draws no connections between the timing of residential homes being occupied and the
station going live and being operational. The longer the duration of time between the phasing of the development and the particular phase with the fire station(s), the more reliance there will be on existing stations.”
Public utilities
In regard to public utilities, the memo explains, “The MDO contains a robust set of conditions relating to infrastructure needed such as potable water and wastewater collection facilities. The developer will cover the design and construction costs of wastewater and potable services infrastructure. This infrastructure and associated easements will be dedicated to the County for long-term maintenance.”
Nonetheless, the memo continues, the county will be responsible for the long-term operations and maintenance of the new facilities. Fees paid by the developers of the neighborhoods “will help to cover” the residents’ use of existing infrastructure, the memo notes, while utility rates “will cover the long-term expenses.”
Further, the memo points out, “As the development is likely going to be [constructed] in phases, there will be changes to lift station sizes, chemical usage,” and electrical/power generation as the development progresses, all of which have associated financial implications …”
That section of the memo adds that with “13,000+ residential units at build-out, the associated population would use approximately [7 million gallons per day] of potable water resources, which is approximately 18% of the County’s water resources after the anticipated Peace Project is completed.
The latter part of that statement refers to the planned surface water expansion project of the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority. Sarasota County gets the majority of its drinking water from the Authority. In early April, the County Commission agreed to contribute about $248 million to the estimated $504-million expense of that initiative, as the county is anticipated to need an extra 12 million gallons of potable water per day by 2031.
Parks and recreation factors
Yet another section of the memo discusses the MDO’s requirement for the “Master Developer” to provide about 297.47 acres of park to comply with the county policy calling for 1 acre of park for every 47 dwelling units. For Hi Hat Ranch, that means “one community park per 2,350 dwelling units,” with each park a minimum of 15 acres in size, plus one neighborhood park per 468 dwelling units, ranging in size from 1 to 15 acres.
That section also points out, “In all likelihood, the regional sports park will not be included in the first phase of the development, and it is undetermined what types of park amenities will come on-line with each phase of the development. Until such time as the Village is developed with the park amenities prescribed in the MDO, there is anticipated to be increased demand and use of nearby County facilities including but not limited to the following”: Rothenbach Park on Bee Ridge Road; Lakeview Park (a dog park), which stands at 7255 Hand Road in Sarasota; the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Facility, and Twin Lakes Park Athletic Park on Clark Road.
“Another important factor to consider,” the memo says, is the expense “associated with construction and ongoing maintenance of a regional sports complex …” That will be the county’s responsibility, the memo adds, though the Master Developer will pay for all community and neighborhood parks within Hi Hat, including design, construction, and operations.