BCC-Regular

pool overflowed and I was wondering if I was gonna have a pond in my living room. And hurricanes are getting more frequent and more severe exacerbated by development. I certainly hope that the real estate agents who try to sell these homes inform their perspective buyers not only to think of checking out the price of flood insurance but to bring kayaks because that s the only way they re gonna get out during hurricane season if that if that area is hit. I don t know if any of you got to see the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. The crowded maze of roads of the shadow oaks where fallen trees actually blocked people s driveways and entrances we actually saw a huge live oak dropped in front of an entrance to a house we wondered how the people would even get out and by the way. Most of us around there will tell you that that is our egress that s our entrance and exit, not Apex road for our brand new as the other woman uh stated public which yes was so needed, um, Raymond Road, by the way after hurricane Milton was was impassable because it was so flooded and even if you wanna say. Hey, the flooding comes from diversion that is small comfort to the residents who can t get out. What are they going to tell their kids so they can t take to school, hey, we have marble countertops, um, you wanna put up lovely shrubbery and native plants to cover the dwellings nobody wants to see the plants will be visible after the hurricane in the form of. Debris along the roads lining the celery fields including the rooftop tiles that they have taken with them, and this debris will take not days, not even weeks but months to clear. Um, fences, by the way, took some of the worst hits and I am convinced that the word debris is actually French for rotting vege vegetative garbage. Um, let s mention the neighbors who are going to be affected by this when the hurricanes hit, where is the water going to go not necessarily into your retention pond which might overflow Raymond is a small 2. Local road despite the celery fields having been reconfigured, uh, as retention ponds that road flooded. During. Um, hurricane Debbie floodwater was diverted to my development of Deerfield. The water on our street was level with our lake. My husband and I watched in trepidation as water crept up our driveway. What will happen when we have more homes. Imagine the tv coverage, but instead of the California fires, it will be of Sarasota underwater and the once beautiful celery fields, the renowned birding spot that is nationally known as a haven for wildlife now a crowded blight on the landscape a desolate flood zone. Which it might turn to birds gone coyotes and bobcats roaming the sidewalks of developments since they no longer have habitats you re on a time schedule. We need to keep moving here, please, I m sorry. Thank you. Uh, we will now hear from your husband, Rick, uh, followed by Sue Herring, Jay Moorhofer. Nancy Edmondson, Kathy Parris, and then Jono Miller. Uh, Rick, good morning. You re recognized for 5 minutes, sir Lisker, hi, thank you very much. Thank you very much. So part of life is about risks and taking chances. When it s important enough you want to reduce the risk as much as possible. So what do we have here? The celery fields is an amazing Sarasota resource we are all blessed to have this thousands of people visited each year shared by both local residents and out of towners. I don t know if everyone on the commissioner board has visited the celery fields between 8 and 11 A.M., especially between NOVEMBER and APRIL. But if not, you would see hundreds of people coming, not only every week, but sometimes every single day. And what does this mean having hundreds and thousands of visitors, a huge amount of income for local businesses. People drive distances to come to the celery fields. They come to see the birds. They buy snacks and eat in local restaurants, and they shop in local stores, but they come for the birds and what a diverse population of birds there is wonderful place. I didn t think I would get into birding, but lo and behold, it is pretty amazing. Now I understand there are many other birding sites in Florida, many, many, many, but the celery fields is special and we re lucky to have it, but the sallery fields. With a development like this. What are we willing to risk. Are we willing to risk the beauty of the celery fields by building a huge development right across the street from this wonderful site. Now it was interesting that the lawyers for the developers talked about the administrative building that is being built, which is all the way on the other side of the main birding areas of the celery fields, which were the two gazebos are, those seem to be the main birding areas, plus the area by the Autobahn building. So The question really is. If they build this with all the water problems and all of the noise that s gonna happen, do they and do we know all of the risks. The possibility of destroying this habitat. We all start with the birds not coming back. They can t say, oh, don t worry, they ll be back. This won t affect it, but if the birds don t come back. Then the people who visit won t come back either. Lost beauty, lost income, a lost paradise and all because this development has to be in this specific location so close to the celery fields. It can t be because there is a shortage of housing when I guess more than 1000 apartments have been built somewhere close to the fruitful library. I don t see the benefits of yet another development at this location. But All I think about are the risks destroying a natural wonder that so many people love to put in yet another development. One of the things that the lawyers for the Smiths mentioned was, oh, look at all the development by Oscar Sheer Park. Well, I. Rely on Google, Ashira Park is 1400 acres, celery fields is 400 acres. So we have to take everything into consideration. This picture that you see is of our lake. And our street, but lo and behold, you don t see our street because the lake flooded into our street. This is what it looks like during Debbie or Milton. It s only going to get worse because this is what Raymond Road, which I couldn t get to look like. So please think of all the birds, think of all the people, don know and that s about it. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Next will be Sue Herring, followed by Jay. Mayor Hofer, if I said that correctly, good morning, ma am. You recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you. Uh, I m Sue Harry. I m a Sarasota Audubon volunteer board member and head docent uh out at the Nature Center at the celery Fields. One of the things visitors. Often mentioned is We wish we could have something like this where we live. We have something unique here and while we realized that the celery fields began its life as a flood control area or water control area with the addition of bird and wildlife habitat habitat. It has transformed into something quite, uh, Unexpected and a lot bigger than we imagined it ever would be. We re getting people not just throughout the country that come here because they ve heard of us, we re getting people from all over the world. Stop in our nature center sometime and check out our map. We have our visitors pin on our map where they re from. And there All over. Um I don t want to repeat everything other people have said, but one thing that i have noticed with construction because dr Horton is putting a development where I live up in