Read the latest articles about topics that are effecting our community.
Flooding has hit our community hard recently, beginning with Hurricane Ian in 2022 and then the trio of storms in 2024 of Debbie, Helene, and Milton. These storms brought unprecedented flooding to areas that never used to flood and hardship as structures, vehicles, homes, and belongings were destroyed or severely damaged.
We live in a wonderful place. The evidence is how many people have moved here from other places and how traffic has increased in the area. It’s one of the biggest complaints here, and when traffic is one of our biggest problems and not crime, or economic deterioration, or education, like you see in the cities where people are fleeing from, it really highlights how lucky we are, and it also means people will be passionate about our community.
I recently had the opportunity to go on a benchmarking trip to Charleston organized by the Sarasota Chamber. These trips are organized to learn both best practices and what to avoid in public policy and processes. It is good to get out of the community and learn about the challenges and successes of other areas and how they are dealing with them
Inclusionary housing requires or incentivizes developers to set aside a portion of new housing units for low- or moderate-income residents. In Florida, local governments have explored inclusionary zoning as a way to increase affordable housing availability. It has been a recommendation from the Sarasota County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee in the past and was included in their report this year.
