NEIGHBORS FORCING US TO FILL IN SENSITIVE WETLANDS!

When a property owner has the right to build a home on land that consists of both wetlands and uplands, don't you agree that county zoning should allow the homeowner to build in the uplands? 

We are owners of ~9.6 acres of land in Nokomis, FL. We bought the parcel to build our own single family home on. We have never built a house before. We invite you to visit www.srqus.com to see the development concept plan, County staff report and videos of the influence the neighbors had at a preliminary planning board meeting last year. 

The parcel is split zoned, with 0.841 acres zoned RSF1 (residential) and the rest zoned OUC (Open Use Conservation).

Because of a mistake at the county level, the residentially zoned portion of the parcel consists of 100% wetlands. If you want to understand how this happened, please refer to the special report written by environmentalist Jono Miller, titled "How Sarasota County Accidentally Mistook a Wetland for an Upland, an Upland for a Wetland, And Why it Matters"

We do not want to build in the wetlands.

The uplands portion zoned OUC is suitable for building and is already historically disturbed lands covered in invasive vegetation (Brazilian Pepper and Australian Pine)

We are asking the Sarasota County Commission to correct this zoning SNAFU.

Our main challenge is not the project itself, but pushback from a few vocal neighbors who live directly across the canal and are afraid our one house will ruin their view.  They tried to force us to sell the property to them.

These neighbors have sworn they would do everything they could to stop us from building our home outside of the wetlands.  Yes, you heard that right, they want us to build in the wetlands.  They went door to door spreading lies about how we were building in the wetlands. They devised a Petition riddled with untruths which was taken down, but the propaganda already had its impact; despite the county staff's approval of the rezone, the planning board, a preliminary advisory board, voted unanimously against the rezone.  Please watch the non-basis upon which they based their recommendation. 

If we are unable to change the zoning, then we and any future owner of the parcel would be forced to fill in wetlands in order to build. This is perfectly legal in Florida as long as you mitigate the damage elsewhere. This is exactly what we want to avoid!

Please help us by signing the petition and agreeing that it is NOT good practice to zone residential property in the wetlands!

These days, it feels as if governmental entities encourage people to disseminate "fake news." Bullying seems to be all the rage these days. Unfortunately, it's the big developers that get away with rezoning hundreds of acres, creating massive impacts on neighborhoods. Please join us in saying NO to lies and extortion perpetrated by these few neighbors. Feel free to tell your own stories of mean, selfish people in your midst. 

We also would appreciate if you would write an email or snail mail directly to the Sarasota County Commissioners:
Snail mail:

1. Writing to the Commissioners supporting our rezone.
   On the Envelope:
   Sarasota County Commissioners
   1660 Ringling Blvd.
   Sarasota FL 34236
   
   In the Letter, TO:   
   Christian Ziegler
   Nancy C. Detert,
   Alan Maio,
   Charles D. Hines
   Michael A. Moran
   
   
2. Contact them by email:
   mmoran@scgov.net
   chines@scgov.net
   amaio@scgov.net
   ncdetert@scgov.net
   cziegler@scgov.net
   
   Please also cc: the Sarasota Planning Staff:
   kcrane@scgov.net
   hberna@scgov.net

Finally, feel free to contact us any time with questions: erika@srqus.com