Longwood Run. It doesn t take a few months for construction. You re talking years. It s gonna be years of heavy trucks coming and going just to get the land. Graded, get the utilities in and all the other things that go, go with putting in a subdivision or putting in a new development. And Traffic gets crazy because you have to watch out for these big trucks going in and out on a two-lane road, which is what Longwood Run is, is a two-lane road up on the north side of town. Um And when there are storms, stuff gets. Uh, flooded out on the street beside, but in spite of their assurances, um, with the apartment buildings that were built near the library. The dirt and debris and stuff, a lot of that blue into the uh North ponds. Uh, and Ackerman Park and the birding, uh, The wildlife we used to see there, the birds and all, they re kind of few and far between. That might eventually clear up, but we don t know that, uh, we ve lost so many birds because of loss of habitat. Um And the storms. Uh The flooding is a huge issue, and Similar to the people have spoken about that, I would hope that you will postpone your, your vote until you know more about it. Because if they build and we get more storms like we ve had this past 3 storms. We re gonna be in big trouble. Yes, we need homes, but not there. Thank you, ma am. Next we have Jay, and if you would be kind enough to pronounce your name at the microphone. Hm Hm Good morning, commissioners. My name is Jay Marhofer. And um I live in Palmer Ranch. I m a small business owner. And uh I did sign a card, um, I support. Thoughtful, economically and ecologically reasonable development in our county. I believe a landowner has the right to sell his property. But that right does not come with a guarantee of rezoning or a financial windfall. I think most people here, and it s been pretty unanimous so far, we would agree that good governance means doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. And this is often a matter of economics. So it s in that spirit that I address you today. Approving this posit this petition would have two economic results. First, the developer dr Horton and the property owner would profit substantially. The county primary benefit would be recurring property tax revenue. A figure of about $6000 per year for the 126 homes in this development is a reasonable estimate, which would be about $750,000 a year. Now weigh that against what would be lost. Which is the financial stimulus of the county from birding and ecotourism visitors. As an example, on Sunday, I was a celery Fields and at 2:30 P.M. And there were 30 cars in the parking lot just for that small window. So let s assume that over peak season, we have 10 unique out of town visitors a day, just 10. And they re spending 3 days on average in Sarasota because this is the primary reason for the draw. So that s about $900 per visit. And just in season alone that amounts to about $1.6 million per year of financial stimulus. Let s take a quarter of that during the offseason,, $400,000. We re not looking at $2 million a year of financial income for the county, which is 3 times what the property tax, uh, income is going to be from this development. Even if you take half of these numbers, uh, it still more valuable to keep celery fields and the tourism that comes with it. Um, and I think everyone here that is a visitor to celery Fields knows that my estimates are conservative. Now, the developer dr Horton MAY say, well, why can t we have both? We can have the property tax revenue and we can have the ecotourism and birding visitors coming in. They claim that the site is far enough south from celery fields, the careful development won t disturb it. But the appropriate response to this, and I think of young Andromeda, what she said is, what if they re wrong? You know, it cannot be replicated. Severy fields cannot be replicated in this parcel once developed cannot be undeveloped. As we ve said, the mere act of development and construction and noise implementation of water, sewer, utilities, traffic lights and the ongoing human habitation. Well, no doubt affect this ecosystem and one thing we know about complex ecosystems is that they re delicate. This is not a chance we re taking, especially given the economics that have just been outlined. So I thus encourage the board to deny this petition. The short-term financial gains for a few will pale in comparison to what Sarasota was sacrifice economically on a recurring basis. And in terms of its reputation, As a vibrant destination for nature-based tourism. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next will be Nancy Edmondson, followed by Kathy Parris, Nancy, you are recognized for 5 minutes, ma am. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Nancy Edmondson, and I have signed a speaker s card. Since moving to Venice, I have been fortunate to have careers which complimented my education as the horticulture agent and the cooperative extension service, director of horticulture at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and as an environmental specialist in the natural resources department. My most recent role with Sarasota County government was as a manager for several properties purchased under the environmentally sensitive lands Protection Program as a volunteer since my retirement, I ve participate actually as a volunteer, I participated in the local Audubon Society s Christmas bird counts for 3 decades, and since my retirement, I have been a bird naturalist at the celery fields for 7 years. When I first birded at the celery field, It was only a mountain of fill, a place for us to perch, waiting for the barn owls to emerge from the abandoned barn on Center Road, and there were open water ponds, home to rafts of ducks during the winter. Some years later, a brilliant plan was hatched to provide stormwater abatement in the Philippe Creek watershed and to develop a series of ponds of various depths as a refuge for wildlife and what 100 years ago supported agriculture. To cater to the human need adjacent areas for recreation were included. Over the years, the surrounding areas morphed into more industrial businesses, more government facilities, more and wider roads and more residential housing. The salary fields has also grown, but incrementally. The addition of the quads will further enhance and protect the wildlife refuge by creating a buffer between the established celery fields and urbanization. What we hope won t significantly change is the open space on Raymond Road opposite the South and Walker cells. The catastrophic events of last summer remind us of our vulnerability in that nature is the controlling and influential force on this planet. The celery fields is a significant part of the region s stormwater utility, but last year s events show us that what s in place is just not enough. On JANUARY 21st, Messrs. Anderson and Swais presented reasonable, thought-provoking advice to mitigate the effects of disastrous events. There were over a dozen options proposed at the stormwater workshop. To me, the options lead to a pause in development. To encourage far more rigorous scrutiny of developments, especially in flood plains, and by the way, the city of Zephyr Hills is in their 2nd year of a moratorium in Manatee County is considering that now. Other formidable options include no fill in special flood hazard areas. No developments in high risk areas as zone ae and to add more flood plain storage, for example, at the celery