I've been in Florida since July 1981 and lived in two different counties on the east side of the state. I watched both county governments bow to the will of the developers and allowed them to build homes and install septic systems even in areas that the USGS designated as inappropriate due to high water tables and marshland. On the barrier islands, Brevard County and St. Lucie County allowed rampant development, ignoring warnings from environmental engineers and other professionals that tearing out the tall pines that protected the area from hurricanes would result in widespread devastation. Evacuations to the mainland would be a nightmare. They were right. I saw building permits issued in wetlands areas, with resulting damage to homes and septic systems. Those of us on the mainland had to "hunker down" to ride out hurricanes because of the complex and lengthy evacuation of the barrier islands. My mother and I moved to Sarasota because, in addition to the good medical care she needed, through the decades of living on the east coast of Florida, and often visiting Sarasota, I saw the one place in Florida that did things right. They had a Comprehensive Plan, green spaces, restrictions on building height and proximity to other structures, setbacks from beaches and other sensitive areas, and protections for trees and wildlife. Enter the developers and a pro-development government, and when we settled in Sarasota in 2014, it didn't take long for me to realize that the Comprehensive Plan was replaced with endless variances and changes in land use, all resulting in a county like all of the others in Florida -- focused on making developers, not citizens, happy. County governments constantly play catchup. They use our tax dollars to add more schools, fire and police stations, water, sewers, and trash collection, etc. Then when businesses and the population grow, and more and more residential areas are needed, up go our property taxes in order to accommodate the ill-planned gr
A
Anonymous
2 years ago
You were elected to look out for OUR interests. What happened to you people? More focus on new building than who pays you. Elections are coming.
C
Carlyn Berghoff
2 years ago
This flooding and dumping sewage in the golf of Mexico our most sacred body of water that enables ppl to live happily and draws many visitors isn’t a toilet. We need an infrastructure study before anymore building permits are issued.
J
JANIE NEWMAN
2 years ago
My yard horribly footed only feet from my house
K
Karen Freeman
2 years ago
This includes Sarasota Golf Club.
B
Barry Wolfe
2 years ago
I agree wholeheartedly with every point made in this petition.
D
David Morriss
2 years ago
Do what we hired you to do.
R
Ralph Pelegrin
2 years ago
Drainage runoff channels need to be appropriately deepened/maintained and retention ponds dredged of silt and debris that has been naturally deposited over the years.
A
Anonymous
2 years ago
I'm way over here near Clark and Swift Road.. that's a huge drainage ditch here and I lost the entire rear end of my border with this ditch.
No one has come by as far as I know about this whole ditch that drained Gulfgate subdivision into Philippi Creek.. or did she had never had more than 3/4 of it full of water either draining towards Gulf Gate and out another entrance to the Gulf or to the north going to Philippi... I know we have issues with the drainage in Sarasota we had for for 53;years! If we hadn't put in a culvert underneath our own driveway to drain this Western end of New England Street. this whole Road of ours would have flooded over and over again since I've been here on this dead end!
I
Innocenti Odonr
2 years ago
This is a huge concern of Surrounding areas. The commission continually allows builders to keep building but never see what happens with over building. We need to look forward and see it isn’t working.
L
Lucille B Carlson
2 years ago
All of this building going on in Sarasota County is just WRONG. The infrastructure is obviously not in place to handle any of it. Look what has happened to these poor people that have been flooded out of their homes. STOP THE CONSTRUCTION, BUILD THE INFRASTRUCTURE.
B
Barbara langton Gurley
2 years ago
please do the right thing
J
Jackie Griese
2 years ago
If this can happen to Laurel Meadows, it can and will happen again to other communities in our county.
K
Karen Reuter
2 years ago
My road never ever flooded before!
A
Anonymous
2 years ago
stop the building
P
Pat Rounds
2 years ago
Until County Commissioners value our natural assets, things will get even worse. Raise development standards and stop allowing developers to destroy our unique habitat for a profit.
