Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/194514
Sarasota News Leader October 18, 2013 Page 66 The Tuesday agenda could be called a stealthy one, as it did not show up by The Sarasota News Leader's deadline on the usual city or county website pages for future agendas. Thus, there is no "backup" material for any of the items; neither reporters nor citizens can tell exactly what is up for discussion. Plan, they were repeatedly rebuffed by their county colleagues. THE OL' 2050 PLAN JUNKET DEBRIEF Critics say the County Commission is knuckling under to developer (and campaign contributor) demands to loosen up the planning and zoning rules east of the interstate. After years of haggling in the past, the 2050 Plan abolished the old pasture-to-suburb model of development. The final agenda item is a "presentation on the takeaways from the City-to-City Nashville visit." Will the boards compare new tattoos? Share memories of the Grand Ole Opry? The day before the joint meeting, the city commissioners will receive a briefing from a city planner about the county proposals — with 176 pages of documents for them to read. The city has a dog in this fight, because if development returns to the cheaper pasWe know at one point the agenda included a tureland-to-Levittown model, redevelopment discussion about homelessness, but that "hot and infill initiatives in the city limits could be potato" has been dropped. starved for capital. No, this was a serious visit, with a number of governmental and non-governmental visitors looking at best practices and good ideas. We In its place, the 2050 Plan called for creation will see and hear what they learned. of communities instead of more tract hous- The Oct. 22 meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in the ing. But the plan is up for significant revision. county's Think Tank on the third floor of the When the city commissioners asked for a Administration Center on Ringling Boulevard briefing on the proposal to amend the 2050 in Sarasota. % The City Commission conducts a meeting in September. Photo by Norman Schimmel