fields. Conversation need to continue to implement changes as in our memory and in the future, storms did and will exceed regulatory standards, considering the planned high density development at the Smith farm, the developments impacts to existing residents, the conservation efforts and flood storage courtesy of the salary fields, I asked the commission to please design please deny rezoned 23-30, and thank you very much for the opportunity. Thank you, ma am. Next will be Kathy Parris, followed by Jono Miller. Good morning, Kathy. You recognized for 5 minutes. Good morning I am Kathy Parris and I m a member of Sarasota Audubon and a volunteer there and I ve been asked to read a letter. That was submitted by Emily Duval. Professor of biology at Florida State University. I speak for her. Members of the board of county commissioners. I m a professor of biology at Florida State University, and I specialize in animal behavior and ornithology, the study of birds. I am also PRESIDENT Of the Animal Behavior Society and an elected fellow of the American ornithologists Society. I m an expert in evaluating scientific evidence about birds and in communicating it to the public to support informed decision making. Human development affects birds. Urban areas consistently have fewer bird species and lower overall bird numbers. This is the case even at moderate levels of development. There s no one part of human development that is solely to blame. Instead, this decline happens due to multiple factors, including outdoor cats, the number one cause of bird deaths. Chemical pollution, which affects bird health and reproduction. Reduced food supply as pesticides kill the insect birds, they need to survive and feed their young. Noise pollution. It interferes with communication and parenting. Light pollution. It disrupts the timing and performance of natural behaviors. Collisions with buildings and vehicles, especially near habitats that like celery fields are crucial stopover sites for migratory birds. Wetland birds are particularly sensitive to human activity near their breeding sites, and these species are abundant in the celery fields regional stormwater facility. Adding over 100 houses next to celery fields would worsen these threats. Birds can t just move somewhere else. At 2019 study in science, one of the world s top journals found that North America has lost 2.9 billion birds since 1970. Nearly 30% of the total population. Human activity is driving this decline faster than birds can reproduce. Birds provide major benefits to people. They improve mental and physical health support local economies and even increase property values, protecting bird habitats also protects human communities by improving water quality and reducing stormwater runoff and issued directly relevant to this proposed development. Building houses next to celery fields is bad for birds and bad for people. Please consider these facts when making your decision. Again, I m speaking for Emily Duval, professor of biology, Florida State University. And I thank you. Thank you, ma am, did you say that was a Florida State University professor. Oh, we MAY have to strike that from the record here, it s there, no, I m just kidding. Would you be kind enough, um. If you d like to, could you just maybe give that copy to the clerk and we can have a copy if that s so, if you need it, we could make copies, but maybe put that in the record for us. Thank you, ma am. Uh, next we have Jono Miller, um, and let me read the next 5 names, please. We have David Hines, followed by Rene Ram Rene Reenie. Thank you, ma am. Followed by Sarah Thomas, Sue. Guard ski If I said that one correctly, please correct my, my vernacular when you get to the microphone if I ve said it incorrectly, and then Damani Wood. MR. Miller, you are recognized for 5 minutes, sir. Yes, I m John Miller speaking today as a private citizen and 54 year residents there, so County. I m not representing any group and I ve not been paid for my research or comments. Can the Smith Farm be developed at 2.4 units per acre. Absolutely. If we can take a small island in Sarasota Bay, destroy the habitat and create bird Key. I m sure we could do this. Uh, the question is, should it be developed at 2.4 acres and that s what brings us here today. You re being asked to use common sense in the comprehensive plan to determine if a previous. County commission s future land use plan mandates apply. Here s what your staff said that it could be both compatible and compatible, the proposal MAY be found incompatible as it relates to dissimilar land use and intensity in relation to the celery fields. They noted that the future land use map is a maximum limit. And they stressed site characteristics and compatibility with surrounding development patterns. Now they wrote that the proposed zone district is consistent with the future land use map, but what happens when the future land use map is not consistent with common sense. The first goal of the future land use is to maintain a map that is based on the environmental characteristics. I ve been an environmental consultant, uh, for 49.5 years at this point here in Sarasota. I m having trouble discerning what environmental characteristics suggest this would be a good location for medium density residential. What are those characters? The most significant is that the site is the remnant of a major freshwater wetland that became the most productive farmland in the county and it s now a famous wildlife destination. The 2nd most uh significant characteristic has to do with the flooding. 5 square mile watershed, low topography and it s notorious for flooding. Uh, staff, uh, noted that approximately 100% of the site is located in the fema zone a. You see it there? If we go back and look at the Philippe Creek master plan from 94. You ll see uh references to many previous years when the site flooded. This is the Corps of Engineers map from 1962 after that flood and this is the location of the Smith farm. It was tempting to think all that was behind us and then came Debbie. Now, I m not a hydrologist or an engineer, but some staff members should clearly explain to you where this water would have ended up in Debbie if the Smith Farm had been filled for housing. You have in your comp plan areas of special flood hazard. I m not sure how or when you use them, but this is one of them. And you saw the Smith Farm, this is, uh, also the, um, as flood zone maps that the county has. You re supposed to be transitioning from the natural environment to areas developed by gradually increasing the density. This is the map you ve seen. I went ahead and put in 126 units. The question is, does this represent gradually increasing the density. I would argue this is an abrupt increase in density. You re uh required by the policy 1.2.2 to protect flood plains, you know, the floodplains I just showed you, the core of the county, and fema. You re supposed to be negative minimizing negative impacts uh with incompatibility. Staff has said this is more intense than the adjoining subdivision. It s a higher density development and it MAY not be compatible. Uh, you re supposed to buffer public conservation lands. What are they? Well, the county has a field guide to conservation lands and coincidentally the celery fields in Palmer Gazebo are included. You re supposed to protect and maintain agricultural lands. I don t know what to say about this, but I don t think we ve done much through the regulatory process. In summary, uh, Ste is upon that the rezoning is consistent with uh future land use map, but that s a map that inexplicably suggests an area with a demonstrated predilection for flooding is appropriate for medium density residential. The staff identified several goals, objectives, and policies that MAY suggest compliance with the future land use. But they failed to address other goals, objectives, and policies that suggest otherwise. You re going to have to make some decisions maybe today, maybe it ll be deferred, but you ll have to decide if it is or isn t consistent and you always have the opportunity to keep it as it is. My advice comes from Maya Angelou. Do the best you can until you know better. And when you know better. Do better. