Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/100825
Sarasota News Leader MARCH 13 December 28, 2012 Page 19 Palmer Ranch residents tell the County Commission they do not want a proposed Interstate 75 interchange at Central Sarasota Parkway. Commissioner Jon Thaxton responds that the only way the interchange officially can come out of the comprehensive plan is by vote of the board following a public hearing. However, Commissioner Joe Barbetta says the commission had asked staff months earlier to start that process; he voiced frustration that the initiative had not been moving forward. Commissioner Nora Patterson wins support from her fellow board members for a formal request to the Florida Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit on Midnight Pass Road from the Beach Road intersection through the curve where Donna Chen was struck and killed on Jan. 7. The commission also will ask FDOT to put raised reflectors on that curve. Finally, the commission agrees to ask the Sarasota County Sheriff���s Office for suggestions on how the county should handle MARCH 14 consumption of alcoholic beverages on public Five members of the family of a Siesta Key beaches. runner who was killed in a January incident ��������� involving an allegedly drunken driver plead with the County Commission to ban alcoholThe County Commission agrees to a staff ic beverages on the beach. Former Sarasota recommendation regarding additional areas County Commissioner David Mills joins them in parks that can be designated dog-friendly. in their remarks to the board during the public ���We are seeing a continued trend of people comments of the commission meeting. seeking to enjoy parks with their dogs,��� Kim Heuberger of the county���s Parks and Recre- Later in the day, the County Commission ation Department tells the board. The new ar- unanimously approves changes designed to eas will supplement four all-access dog parks enhance the planned world-class rowing venthe county has been offering. ue at Nathan Benderson Park. They reaffirm, The number of emails to the County Commission early this year from county residents seeking to keep consumption of alcohol legal on the beaches far surpassed those asking for new controls. Photo by Norman Schimmel