Greetings all,

As you will see in the accompanying story, the neighborhood has lost Andy Whittington, our stalwart party man.  He and his wife Ginnie gave us champagne and chocolate under the night blooming cereus, holiday parties, and potlucks.  We will do our best to still give you parties, but we can’t replace Andy, and we will really miss him.

Your LPNA board has been involved in a number of issues that need reporting.

National Historic District:  We have made good progress on this front.  Thanks to the City of Sarasota, historic specialists from GAI Consulting will be working in Laurel Park this summer to complete the research needed for our application to become a National Historic District.  Laurel Park residents have already been working to update the city’s Master Site Files in order to simplify the consultants’ work and Debbie Dart will be working with the city’s Planning Department as volunteer “staff” to help make this happen.  We plan to bring you more information on this project at our October General Meeting, tentatively scheduled for October 10.  If possible, we will have the consultants report directly to you.  Completion of the process should happen sometime next year (the application must be approved at both the state and federal level, a long process.)

Old County Health Building on Laurel:  Sarasota County has agreed to let the Community Housing Trust and the Child Protection Center build a structure on Laurel Street that will assist abused children and provide affordable housing.  Once these agencies have developed a site plan, a neighborhood meeting will be held for community input before the necessary rezoning can take place.  No date has been set, but we will send e-mail notices when it is announced.  The board has already been active in discussions about buffering the adjoining property, and also about traffic and safety issues, but it is important that residents speak up on this matter as well.

DCA appeal:  The board has supported the CCNA (City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations) in its appeal to the State of Florida on two City Commission changes to the comprehensive plan:  the affordable housing density bonus and the School Avenue project next to the Alta Vista neighborhood.  In both cases, neighborhood concerns about height, density, and “downtown creep” were dismissed by the City.  In addition, also in both cases, normal city procedures were either fast tracked or simply ignored.  All comprehensive plan changes must be approved at the state level by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), making this the appropriate place to file a protest.  The DCA response is expected soon.  As you know, the State of Florida has rarely said no to intense development, but they do sometimes reject poorly designed comprehensive plan changes, or send them back with comments.  In both of these cases, and for the future, we are hoping to convince the City Commission that residential neighborhoods deserve some buffer from the ever denser, higher city core.

These and other issues will be on the agenda at our October general meeting, so please plan to attend.

Kate Lowman, Laurel Park News, August 2006