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next will be David Hines, followed by Renee Reni. Rene. Ram. Thank you, ma am. My name s David Hines, and my wife, Joey and I reside in the civilly community, um, on 20907ly Drive. Our property directly abuts the Sarasota County drainage canal and the Smith Farm property. Uh, erosion on our property near the drainage canal has already occurred. We ve already lost 3 ft of our property. Uh, in AUGUST of 2024, the Smith firm was under 2 to 3 ft of water when tropical Storm Debbie passed over Sarasota in the property reserve resembled a very large lake. Uh, the Smith property is currently zoned for 5 homes. The proposed rezoning would allow 126 homes. That s an enormous increase in density in an area that s already flood prone, flood prone due to the fact that it is in a flood plain. If you have approved this project in 120 homes are built in this flood plain. Our entire community. Of over 100 homes will be an extreme risk of catastrophic flooding with severe damage, very likely to many existing homes in our community. Um, the Sarasota Planning Commission has already voted against this rezoning and I would ask you to please commit to preventing future fle disasters by fully assessing the risks and providing that any and all future projects will not cause offsite flooding. Um I ask you not to, uh, approve this uh proposal. It would make absolutely no sense, do the right thing. And not allow this potentially catastrophic pro project to move forward. Uh, it will damage our community and. This I want to think how about how bad it could be, um, uh, you know, Sarasota s future depends on responsible planning, and I, I trusted you to do that. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next, Reenie Ram, please, followed by Sarah Thomas. Sram, you recognized for 5 minutes. Um You need the wolf? Oh, you wanna get this. Yeah I m assuming it should open up, right? I am. Maybe we could have staff, uh, come down and, uh, assist here. I have it up there, yes. Ok. I live in, oh, my name is Reenie Ram. I live at 1768 Sugarberry Trail in Sarasota at the Sylvan Lea area it s directly behind the Smith farm. I moved there 6 years ago. I came there as a retired police officer. I served in 9/11. I have severe ptsd. I have committed my life to working down there from SEPTEMBER 11th until APRIL 24th of the next year. I got 2 cancers. I have an incurable blood disorder. I have multiple other issues besides and what had saved me and the world out in the celery fields is the part that you can go out there and feel like you re part of a different life, not just in the rat race. And that s what I came from New York City. That s why I left. I also went and tried to retain a home that was nowhere near a flood zone because one thing when you re on a disability pension you get taxed on it and you don t get a lot. I did not get 3 quarters from the job because they screwed me over, but because of that I don t need to pay flood insurance, maybe $500 today could be $2500 the next time and then when I m displaced from my home, where do I go? Where do my neighbors go? Because you want to put 125 houses in. I see you ve seen this picture before. I took up photography. Because this is what I do. This is what I see. This is what I went to see after that flood, I went to check on the animals because they were my main concern over the people because nobody cares about them. They re just livestock to put on your freaking food table. These animals have feelings too, no matter how you feel it. But that says a lot. And I ve seen it used already on the, uh, cameras that they ve taken my photography and used it. I use a lot of photography to show the soul of these animals and I m not just talking about cows. I m talking about birds. I talking about any animal that roams this world. If you had to live a life of them. Maybe you would understand what they re losing and putting in 125 homes to give back to the community and to this animal. Community. They survive every day looking for food. They survive every day trying to see if they re not gonna be the food. And the less and less we have of them, you re not gonna have food. Maybe we ll all become vegetarians at that point. Is that fair? You know, it s a life that we need to do. We need to keep. The celery fields. Forever Forever Now besides that. I went around and the person that was going to speak with me had to leave. So I m gonna show you some videos. Of Could you just make sure to speak into the microphone too. We down here s the bus stop. 6 buses go there every day, dropping off. And also picking up. You also have families that go to the pick up their children. Are you aware of what it looks like? How many people have actually been down there. This video is coming in the opposite direction. At this corner here we had 2 fatalities. Two runners, 62 and 67 year olds hit by a 17 year old driver at 6:15 at night. There is no crosswalk there. And you turn onto Raymond Road here, which is only 2 lanes. Now we re coming down. This is a blind curve. And right around this curve is where they want to put one of their entrances. You re going to see that those are bike lanes on both sides. Do you think this stopping for all these pedestrians you have handicapped people that come down here to go to see the birds. This is the main section of where everybody stops to go birding. Although at this time there weren t a lot of cars, but there s cars lined up all day long down here. There s the Raymond Boardwalk we re passing. And that s where you have photographers, birders, walking people, running people, you have kids that run there from the schools every day. You have people that are disabled that have uh their walkers to go there. And then this is the most important part. This is the end of the road going down to Porter. It s the only thing you see how narrow it is? Well, guess what? It goes to a dead end there. You can either make a left or a right, and the only way out to be ridge is to go left and you re going through a community that s very less densely populated. And if you go right, it takes you down Porter straight into the industrial section, back out to Palmer at the overpass for 75. Thank you, ma am. Next, we will have Sarah Thomas. Followed by Sue Grassi. Sarah, you recognized you have 5 minutes, ma am. I m Sarah Thomas. Um, I m a citizen and a resident of Sarasota County. I did fill out a speaker card. I am about 1 mile. 25 miles from the celery fields and my husband and I are avid walkers. We love the celery fields, um. We see it as someplace that needs to be cherished and protected. Um, we understand that the farmer, the smith, uh, family needs money for the farm. We do understand that, um, but we saw it flooded. We