Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/235968
Sarasota News Leader January 3, 2014 Splitting 3-2, the County Commission on May 21 denies Siesta Key resident Marlene Merkle's request to ban parking on part of the south side of Avenida de Mayo — the street on which she built her island home 25 years ago. Instead, the commission unanimously approves a motion calling for county transportation planning staff to work with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office and county's EMS and Fire Department personnel on a recommendation that addresses routine parking violations along Avenida de Mayo that make it impossible for an emergency vehicle to travel down the street. That motion, by Commissioner Nora Patterson also invites more comments from business owners on the island, and it requests staff to research the cost of establishing a residential parking permit program for the affected area. The Siesta Key Association (SKA) had recommended parking permits for residents on the south side of the road as well as a parking prohibition on the north side of Avenida de Mayo and the erection of "Tow Away Zone" signs. Commissioners Joe Barbetta and Charles Hines are in the minority on the split vote; both agree with Merkle and other speakers who voiced concerns about safety. The number of Sarasota County permits and inspections has shot up over the last two years, and soon, so will the number of county staffers assigned to deal with them. The county's Planning and Development Services department wins approval from the County Commission May 21 to hire nine new full-timers. According to a staff report, "in [fiscal year 2012] New Single Family housing permits increased 32% from [2011], noting the Page 51 highest increases from July thru the end of the fiscal year." On top of that, the report found that 2013 is already quickly outpacing 2012: A chart shows the number of single-family permits issued in February 2012 was almost doubled in February 2013, growing from 53 to 104. On May 21, County Commissioner Joe Barbetta remains adamant on a point he has made numerous times: The county should sell "prime frontage" property it owns on Cattlemen Road instead of putting government structures there. However, he agrees with his fellow board members that the future campus of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office's should be close to the county's new 911/Emergency Operations Center at 1301 Cattlemen Road. Still, Barbetta opposes the withdrawal of a petition to rezone a 2.1-acre parcel at that Cattlemen site — action the board initiated in August 2012 with an eye to the potential sale of that property. Vice Chairman Charles Hines joins Barbetta in the 3-2 split vote. Before the vote, Bill Spitler, director of research and planning for the Sheriff's Office, tells the County Commission that Sheriff Tom Knight prefers relocating his facilities to the Cattlemen site because of the advantages of proximity to the EOC at the time of an emergency, such as a hurricane strike. In 1924, according to Sarasota County records, a 1.88-acre, 60-foot wide piece of land was dedicated as county right of way for a road later named Calle de Costa Rica in the Sarasota Beach subdivision of north