Mistake in formal advertisement of event and aftermath of Hurricane Helene cited as reasons for delay
A Sarasota County-required Neighborhood Workshop regarding three phases of the planned extension of Lakewood Ranch into Sarasota County that was scheduled for Oct. 1 has been postponed until Oct. 22.
During the afternoon of Oct. 1, The Sarasota News Leader found a notice on the county’s Planning and Development Services Department calendar that said the workshop had been cancelled. The webinar link in that calendar listing did take people to a screen announcing the new date for the workshop.
Although litigation filed by two East County residents continues in the Florida Second District Court of Appeal to try to stop the new Lakewood Ranch neighborhoods from becoming a reality, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the developer of Lakewood Ranch, is proceeding with its plans for the new communities.
The application filed with Planning and Development in regard to the Neighborhood Workshop said that it would involve Project Areas 1, 6 and 7. Katie LaBarr, a certified planner and principal with the Stantec consulting firm in Sarasota — who has been working with Rex Jensen, president and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, and his staff on the new section of Lakewood Ranch — sent a letter dated Sept 10 to the Planning and Development staff to explain the purpose of the workshop.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader inquiry, LaBarr wrote in an Oct. 3 email that the decision was made to delay the event until Oct. 22 “because there was a bit of confusion regarding what day the meeting was to be held. We also thought it prudent to postpone because of the hurricane. We will host the workshop (virtually via [Microsoft] Teams) on October 22 at 6 pm. Details will be posted to the Sarasota County website. The meeting will also be readvertised, in accordance with county requirements,” she added.
The Sarasota County Planning Division, which the News Leader had contacted, as well, about the postponement, sent this information in an Oct. 3 email: “The newspaper advertisement announced the neighborhood workshop would be held on Thursday, October 1. The neighborhood workshop was to be held on Tuesday, October 1.”
Additionally, the Planning staff email said, “The Applicant wanted to ensure anyone impacted by the storm would have the opportunity to log in.”
In her Sept. 10 letter regarding the workshop, LaBarr wrote, “This application proposes rezoning the 1,746.1± acre Property from Open Use Rural (OUR) and Open Use Agriculture (OUA) to Residential Single Family-2/Planned Unit Development (RSF-2/PUD) to support the development of 1,399 dwelling units and associated amenity uses,” LaBarr added.
The application included three Binding Development Concept Plans showing details about each of the proposed communities.
The plan for Project Area 1, which was dated December 2023, said it would be home to 99 single-family dwellings, with none standing higher than 35 feet. The development area would take up approximately 125.5 acres — 36.3% — out of the 345.6 acres, plus or minus on that site. Parks and an amenity area would comprise approximately 108,900 square feet, or about 2.5 acres, the plan shows. Total open space has been put at approximately 220.1 acres, or 63.7% of the total. The wetland area would take up about 91.3 acres, representing 26.4% of the site, the plan says.
The Binding Development Concept Plan in the application for Project Area 6 was created in May, it says. That plan calls for a total of 1,000 dwelling units divided as follows: 215 townhomes, 134 “paired villa units,” and 651 single-family dwellings. The maximum building height, again, would be 35 feet, the plan notes.
The development area would comprise approximately 266.8 acres of the 874.4 gross acreage. Another 11.8 acres, plus or minus, would be reserved for parks and an amenity area, while the wetland area would take up about 202 acres, or 23.1% of the land involved. Total open space would be approximately 607.6 acres, the document shows, accounting for 69.5% of the site.
For Project Area 7, the Binding Development Concept Plan says the site would be home to 300 single-family dwelling units; once more, none would be higher than 35 feet.
That part of the development would contain approximately 526.1 acres, with the homes planned on about 134.7 acres. Another 5.4 acres would be set aside for parks and an amenity area, with 85.9 acres, plus or minus, allotted for the wetland area. The latter would take up about 16.3% of the site.
Altogether, the open space — including buffers — would total approximately 391.4 acres, or 74.4% of the site.
Each of the Binding Development Concept Plans says, “Developer reserves the right to phase and subphase at the subdivision plan stage.” Each further notes, “Location and configuration of amenities are subject to change at the subdivision plan stage.”
Residents continue to fight the development plans
As the News Leader has reported, in late October 2022, the County Commission voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan — at Schroeder-Manatee President and CEO Jensen’s request — to create a new form of 2050 Plan development called a Village Transition Zone.
Jensen had explained to the commissioners that a Village development, as provided for in the 2050 Plan, would be too intense for the Lakewood Ranch expansion plans. On the other hand, he said, the Hamlet requirements would not allow for the firm’s proposed residential density. Therefore, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch had worked with the Stantec consulting firm staff to come up with the Village Transition Zone guidelines.
The goal is to build up to 5,000 homes in northeastern Sarasota County.
In making the motion during that April 2022 hearing to approve the Comprehensive Plan amendment, Commissioner Michael Moran pointed out that the Village Transition Zone in the county’s two-decades-old 2050 Plan for growth east of Interstate 75 was crafted for use only by a master developer who will commit to long-range planning and oversight through the build-out of the community.
Yet, the 13 speakers who provided comments during the public hearing cited numerous concerns in opposing the amendment.
One of those was Charles Gauthier of Tallahassee, who was speaking on behalf of a new nonprofit organization called Keep the Country Inc. He noted that he worked for many years in the state’s Division of Community Development before the Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott abolished it.
Gauthier decried the plans for the 5,000 homes “in a remote, rural location,” with no provision for retail shops or employment centers, as well as “significantly reduced open space …”
“If you approve this,” he told the commissioners, “there’s nothing to stop future urban sprawl farther and farther out east.”
Another speaker, attorney Richard Grosso, who was representing the Miakka Community Club of the far eastern part of the county, called the development proposal “a horrible plan.”
“It is really inconsistent with state law and with your own [2050] Plan,” he told the board members.
Two leaders of Keep the Country Inc. — Mike Hutchinson and Eileen Fitzgerald — ended up filing a challenge of the Lakewood Ranch Southeast Comprehensive Plan amendment with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH). Though they lost that case, they have appealed the decision to the Second District Court of Appeal. Both parties have filed briefs in that litigation, the News Leader learned this week from checking the docket.