NACA (Nokomis Area Civic Association) and many local residents do not agree having a Maintenance Facility at the NW Corner of Laurel Road & the new Honore' Extention (the "Gateway" leading into our community) is the best land use. This type of facility does not belong in such a highly visible space...."Squad cars in for repair, new ones being commissioned or old ones being decommissioned would be stored inside a fenced lot around the building".....see below comments from County Official.

There is a very large parcel near the proposed site. It is County Land off of Knight’s Trail that the Sarasota Sheriff’s Dept. currently occupies. NACA feels this could be a better choice for this project.

Below are County comments for this project. It has to be stopped now, before its too late....please sign this petition if you agree the Sarasota County Sheriff's Maintenance Facility should not be relocated at Honore' and Laurel Road.

Sarasota County Official's Comments:

"Here is some background information:

Late last fall the County identified 3 projects for a potential Public Safety Referendum. One of these projects was a new Vehicle Maintenance Facility for the Sheriff’s Office. The preferred site is the County owned property at Honore & Laurel Rd. This parcel was recently bisected by Honore, but the resulting split parcels are still one property (PID No. 0378-12-0001). Our division hired a consultant to study the feasibility of placing two facilities on this property: the Sheriff’s vehicle maintenance and also a new county “White Fleet” maintenance facility. “White Fleet” is simply our slang for all of the white county pool vehicles and trucks. The study showed that both would not fit on the site, but the Sheriff’s facility could fit.

Since this property is currently zoned OUE-1 (Open Use Estate), we would need to rezone the property to GU (Government Use). At the May 18 Board meeting it was decided not to pursue the referendum, at least for the current election cycle, and to re-evaluate a broader range of County facility needs. However, we do still intend to pursue the rezone which is why the Neighborhood Workshop was held. This is the first step in the rezone process. Since this is the County rezoning their own property, my group is the “applicant” and Planning and Development Services (Tate and Jack’s division) is in their normal regulatory staff role. They receive and review applications for presentation to the Planning Commission and County Commission. So in this way, my role and application requirements are the same as a private developer who is seeking a rezone.

As I explained in the workshop, this rezone is not project-specific. While we are asked to provide a site concept plan, it is “non-binding”. If the rezone is successful, the full range of allowed County facilities could be built on this site. However, at the current time the stated desire would be to place the Sheriff facility there as soon as funding is available. This is a +/-$20M project where all vehicle maintenance would be indoors, including parts and property storage. Squad cars in for repair, new ones being commissioned or old ones being decommissioned would be stored inside a fenced lot around the building. There would also be a small office/administrative function.

Where we are right now in the process is: the neighborhood workshop has been held and I am currently finalizing the formal rezone application to the Planning department. Assuming all goes smoothly, this rezone should be before the Planning Commission and the County Commission this fall".

Brad Gaubatz, AIA, LEED AP, PMP

Capital Projects - Sarasota County Public Works

1001 Sarasota Center Blvd. | Sarasota, FL 34240

941.861.0853(o) | 941.726.2217(c) | bgaubatz@scgov.net