2050 ON CENTER STAGE
Neal Communities has been among the proponents of changes in the 2050 Plan. Image from Neal
Communities website
THE COUNTY COMMISSION ON MAY 8 WILL DISCUSS CHANGES
DEVELOPERS HAVE PROPOSED REGARDING ITS LANDMARK PLANNING
GUIDELINES FOR AREAS EAST OF I-75
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Associate Editor
The debate over whether to monkey with struction of new walkable, mixed-use commuSarasota 2050 is scheduled to get louder next nities and the preservation of open space and
Wednesday, May 8, when the Sarasota Coun- environmentally sensitive land. But critics say
ty Commission will discuss a list of changes 2050 has instead stifled development and that
proposed by developers, as well as communi- the plan should be loosened up to give develty comments that have come flooding in. One opers broader freedom to build as they please.
of the central points of
More than 7,000 new
discussion: fiscal neuunits have been aptrality.
If you approve the whole thing proved under 2050
upfront and then it turns out to be not so,
2050 was added to
the county hasn't got any recourse.
the county's Comprehensive Plan a decade
Nora Patterson
Commissioner
ago, with the intent
Sarasota County
to encourage the con-
guidelines, but only
one project — Neal
Communities' Grand
Palm — has gotten off
the ground.
