Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/194514
Sarasota News Leader October 18, 2013 Page 102 Siesta Seen out where parking spaces could be striped out, because September is one of the lightest and signage erected to make certain overflow times of the year for tourism on the island. Village parking on the street would not preHELP FOR CONSTITUENTS vent the passage of emergency vehicles. The County Commission voted 3-2 on May 21 to turn down a petition by residents to ban parking on at least one side of the street. Instead, the board asked that staff work with Tobias' office and the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office on a recommendation regarding routine parking violations that might hamper responses to emergencies. In an Oct. 7 memo to the County Commission, county Chief Engineer James K. Harriott Jr. responded to Patterson's Aug. 28 request by asking for formal board direction to establish staggered no-parking zones along Avenida de Mayo "to prohibit parking on both sides of the street from Canal Road to Avenida de Cortez and from Avenida de Cortez to Avenida Del Norte in 500-foot sections. Commissioner Patterson found an easier resolution last week for a complaint regarding use of a vacant lot on Beach Road. A Calle Del Otono resident emailed Patterson on Oct. 9 to relate that the vacant lot at 645 Beach Road seemed to have been used earlier in the year for employee parking and storage of equipment by all of the contractors with projects in the immediate area. The writer added that her single-family home abutted the lot, "so I complained to the county about permitting issues. The bottom line was, the contractors emptied the lot, no longer parked there, and a NO TRESPASSING sign was placed on a chain link fence. I recently return from up north only to find the lot now being used as a parking lot for all of the additional and ongoing construction companies." When I contacted her on Oct. 11, Patterson said she planned to bring up the matter at the The woman added that she had learned from commission's next regular meeting, which Code Enforcement staff that because no permit application was in the works for future will be on Oct. 22 in Sarasota. use of the property, the decision was made to "I was hoping [staff] would just do it," Patterson allow parking to alleviate the perpetual probsaid of the striping. However, it is clear she lem with a shortage of spaces in the area. will have to seek her board's approval for the expense of the work, she added. "It shouldn't "Needless to say, the lot is a true eyesore," the writer continued, adding that she would be much." appreciate any help Patterson could provide. Patterson said she had not received any emails or phone calls about the road situa- After Patterson forwarded the email to admintion since she last brought up the matter in istrative staff, Assistant County Administrator August. That was no surprise, she pointed Mark Cunningham asked Tom Polk, director