SARASOTA – It has all the makings of regret, while highlighting a few fringe benefits to shift the focus off the overwhelming deficits. Sarasota's efforts to approve a recycling facility next to its famed Celery Fields–one of the region's top eco-tourism sites–is just a bad idea.
When TST Recycling first submitted their proposal at a neighborhood workshop on January 30 to build a recycling facility off Apex Road and Palmer Boulevard, they knew it would be an up-hill battle.
Their focus was on the short list of considerations. Is the property of restricted size for such a facility? Is the subject location within a Planned District? Is the subject within two miles of another county or Municipality? The answer to all of those suggested approval for a permit.
But hundreds of residents have come forward to protest locating the noise, the smell and the traffic such a facility would create in such an important place. Residents also protest locating such a facility close to the wildlife sanctuary, waterways and wetlands that are part of one of the region's most celebrated eco-tourism destinations.
The Noise: The applicant is asking for the right to collect construction concrete. On a parcel the size of only 16 acres, there is hardly a place a large construction truck can turn around in that amount of space considering the location of the proposed buildings. Giant concrete slabs being dumped and loaded into huge metal trailers is undeniably above the county sound ordinance.
The Traffic: The property was approved as a waste transfer facility in 2015, but the applicant wants to construct a recycling facility. That suggests more than transfers. By the applicant's own admission, the material that is not recycled on site would be transferred to another site. That suggests twice the number of trucks needed on a daily basis for materials that are there only temporarily.
The Smell: Instead of listing materials that are allowed, the applicant might consider listing all of the materials to which smell is associated with and the refusal to allow any of those materials. The bio-degrading of materials that are not officially bio-degradable often produces horrendous odors. Shouldn't local residents be the judge here?
The mixture of rain run-off from different materials have often proven to be more toxic then the individual materials. The applicant's proposal shows few small buildings, and lots of open space. That run-off can surely make its way to the waterways that lie within the nearby wildlife preserve.
And what should be the number one reason commissioners refuse the permit? The people who hired them and pay their salary seem overwhelmingly opposed to the danger involved. They don't want it, and it should be clear that the proposed project is not compatible with the surrounding properties.
That last seems to be the hardest for local government officials to understand, and will remain so until the voters elect officials that actually have the talent to govern, as opposed to gaming the system. If the Sarasota County Commission does approve the permit, voters may finally do just that.
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