walked down there. We, we, we saw all the um, you know, the water, the flooding and the salary fields, and it just broke our hearts, um. I would feel sorry for anyone who bought a house there, um. I understand, you know, reading the paper that um High Hat Farm, it s gonna be 13,000 homes, East Lakewood Ranch, 5000 homes. This is just a little gem in all the, you know, in Sarasota County there s lots of gyms in Sarasota County. Right now, we cannot walk in, uh, Rockenbach Park. If I pronounce that right, because of all the storm damage was taken there, uh, that is also a nice park to go to, to go, um, to get some steps in and to see something different. It s gone right now. It always is when there is um hurricane damage that is where they take the debris. So we re left with, or not left with, but we cherish the celery fields we love to walk there, um, and the, the traffic on Palmer is already bad. Um, I don t know, you might see me every once in a while, my husband and I when we do go for walks, we pick up trash. It s because of the trash trucks going up and down there. And it s not just, um, on Palmer, it s around the celery fields. It s down Raymond and it s just going to get worse with the construction workers. It s bad because of the, the, the buildings that are being constructed right next to 75, um, you know, it, it, it blows. There s wind here, so we do our best to pick it up. And to take care of the area. And that s what we should be doing. We should be caring for this area for our children and for our grandchildren. I d love to take visitors down there, um, see the birds just to take a walk to get away from it all and so I really, I m against the rezoning, um, if at all, if, if at the very least, wait until after this mid-MARCH meeting that I just heard about where you might be changing the rules. Wait until then to make a final. Decision. This is the future of a little space, a green space, and also the flooding, the just. You got to protect people in their homes, and I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma am. Next we have Sue Grassi Guarassi. Thank you, ma am. Um, you are recognized and you will have 5 minutes. Um, I have some handouts for you all. Um, yeah, well, my name is Sugarassi and I ve been a volunteer at Cellery Fields as a bird naturalist for about 10 years, um, out on the boardwalk, we see a lot of visitors from all over North America, all over the all over the world. Um, so how do these people find us, um, and the bottom line answer is a program called EBird. It s administered by Cornell University, um, Uh, and the program the way it works is the birdwatchers go out to bird. We go to our phone, open our e-Bird app, um, and enter all the birds we see, all the numbers of the birds, where we were located when we saw those birds and then we submit those reports to e-Bird, um, e-bird gets all this information, reports from all over the world, and they do really cool things with all that data. Uh one of the things they do for us is birders is they keep track. Of all of our checklist, all of our bird photos, are life list, what birds we need to add to get our life list up, um, and for the people who are looking to travel for bird watching trips. This is where they go to get the information is to e-bird, um, and basically what they will be looking at are the burning hotspots, and those are designated birding locations, um. That have been ranked according to number one, the number of species at that location and number 2, the number of e-bird checklists that have been, uh, submitted from that location. So why would the Eber checklist matter for this? Um, it indicates how highly burden a location would be, and it often indicates, um, the seriousness of the birders who are birding there as the more, um, experienced birders tend. To submit to eBird, their checklist. So the handout that I, uh, gave you all, I think. Maybe I can put it on here. Ok, so this is uh a list. This is a list of the, there are about 50 birding hotspots in Sarasota. So this is the list of the top 7. And again, it s ranked on the number of bird species and the number of bird lists that have been submitted there. Uh, number one, you can see on the list is celery fields with bird species of 259 and submitted Eber checklist of about 20,000. Uh number 2 is Maaca State Park with uh 257 bird species, and then about 5000 bird checklist and you can see it as it goes down the list. Uh, so, As we see celery Fields has a very high number of submitted Eber checklist and that tells us two things number 1, solery fields is an extremely popular birding destination. And number 2, celery fields is being birded by the very experienced birders because they have a tendency, uh, to be the people who report to eBird. Uh, this is the information burgers looking to travel around, whoops. Uh, would be looking for and that number, they re gonna really key on is the number of checklists that are submitted because they ll know that that is where the more experienced brewers are going, and it s a very actively birded place. That s all. If you have any questions. No, ma am. Thank you very much. Next we ll have Dominiy Wood, Dominiy Wood, and I got the next 5 names will be Tom Matrullo. Uh, Margie Haass, uh, Leslie Austin. Richard Franson and Chris King in that order, um, if you heard your name called, please make your way to the front, please. Uh, ma am, you are recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you very much. Good morning. My name is Domini Wood, and I have signed a speaker s card. Thank you. Um, I heard about celery fields while I was in England. Celery Fields has put Sarasota on the international map. It is featured on many international websites for its amazing variety of bird species, and on one such site within the handout I ve given to you. European website, it is described, so it feels are described as an international must-see destination. I ve included sample links from European websites, travel guides, and overseas base photographers. Visitors come here from around the world, and they promote Sarasota. On JANUARY 19th. At Raymond Road Boardwalk. I went in within 30 minutes, I had met a couple from Germany who came to Sarasota specifically to Florida to photograph birds. I then met a similar couple from the uk. Then a van pulled up. With 10 photographers from the Netherlands. And why do they come here? In 2024, celery Fields was number 2 in Florida on eBird, with over 246 bird species. Have you, as you ve heard, e-Bird was founded by Cornell University has become one of the world s largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources. I have included examples from the travel sites Expedia, Travelocity, and TripAdvisor. What to do in Florida. Celery Fields is in there. In online nature brochures, it s referred to the area is referred to as the wild Sarasota. What you have here is extraordinary. It is beautiful and it is so unique. I have lived in Europe, the uk, and Asia. I came here 2 years ago. I m a full town, a full-time voting resident of Sarasota now, and I fell in love with this area of exquisite nature. And as a major birding destination. It attracts ecotourism. Which generates significant revenue. Especially in areas such as this, which is rich and rare, or migratory species. This benefits your local businesses, your hotels and restaurants. Tourism is one of the most important industries globally, contributing significantly to economic growth, employment, and cultural exchange. Photographers