Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/316941
"Usually we just get, 'Deny it,'" she said. "I greatly respect the neighbors for putting the amount of work that you put into this one. I have a bad taste in my mouth over this one." While she was originally tempted to kill the proposal altogether, Robinson eventually moved to delay a decision, giving the devel- opers time to rethink their plan. S h e w a s n 't a l o n e i n h e r o p p o s i t i o n . C o m m i s s i o n e r N o r a P a t t e r s o n c a l l e d the proposal "pretty unappealing," while Commissioner Joe Barbetta compared the project unfavorably to the Publix plaza east of the property under discussion. There, he said, developers met with neighborhood groups and agreed to a number of stipulations. While skeptical, Barbetta said the proposal remains "salvageable." "They were asking some very probing and particular questions regarding the plan that the developer was presenting," Matrullo tells The Sarasota News Leader, "and there were obviously some gaping holes in that plan." According to Matrullo, the developer, Fischer, emailed him the morning after the meeting, "wishing to open a dialogue." Matrullo says he's "encouraged" by the board's decision, but he also points out some of the bigger issues that didn't come up Wednesday, such as public safety at the Bee Ridge/Mauna Loa intersection, set to be widened, or the broader concept that Sarasota east of I-75 doesn't have to look just like it does west of I-75. Overall, the entrance to Lake Sarasota could resemble the intersection at Bee Ridge and Cattlemen Road more than the "little backwater place" it is now, Matrullo says. "There's an intensiļ¬cation that is going from zero to 100." % A graphic shows the area where rezoning has been sought to clear the way for new development on Bee Ridge Road. Image courtesy Sarasota County Sarasota News Leader May 23, 2014 Page 14