Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/112475
Sarasota News Leader March 1, 2013 The appeal was brought by five residents in the Alta Vista neighborhood, self-described as a working-class area with a huge variety of homes from all decades of Sarasota���s existence. The neighborhood association financially supported the appeal. Architect Jerry Sparkman, who has an office nearby, joined the five residents. If they lost the appeal, they and the neighborhood faced the prospect of fighting Walmart in court to stop the project. But their appeal succeeded, and now it is the city facing the specter of a legal wrestling match. Oddly, residents of the neighborhood actually adjacent to the store took no official position at the Planning Board or City Commission meetings, although individual members of the Page 60 Gardens of Ringling Park weighed in on both sides of the issue. While Walmart representatives can hope for possible vindication by taking the city to court to overturn the commission���s vote, there appears to be no vindication for the city staff members. Time and again they wrote and testified how Walmart���s site plan met all the city���s requirements. The case planner, Courtney Mendez, shepherded the proposal through two Development Review Committee meetings with a full sign-off by all city departments plus the county Fire Department. And she made the case at the Planning Board on Nov. 14, 2012, where the site plan was approved on a 3-2 vote. The City Commission prepares to continue the Walmart appeal on Feb. 26. Photo by Norman Schimmel