from around the world come. And they photograph here. I ve included a link to Steve Simnet, a uk photographer. His website includes many photos from celery Fields. Bird watching is important for its scientific contribution, also known as Citizen science, and educational value and has invaluable mental and physical benefits. In conclusion, birdwatching its celery fields is more than just a pastime. It plays a vital role in conservation. Citizen science, education, mental health, and ecotourism. The future of celery fields, it s unique ecosystem, the inhabitants it supports, as well as the future enjoyment and education of generations of children and adults is in your hands today, commissioners. Please oppose reza and petition 23, 20. Thank you. Thank you, ma am. Next will be Tom Metrulo. You are recognized, sir, for 5 minutes. Thank you commissioners. I m Tom Morello. I ve signed a card. Today you ll make probably the most significant decision of your tenure. It will surely be the one longest remembered by the people in this room and more. In essence, this hearing on rz 2330 sets a prized local amenity that brings health, stormwater safety, migratory and local birds and the joys of recreation to residents and tourists alike. With the additional benefit of tourist dollars. And that is set against the developer s humdrum effort to profit from proximity to that amenity. We taxpayers have paid over $50 million to create the salary fields. Audubon and Big Waters are committing to add $5 million more to rewild acres to the west, and we feel very strongly that no amount of Kimley horn-esque language will paper over the facts. Some facts Horton s plan. Ignore the flood plain of the Smith Farm, which is only buildable on the south end. Horton wishes to build here solely to profit from proximity to this amenity. Horton has shared no visuals that present the look of the homes crowded around the detention pond. At 60 paces from the prime birding area, such proximity could devalue or even destroy the natural tranquility that draws the amazing birds and other wildlife. As well as the birders and tourists. No matter how much Messrs. Bailey and Clepper swear that the 126 homes will be almost invisible. No hoa will ever be able to control its residents lights, noise, pets, pool parties, mowers, barbecues, or fireworks. Having enjoyed the gifts of this amenity for 20 years or more, the people of Sarasota who owned this public amenity, implore you to protect it and us from yet another cynical effort to build in a flood plain pacing paces from the prime birding area and kill the proverbial golden goose. You ve heard. Some brilliant examples of public concern. It s sincere, deep. Full of experience of this area s flooding and informed by science, knowledge of birds and the value of open spaces. This is local knowledge we need to hear. You also need to inform yourselves on the builder s stormwater record. This is from a published report, Giant Texas-based builder dr Horton has been plagued with stormwater violations that have damaged communities near homes it has built in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, and South Carolina, according to recent reports. This development is out of scale with its surroundings and creates potential environmental harm. The planning commission has already determined that this rezoning was incompatible with its surroundings and minor adjustments do not change that reality. For all these reasons, I urge you to uphold the planning commission s denial and reject this rezoning request. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we ll be hearing from Margie Haas. And then Leslie Austin. Good morning, ma am. You are recognized for 5 minutes. Good morning. Uh, my name is Margie Haass. I signed the speaker s card. I live directly north of Surryfields just over the Manadee County border, um, I m here to tell you why I oppose the Smith Farm rezone 23-30. I am program director for Sarasota Audubon. I moved to Greater Sarasota from Manhattan over 10 years ago. And became a very active birder and committed citizen scientists reporting and writing on local swallowtail kite hawks. I ve served as a formal Sarasota County volunteer reporting on nesting birds for Carlton Reserve. I lead regular afternoon birding walks at Surry Fields, usually up to especially now during season 40. Local and national and international visitors. Uh, now I m usually take these visitors to Raymond Road as opposed to Palmer Road boardwalks. Why is that? That s because, because of all the horrendous incredible amount of sudden building north of Surry Fields, the birds are retreating into the Raymond Road area birdwalk areas, uh, the whole area is now the heart, the soul of celery. Fields. I cannot overemphasize that, please, please get that clear. It s not sore Fields the big, big thing. It s Raymond Road, which is the essence of Surrey Fields for birders and naturalists and people who want calm and quiet. Have you all been to Raymond Road? It is about as narrow as this area right here. What are we talking about? Big trucks. Thundering up and down the road. That s not gonna work. You re gonna flush out all the animals and all the birds, and why would humans come with all that trucking, and it doesn t stop and it s not over a short period of time. I beg you please to turn down this proposal for the good of all of us for the humans, for the birds for the wildlife, for the greater good of Sarasota and the whole country because it is such an important and economically viable. It s so good for all of us. It s good for your tax base. It s good for everything, please reject the reason. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma am. Next will be Leslie Austin, followed by uh Richard Franson. Leslie, good morning. You re recognized for 5 minutes. Good morning. Thank you, um. I m Doctor Leslie Austin and I did sign a speaker cord. Uh, first of all, thank you for hearing us all out. Your jobs are clearly not easy so I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. Um, I m an executive coach and I work with my clients are CEOs, managing directors, very senior c-suite clients in some multinational corporations here in Florida. I ll just mention the word Orlando. Um, and small businesses and family businesses, so I frequently in my consulting and coaching deal with high conflict situations. And people tend to want to oppose each other and demonize each other. I have 3 cardinal rules that I apply in all of these negotiations and they apply specifically here. One Sorry, I m trying to find my notes here. Ok. Number one, first, do no harm. That s paramount. First, do no harm. It s the Hippocratic oath also, but in all conflict you want to do no harm. Second, you want to reframe this from opponents and evildoers to people who are in negotiation to try and find the best possible outcome for all. This is not a win lose you have to come out with what s the best for everything, and third, what is the greater good for all? What s really the right thing. So in this situation, the sellers are asking to benefit financially from granting of a rezoning of their property, which, as has been shown to you. Has been used for primarily agricultural use and the rezoning has has been and will continue to be demonstrated will clearly seriously irreparably harm the wholesale fields environment and the homes in the area. This is not just about birds which I love and adore by the way, but this is a much bigger issue. That