Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/110922
Sarasota News Leader February 22, 2013 Page 35 Porter called upon the land-use planner hired by Walmart to work with city staff to shepherd its case. Susan Finch was brief: ���It is my professional opinion this meets the city���s requirements,��� she said. ���Walmart has gone out of its way to be sensitive to the neighborhood.��� The general manager of planning and development was just as terse. ���The project meets the comprehensive plan, including the use question. The project meets compatibility with the planned enhancements. The Planning Board approved it 3-2,��� said Gretchen Schneider. Porter addressed one specific complaint heard repeatedly from the time when the one and only neighborhood meeting was held on the store proposal through the Planning Board���s 3-2 vote in October to approve the site plan. Traditionally, people cut through the southern end of the property to access Payne Park. It is common to see bicyclists, dog-walkers, mothers with strollers and others use that route. Then it was the challenger���s turn. Alta Vista���s lawyer, Bob Turffs, told the commission, ���We believe this is a simple decision. Does this conform to your zoning code? No. Other zones could have this store, but it���s not permitted; it is not allowed. This is not about aesthetics, design details or a class-warfare issue. It���s about issues raised by citizens who want the city to live by its own regulations.��� City staff was up next, defending its consistent support for Walmart���s plan. Tim Litchet, head of building, zoning and neighborhoods, was blunt. ���This is considered consistent with the Sarasota City Plan.��� The public will get to weigh in on Tuesday, Feb. 26, starting at 6 p.m., followed by rebuttal from all parties. Only then will the commissioners be able to discuss the issues and make their finding. % Former city planning chief Mike Taylor said, Walmart representatives said repeatedly that ���Compatibility with the Sarasota City Plan would be unsafe, and they would not accom- does not exist.��� modate the continued use. But Tuesday PorGalvano took over at that point for the ter said company representatives had changed cross-examination of Taylor. their minds. Joshua Bryant, project engineer, added, ���We propose an additional sidewalk ���You never prepared a memo outlining these connection. It allows pedestrians to get from concerns, never an email expressing conthe east side of the site to the west side of the cerns?��� he asked Taylor. ���Why didn���t you have any input into Walmart?��� site.��� ���My role was not to review site plans or inHe achieved that by moving the site of the terpret the code,��� said Taylor. ���I don���t recall building nine feet to the north. ���The path is [when] the application came in.��� not intended to be used after dark,��� he noted. The hour had grown late, and Galvano���s It was Walmart���s sole concession in the ap- cross-examination ended one phase of the peal. proceedings.