K
Karen Finch
2 years ago
This is way overdue.
A
Anonymous
2 years ago
Angry taxpayer
A
Abram Travers
2 years ago
Please do this!!!
L
Lynn Roodbergen
2 years ago
I lost everything in Hurricane Debby. We were failed by our local, State and Federal governments. I’m leaving the state of Florida after living here for 37 years.
I've been in Florida since July 1981 and lived in two different counties on the east side of the state. I watched both county governments bow to the will of the developers and allowed them to build homes and install septic systems even in areas that the USGS designated as inappropriate due to high water tables and marshland. On the barrier islands, Brevard County and St. Lucie County allowed rampant development, ignoring warnings from environmental engineers and other professionals that tearing out the tall pines that protected the area from hurricanes would result in widespread devastation. Evacuations to the mainland would be a nightmare. They were right. I saw building permits issued in wetlands areas, with resulting damage to homes and septic systems. Those of us on the mainland had to "hunker down" to ride out hurricanes because of the complex and lengthy evacuation of the barrier islands. My mother and I moved to Sarasota because, in addition to the good medical care she needed, through the decades of living on the east coast of Florida, and often visiting Sarasota, I saw the one place in Florida that did things right. They had a Comprehensive Plan, green spaces, restrictions on building height and proximity to other structures, setbacks from beaches and other sensitive areas, and protections for trees and wildlife. Enter the developers and a pro-development government, and when we settled in Sarasota in 2014, it didn't take long for me to realize that the Comprehensive Plan was replaced with endless variances and changes in land use, all resulting in a county like all of the others in Florida -- focused on making developers, not citizens, happy. County governments constantly play catchup. They use our tax dollars to add more schools, fire and police stations, water, sewers, and trash collection, etc. Then when businesses and the population grow, and more and more residential areas are needed, up go our property taxes in order to accommodate the ill-planned gr
You were elected to look out for OUR interests. What happened to you people? More focus on new building than who pays you. Elections are coming.
This flooding and dumping sewage in the golf of Mexico our most sacred body of water that enables ppl to live happily and draws many visitors isn’t a toilet. We need an infrastructure study before anymore building permits are issued.
My yard horribly footed only feet from my house
This includes Sarasota Golf Club.
I agree wholeheartedly with every point made in this petition.
Do what we hired you to do.
Drainage runoff channels need to be appropriately deepened/maintained and retention ponds dredged of silt and debris that has been naturally deposited over the years.
I'm way over here near Clark and Swift Road.. that's a huge drainage ditch here and I lost the entire rear end of my border with this ditch. No one has come by as far as I know about this whole ditch that drained Gulfgate subdivision into Philippi Creek.. or did she had never had more than 3/4 of it full of water either draining towards Gulf Gate and out another entrance to the Gulf or to the north going to Philippi... I know we have issues with the drainage in Sarasota we had for for 53;years! If we hadn't put in a culvert underneath our own driveway to drain this Western end of New England Street. this whole Road of ours would have flooded over and over again since I've been here on this dead end!
This is a huge concern of Surrounding areas. The commission continually allows builders to keep building but never see what happens with over building. We need to look forward and see it isn’t working.
All of this building going on in Sarasota County is just WRONG. The infrastructure is obviously not in place to handle any of it. Look what has happened to these poor people that have been flooded out of their homes. STOP THE CONSTRUCTION, BUILD THE INFRASTRUCTURE.
please do the right thing
If this can happen to Laurel Meadows, it can and will happen again to other communities in our county.
My road never ever flooded before!
stop the building
Until County Commissioners value our natural assets, things will get even worse. Raise development standards and stop allowing developers to destroy our unique habitat for a profit.
This is way overdue.
Angry taxpayer
Please do this!!!
I lost everything in Hurricane Debby. We were failed by our local, State and Federal governments. I’m leaving the state of Florida after living here for 37 years.