12/11 County Commission Hearing
PUBLIC HEARING Board of County Commissioners December 11, 2007 continued from August 29, 2007 -- The Development of Critical Concern application and Rezone Petition was heard by the Board of County Commissioner and continued the hearing until January 23, 2008.
read the Hearld-Tribune account of the hearing >>
The applicant and staff responded to some of the concerns we raised at the August hearing. read response >>
SInce the public hearing section of the public hearing had been closed in August, BRNC submitted a list questions for consideration by the BCC. Among the questions were:
Road Improvements Not Provided --
Certain road improvements, at the intersections of Palmer Blvd. and Cattlemen and Packinghouse roads, were not funded in the Sarasota County 2008-12 Capital Improvement Program. Without the improvements the project does not meet transportation concurrency requirements designed to ensure that the infrastructure is adequate for the impact from the project.
The applicant offered to fund and construct some of the improvements before the completion of the project. It asked the County Commission to use its discretion to find the applicant's offer fully satisfies the concurrency requirements even though a failure of concurrency remains. The applicant says this is justified since the project will provide affordable housing units.
In response to BRNC concerns, the applicant has offered to completely fund the improvements needed to bring a portion of Palmer Blvd. up to county standards. The offer, however, fails to improve the segment west of Webber Rd., including the bridge over the Main "A" Canal. Since Webber Road is a primary access point for the project, that segment carries more project traffic than any other on Palmer Blvd. and needs widening as well.
Rental Apartment --
The applicant
and the Community Housing Trust (CHT) has consistently said the Palmer Place affordable housing units will be owner occupied. They promised to address our concerns but have failed to do so.
The CHT promoted the land trust model at Palmer Place as a way to "create an affordable owner-occupied home with a one-time subsidy cost of $75,000" saying "land-trust buyers are still better off than renters." Now the CHT is promoting rentals in its 2008 Strategic Plan.
read the H-T Guest Column by CHT Executive Director Martina Guilfoil >>
read CHT's 2008 Strategic Plan >>
read what the Herald Tribune says about the housing trust >>
The Palmer Place Development Concept Plan and Binding Site Plan shows all the CHT villages as "Single-Family & Multi-Family." Sarasota County Zoning Regulations contains only one description for "Multifamily":
A multifamily structure on a single tract or parcel of land containing four or more units sharing common walls, often with separate units by floor as well. Multifamily units may vary in height from two to four stories. read SC Zoning Regulations 6.7.14 >>
Without revision, the Binding Concept Plan will allow Palmer Place to include subsidized rental apartment buildings even though the applicant has consistently said throughout this process that the CHT units will be owner-occupied townhouse units.
School Concerns --
In response to our concerns, the applicant has offered to set aside 35 acres within the project for use as a middle school. The Binding Concept Plan does not indicate where the school is to be located. Will its location cause a significant increase in density in the affordable housing portion? Currently the density in that area is more than 7 units per acre. Will carving out a school campus push the density over 10 units per acre?
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