What or who exactly is responsible for the devastating flooding in Debby’s wake has been the subject of much debate since the massive tropical storm inundated parts of Sarasota County with up to 19 inches of rain earlier this month.
Residents were quick to blame overdevelopment; real estate and land-use experts called the flooding “unprecedented” in scale; and local government officials defended the county’s stormwater regulations and management systems, saying they were simply “overwhelmed.”
Whatever the truth, two things are hard to refute: Neither the destructive weather events nor the country’s insatiable construction boom are likely to disappear anytime soon.
Sarasota’s stormwater regulation standards are based on the ability to withstand a “100-year” weather event, which in our area equates to 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. Given that we’ve experienced two storms this summer — less than 100 days apart, let alone 100 years — that met or exceeded that standard, the policy is ripe for reconsideration.
Debby brought more than 11 inches of rain on August 4 alone, and nearly doubled that amount in three days. A storm on June 11 dumped an estimated 8 inches of rain on parts of Sarasota in just three hours, also causing dangerous flooding. Given climate change, similarly dramatic storms with record-breaking rainfall are likely to become more frequent and more severe.
As for unfettered development of rural lands previously devoted to agriculture, wetlands or stormwater detention, the evidence is everywhere. Enough new housing units are already approved or planned in the south and east of the county to double the county’s population — including 6,500 units in the 3H Ranch project south of Clark Road and east of I-75 and 170 homes in the proposed DR Horton project next to Celery Fields (originally planned as part of the county’s stormwater detention system).
Jon Thaxton, a fifth-generation Sarasota resident who has been involved in land use planning and conservation in Sarasota County for 45 years, admits he can’t remember a storm – hurricane included – that brought as much rain to Sarasota as Debby. But he adds, “There’s no doubt that the flooding has been exacerbated by the loss of wetlands and the paving of formerly permeable areas.”
“Nobody can say that’s not true,” says Thaxton, a former county commissioner and current senior vice president of community leadership at the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
Thaxton was part of a group of five county commissioners – and eight of nine members of the Planning Commission – that in 2002 adopted Sarasota 2050, a master plan designed to accommodate population growth while ending the county’s tradition of fragmenting rural areas.
The Sarasota 2050 Master Plan allowed development in the east of the county, but with strict rules on clustering, commercial activity and density, and an absolute condition of fiscal neutrality. This means that the cost of all infrastructure to accommodate these new developments would be covered by development fees paid to developers or by municipal fees passed on to new residents.
Since then, however, our political commitment to the year 2050 has eroded to such an extent that today only the density bonuses for property developers remain – and these have even increased.
Moreover, the infrastructure costs for this new growth are not budget neutral, but are currently subsidized by millions in surtaxes that could instead be used to address the needs of the existing population. Just recently, county commissioners pledged more than $96 million in surtaxes – more than for safety, transportation or parks and natural resources – for “new growth,” including a new fire station and three road projects to open up new development in the east of the county.
Not a single dollar of the additional tax was allocated to affordable housing, physical or mental health, or homelessness.
As if that weren’t enough, commissioners also recently funneled nearly $12 million from the Resilient SRQ Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster relief fund – money that came from the federal government after Hurricane Ian – into new infrastructure projects. That’s money that really should have been used for priorities for our existing population, such as the three highest-rated affordable housing projects proposed by the Sarasota Housing Authority that the commission rejected.
Other consequences of this waste of money include an increase in traffic, which has so far been addressed by the continuous construction of new roads and the widening of existing ones. But not only are we running out of space for new lanes, all that asphalt also exacerbates the risk of flooding during heavy rain.
Where did things go wrong? We need look no further than our local elected leadership. The thoughtful and forward-thinking guardrails put in place for Sarasota 2050 have been compromised and undermined time and time again, and the promises and commitments made to residents and neighborhood organizations have been continually broken.
“We passed 2050 with good intentions,” says Thaxton. “We thought we had a watertight document. We never thought future commissions would come along and take back all those promises. We allowed a Trojan horse to get behind enemy lines and now we’re paying millions of dollars to violate our own code.”
About a year ago, Thaxton wondered how much of the county’s land was still in its natural state. He asked county staff for a map of all the land that wasn’t already developed, approved or zoned for development, or preserved as public land. He was told no such map existed and none could be created. So he decided to find out for himself.
Thaxton assigned a different color to all land that is now developed or has already been approved for development, land that is slated for development, and a third color to land that is publicly owned. He then overlaid all three areas in black to create a second map that shows only a small white area to indicate the areas of the county that are not yet designated. The black area on the map covers 321,000 acres, the white area 34,000 acres. Only about 10% of Sarasota County remains uncontaminated, almost all of it agricultural or environmentally sensitive.
This is the map that should be shown to “all residents who cite overdevelopment and loss of green space as the No. 1 pressing problem in Sarasota County,” suggests Thaxton.
“I can assure you that 99% of the tax-paying population has no idea about these facts,” Thaxton says. “Nobody talks about these tens of millions of tax dollars being spent to allow these lands to be developed. We’re not just allowing it to happen. We’re paying for it to happen.”
And yet, when you ask those who complain about overdevelopment and inadequate infrastructure who they vote for, you all too often find that they are the very people who approved these projects and used our tax dollars in ways that make them not only possible but lucrative for the developers.
Because the state has implemented restrictions that make it difficult, if not impossible, for residents to challenge the commission’s land-use decisions, citizens are left with no choice but to go to the ballot box. That’s why your upcoming Sarasota County Commission votes must be mindful not only of party affiliation, but also of preserving what little remains of Sarasota’s undeveloped environment.
Contact Carrie Seidman at [email protected] or 505-238-0392.