s crucial, but the larger issue is all the people living there, the traffic, the, the ecological, the storm, the floods, everything you ve heard, I won t repeat that. So harm would clearly be done to celery fields and it would involve uh and everything by approving this rezoning, but the sellers would suffer no harm financially. If this is turned down. And someone, the county buys it, makes it part of celery fields, uh, the conservation Foundation, I m sorry, uh, Big Waters, buys it surely the money can be found somewhere. I know that Big Waters has approached the cellars in the past, and they have not discussed it with them. So maybe because they were under contract, I don t know. The sellers could not suffer harm they can profit. There s no reason why they shouldn t under correct zoning that would protect the area. So they re fully entitled to any of those financial gains as for the developer, they went into this knowing in advance it was contingent upon a very controversial rezoning in the world I deal in with the executives I deal with, that s just a calculated risk of doing business, so any of the resources, time and money and effort that Horton has put into proposing this and trying to get it passed your average ordinary cost of doing business and taking a risk that they created. No harm done. They re very profitable. There are many, many other areas that can develop that are much more appropriate in Florida and around the country just not this one precious irreparably damaged parcel if the development goes ahead, so no harm to them. And lastly, what s really the greater good for all. Clearly it s to prevent harm, protect not only sellry fields but the entire ecological system. The Sarasota economy and all of the people who come from around the world, the animal wildlife, I can think of a single thing that is not protected and supported by denying the rezoning. There is no harm by denying the rezoning, period. No harm to anyone. Everything can be worked out so that everybody benefits in the right way and the land and the ecology and we are all protected. So given this greater good, there is a right thing to do here. I know you re all good people. I know you have. Sense and a good conscience you wouldn t be commissioners if you didn t want to try and do good, and I know that and I believe that in my heart. And I ask you to come from that place in your heart, do the right thing here for all concerned. Do no harm to anyone and deny the rezoning. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma am. Next will be Richard Franzen, followed by Chris King, you recognized, sir, for 5 minutes. Good morning, commissioners. Uh, thank you for the opportunity. My name s Richard Franzen. Uh, I ve signed the speaker s card, and I d like to associate myself with the remarks that have gone before, and I ll try not to repeat them, but I have two issues that I want to bring to your attention. The celery fields and the Raymond Road platform. Are the home to a number of threatened bird species. Designated by the state of Florida. Some of them are Florida sandhill crane, Rosette spoonbill, Tricor colored heron, little blue herons, wood storks, and there are others. The Florida legislature. Has recognized. The wide diversity of fish and wildlife in Florida. In the, uh, endangered and threatened Species Act, Section 379.2291. And what they said is that it was in that statute. It is the policy of this state to conserve and wisely manage these resources with particular attention to those species defined by the fish and wildlife commission is being threatened or endangered. So those are the terms conserve. Wisely manage pay particular attention to the threatened species. So what is the word conserve mean? I just looked it up in the dictionaries. One, to keep and protect something from damage, change, or waste. Another dictionary protect something specially by environmentally or culturally important places or things from harm or destruction. So Every day you go to the Raymond platform, you re likely to see one of these threatened species. Uh And we, and I, and what I have not seen is any studies that say this development. It s going to be sufficient to protect those threatened species. So I submit to you that a high density housing project directly across Raymond Road will bring more traffic, more noise, more lighting, potential flooding is antithetical to wise management and conservation of the bird species at the celery fields. Public park. The second issue Has to do with. Uh, parking. At the Raymond Road platform. You ve seen one picture, I think, that showed it, but the only parking is on. One side of Raymond Road. Uh, in a grassy area. There s no other parking. And unless you walk from the main parking lot up by the Uh, Nature Center, which is a 1.2 mile round trip. And with the, the additional traffic. I m concerned, particularly the construction traffic and then the, uh, uh, explosion of other traffic. Uh, I m concerned that one day we re going to find a no parking sign. Down along That road right at the entrance to the Raymond Road platform, which is the most popular platform. So senior citizens like myself. With young uh families with young children. Uh, Americans with disabilities. If they can t walk the 1.2 miles. They re going to be denied access to the most popular. Buring Wildlife viewing platform in the public park. And so they will then lose. Access to the tranquility to all of the benefits you ve heard from other speakers about the birds. And there s one other issue I just want to touch on. It s been touched on. But The celery fields are not just an environmental asset. They re a major economic asset and I ll give you two sites to demonstrate that one was the us Interior Department does a five-year survey. Every 5 years they ve been doing it for about 60 years of outdoor recreational activities, hunting, fishing. And wildlife viewing. And the, the latest one based on 2022 data was released in OCTOBER of 2023. And it found that there were more than 93 million residents of the us. The photograph and observe birds. Thank you, sir. We have quite a bit of, of items here. We ll be moving on. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next, uh, Chris King. And allow me to read the next 5 Peter Friedman, Graham Johnson, Julie Doran, Pam Johnson or Pan Johnson, Michelle Sizzler, uh, at that time, if we use the five-minute mark, uh, it will be getting close to the lunch hour. I do plan on taking, uh, a commissioner break for lunch at exactly 12 to 1 P.M. For your knowledge. Thank you, sir. You are recognized and have 5 minutes. My name s Chris King. I m a past CHAIRMAN And two-term member of the Sarasota County Planning Commission, and I ve signed a card. I m here today to speak against the own petition 23-30. Thank you for the opportunity to express my concerns. The main issue with the rezo matician is it s incompatibility, excuse me, incompatibility with the celery fields and the surrounding neighborhoods. This is acknowledged by county staff in its review. There are two regulations with which the the petitions in consistent. The first is comp plan future land use policy 1.2.17%, which requires incompatibility to be mitigated by the project s design. Its comp plan consistently report and findings of fact, the planning department finds it inconsistent due to the projects being the sole development with access to Raymond Road. The project designed does nothing to mitigate this zoning code 124.40 