Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/223368
Sarasota News Leader December 6, 2013 Another plea from businesses fell on more fertile ground. St. Armands merchants want to put the brakes on more events in the park at the center of the traffic circle during tourist season. They simply asked that a prior policy be revived, and the commissioners agreed unanimously. The plight of the St. Armands Business Improvement District's Sunshine Law woes also solicited five affirmative votes. Angry and worried the city's advisory boards were too cavalier in using personal email accounts to conduct city business, the commissioners ordered staff to telephone each member of the city's myriad advisory boards this week to warn him or her of the perils of flouting the state's public records laws. "We're going to have to put an end to these committee Page 41 meetings until we get these boards retrained," said Snyder. The final item of unanimity was simply a consensus — not a vote — to allow the petitioner in a Hampton Roads rezoning initiative to proceed as he desired. This long-dragging issue concerns an obscure change to the property's designation from residential to commercial on the future land use map. The parcel lies along the north Tamiami Trail; the change has raised a huge brouhaha with the Tahiti Park Neighborhood Association. City Attorney Bob Fournier reported that he made an offer to buy the property for the city to short-circuit the controversy, but the owner declined it. Fournier then said the process — now in the rebuttal phase — would start afresh. The City Commission has put the brakes on events in the circle at St. Armands during season. Photo by Norman Schimmel