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Sarasota News Leader January 3, 2014 be located inside the community. The changes open the doors for developers to build fewer housing types within a new community and to place commercial properties closer to arterial roads. Working into the evening, the commission also approves a timetable for 2050 changes in the county's comprehensive plan, scheduling a series of public meetings on the topic and sending them on to the Planning Commission. But that's not all. The County Commission further approves changes to 2050 affecting 4,638 acres along Clark Road east of the interstate, opening the possibility of 9,334 — rather than 934 — units there. That proposal, brought by representatives of LT Ranch and 3 H Ranch, calls for a change in how density rules are calculated, a reduction in the amount of open space required to be set aside and the elimination of the rule that commercial space be centrally located, among other items. County staff largely supports the applicants' requests, with the exception of the density edits. But even in that instance, county Long-Range Planning Manager Allen Parsons says staff's objection is not about the eventual number of units that could be built on the Clark Road properties, but with the formula used to generate that number. Critics of the proposal argue the changes will lead to suburban sprawl, exactly what 2050 was created to prevent. Commissioner Nora Patterson is alone in opposition to the proposal. Page 117 to begin implementing Marbut's recommendations. They also vote to do the following: extend Marbut's contract to keep him working as a consultant in Sarasota County; and begin drafting a uniform code of ordinances on crimes such as panhandling and camping on private property. In a 4-1 vote, with Vice Mayor Willie Shaw in the minority, the City Commission agrees to move ahead with due diligence on three possible sites for a permanent shelter — a list narrowed down from Marbut's top four suggestions. Shaw earlier called for a motion to postpone any decision on a shelter until a public hearing could be held in District 1, where three of the four suggested sites are located, but that motion was voted down 3-2; City Commissioner Susan Chapman sided with Shaw. Shaw also casts the lone "No" vote on the motions to move forward with investigating the three possible shelter sites and to extend Marbut's contract. The driver of the vehicle who was drunk when he struck and killed a Siesta Key runner in January 2012 accepts a plea deal from the State Attorney's Office on Nov. 25 and is sentenced to 15 years in prison, with four years set as a mandatory minimum, court records show. Blake C. Talman, then 23, was arrested on the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2012, for striking and killing Donna Chen, 53, of Sarasota; she was running with her dog on the sidewalk in what Siesta Key residents have long described as a dangerous curve near St. Michael the After hearing homelessness consultant Archangel Catholic Church on Midnight Pass Robert Marbut discuss his 12-point stratRoad. egy and listening to residents offer public comments — most in support of Marbut's Talman pleads guilty on Nov. 25 to one count of plan — the City Commission and County Driving Under the Influence (Manslaughter); Commission on Nov. 25 approve motions one count of Driving Under the Influence