requires a project to be consistent with the comprehensive plan. In addition, county staff states that the project MAY negatively impact wildlife, including birds and the celery fields, and it s finding of facts, stay calm staff comments in the comp plan consistently report suggests that site plans increases from minimum requirements MAY not be effective in mitigating develops incompatibility with the celery fields. There are several aspects of the site and development plan that reduce its effect of mitigating incompattibilities. The separation of development from the celery fields along Raymond Road varies from 80 ft to 130 ft. The separation, uh, the separation report shows all other developments along Raymond Road to be 180 ft. Um, and it s, uh, and it s response to the request for additional information, there s evidence that Horton plans to ask for a variants for the rear lots for the rear lot line easements, a reduction this easement would allow a home to be built closer to Raymond Road thus thus effectively reducing the buffer. Additionally, the lighting plan does nothing to the lighting plan does not apply to any of the residential lots. At your annual strategic planning retreat last DECEMBER, you included affordable housing as a priority, which this project does nothing to address a complete review of the County stormwater excuse me. Excuse me, a complete review of the county s stormwater system was also prioritized given the recent flooding, a workshop has since been held. The workshop noted there have been 4 major stormwater events in excess of 10 inches in 24 hours since 1962. The last two were in 2022 and 2024.. 1 of the administrative recommendations discussed by MR. Swa at the workshop was to minimize density increases and designating flood plains by more rigorous evaluation of rezoned petitions listed in staffs, um. Options for regulatory changes were no development in special and in high risk flood hazards, uh, flood hazard areas 6565, 64% of this property is in the 100 year flood plain zone ae. Since the county does not monitor compliance with stormwater systems on private developments there s no guarantees they ll they ll, they re functioning properly and therefore could add to flooding on adjacent properties of less than 10 inches in 24 hours. And today I heard for the first time that the petitioner wants to, uh, has said that they will increase the uh their product designed to keep stormwater on the property, uh, with, with, uh, with events up to 11. Uh, 11 ft 8 inches. I d like to bring to the commission s attention that that is not in the site development plan, nor is it listed in any of the stipulations. Um, the Smith property and its habitats and its current state or an asset to the community, I can think of no situation where the community at large would benefit from this development for these reasons, I urge you to consider its impact on the surrounding areas and vote to deny this application. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next will be Peter Friedman, followed by Graham Johnson. Sir, you recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you. My name is Peter Friedman. I live in the development of Metawalk. Which is on Palmer Road as an inter 6 with Raymond Road and it s in close proximity to the Smith farm. Sign the card. And done all the formalities. Uh, I have lots of pictures of flooding I was going to present, but I think you ve seen enough flooding. Everybody agrees. Flooding is a problem. What I will tell you about my two concerns. First of all, I ride a bicycle often and I ride on Raymond Road all the time and it s a true pleasure. It s almost no traffic on Raymond Road. I fear that will end real quickly if you make this approval. Um So I m gonna talk about uh traffic just a little bit. Uh, traffic has already increased dramatically since we bought our house in Meadow Walk over 12 years ago. We need to attract the features of the house was the location east of 75 and somewhat isolated from the congestion of the city. With the addition of the planning and zoning one stop, or sorry, the planning the, the new permit facility that you guys have approved, which is being built right now, the one stop permit center and the technology center and the employee health center directly across the street. As well as the new county administration building just down Apex Road. The traffic burden for those of us living on Palmer Road east of 75 is clearly on an upward trajectory. I don t think anyone in this room would deny the traffic has become burdensome over the last 10 to 15 years. It s dramatically improved, increased since I bought our house. There are certain times of the day we don t even drive 175. We just won t go out. Let s see here. All right Um Traffic will not only continue to increase and amplify the safety concerns for the re residents of Meadow Walk just down the road, and for those of us who enjoy biking as well as the high pedestrian traffic visiting salary fields. The Audubon Center crossing Palmer Road to the birth sanctuary and the school bus stop on Palmer are right in front of the Audubon Center. According to the Paxton Herald, 2 pedestrians died at the intersection of Palmer Raymond Road in 2021, being run over by an automobile while they were wearing headlamps, led arm bands, reflective shoes, and fluorescent colored clothing, according to the Herald. That was published in JANUARY 18th of 2022. The article s title began pedestrian fatalities rising in Sarasota County. And stated that there were at least 160 crashes involving pedestrians in Sarasota County last year, which would have been 2020. That s five years ago. I m sure it s gotten worse since then. I m gonna show you a picture from last night, 5 o clock. Yeah, there s been so many more accidents on Palmer Road since we first moved there. And here s one last night at the corner of Apex and Palmer. Flashing lights, two cars pulled over, trucks coming to, you know, pick up the cars, all that business. I don t know how to get this thing to work. Upside down. Well, there you go. All right, y all see that? That s last night around 5 o clock. I just happened to go for a ride and I thought. So, you know, observe the area I m talking about, and there you have it right there. I pretty much think that picture says it all from my perspective. Of what s going on with traffic. This is not uncommon to see this, especially in that particular intersection. I do know the county is in a, uh, process of starting to build a roundabout there. I applaud that it was needed. It s not done yet, it s gonna be a while, the traffic only continues to get worse. Alright, uh, some of what I was gonna say was all about the flooding. I think we re all aware of the flooding. I don t want to be redundant. It s lunchtime. I respect the fact that you guys are spending your time and need to go to lunch as do some of the other people in the room. Um, I m just gonna also mention that according to the Herald Tribune, Manatee County has recently considered a pause in development and proposed moratorium. By some of the commissioners apparently they re becoming sensitive to the needs of the public that they serve and I realized that the recent hurricanes and traffic congestion have neg negatively impacted the lives of the residents. Perhaps it s also time for Sarasota County to reconsider the pace of development. Which might actually serve the best interests of our existing residents as well as the visitors that come on v