Controversial plan for 170 homes near Celery Fields drew 43 speakers to night-time hearing before Planning Commission
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the Sarasota County Commission is scheduled to conduct its public hearing on a proposal from the Arlington, Texas-based homebuilding company D.R. Horton to construct a 170-residence community close to the Celery Fields in the eastern part of the county, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
The county’s Planning and Development Services Department staff confirmed the date for the News Leader in a Jan. 6 email.
The County Commission calendar shows that the Feb. 12 meeting will be conducted at the County Administration Center in downtown Sarasota; it stands at 1660 Ringling Blvd. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m.
As of the deadline for this issue of the News Leader, no agenda was available for the meeting.
The night of Nov. 21, 2024, the county’s Planning Commission members voted 4-3 to recommend that the County Commission deny the D.R. Horton application. Chair Colin Pember cast the tie-breaker.
Planning Commissioner John LaCivita made the motion, citing his concerns about the incompatibility of the planned development so close to the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Project. The community would entail residential density of 3.5 dwelling units per acre on 50.82 acres of agricultural land being used mostly for cattle grazing, as the project team members had pointed out.
The proposal has been referred to as the “Smith Properties” project.
Referencing graphics in the county staff report, LaCivita pointed out, “The Smith Property does look like it’s part of the Celery Fields.”
In explaining his decision, Chair Pember said, “I think most people know … I’m a strong property rights supporter.” He has been on the commission eight years, he noted. Nonetheless, Pember continued, “I just don’t think this is the right place for this project.”
His statement mirrored a comment that county resident Bill Zoller made during the hearing.
Master Gardeners have a mantra, Zoller told the planning commissioners: “Right plant, right place. … You plant where it’s proper to do it.” Zoller added, “This project simply is the wrong thing in the wrong place.”
Although the county-owned Celery Fields has been in existence since the 1990s, over the past decade, the land has become known internationally as a bird-watching destination, because of the more than 250 species documented there during the winter season. In fact, as pointed out during the hearing, the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology has designated the Celery Fields the No. 3 best bird-watching destination in Florida.
Planning Commissioner Justin Taylor said he would like to see it moved up to No. 1 on that list.
Members of the board also alluded to the lower residential density of neighborhoods in close proximity to the Smith Properties site.
During the hearing, attorney Charles D. Bailey III, of the Williams Parker firm in Sarasota, did stress, “We’re not here to develop the Celery Fields.” The Future Land Use designation of Smith Properties is Moderate Density Residential, he noted, which means the development could have up to 4.99 homes per acre if it were rezoned — as requested — to Residential Single-Family-2/Planned Unit Development (RSF-2/PUD).
The current zoning is Open Use rural, which allows one dwelling unit per acre, county Planner Tana Ania Spencer told the planning commissioners.
A multitude of speakers anticipated
Forty-three speakers addressed the Planning Commission during that November 2024 hearing, which was conducted at night. On Sarasota County citizens Facebook pages, people have been inquiring about the date of the County Commission hearing, the News Leader has observed. Opponents of the Smith Properties proposal have indicated that they expect the number of people who will attend the County Commission hearing to be at least as high as the figure for the Planning Commission meeting.
Among the three largest public hearings that the County Commission has conducted over the past eight years, on Jan. 27, 2016, then-commission Chair Alan Maio announced that 100 people had signed up to address a proposed ordinance banning the retail sales of dogs and cats in the county.
Then, in August 2017, 73 people addressed the board members about an application regarding a recycling center for construction and yard waste that would have stood close to the Celery Fields.
Yet another, nearly day-long hearing took place on Dec. 12, 2018, when the commissioners heard the proposal for the Siesta Promenade mixed-use development planned in the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41. Altogether, 69 speakers offered comments during that hearing.