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Warm Mineral Springs, North Port, Florida
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NORTH PORT
City reapproving four annexations to thwart county
10/17/00
By Jeff Scullin
Herald-Tribune Newscoast
The North Port City Commission began the process Monday of
reapproving four
controversial annexations it approved last month, in an
attempt to stave off
a legal challenge by Sarasota County.
County officials decided to challenge North Port's annexation
of the
7,700-acre Taylor Ranch, partly on the grounds that public
hearings had not
been properly advertised.
Monday's meeting seemed more about undermining the county's
legal standing
than reconsidering the merits of Taylor Ranch and the River
Road Office Park,
Warm Mineral Springs and Glawson/Carlton annexations.
Community Development Director Sam Jones spent little of his
presentations
reviewing the proposed annexations.
Instead, he made a point of addressing the county's specific
concerns -- that
previous advertisements did not indicate that public hearings
would be held
in the City Commission chambers and that an accompanying land
map was
unclear. Jones submitted into the record certified mail
receipts of agenda
packets mailed to Sarasota and Charlotte counties and proof
that Monday's
meeting had been legally advertised.
The commissioners unanimously approved on first reading the
Taylor Ranch,
Warm Mineral Springs and Glawson/Carlton annexations. The
city's Planning and
Zoning Board will consider the annexations Thursday, and the
City Commission
will approve or deny the annexation requests Oct. 30.
The commissioners postponed the first reading of the River
Road office Park
annexation to Oct. 30 after developers said they needed more
time to resolve
minor technical issues.
The votes seemed strictly procedural for the commissioners,
too.
"I haven't changed my mind," Commissioner Rue Berryman said
of the Taylor
Ranch annexation. "In fact, I think it's been reinforced."
Several even poked fun at county officials, noting that
previous public
hearings had been packed and had included county officials,
who did not
attend Monday's meeting.
"City Hall's been here for 25 years and (assistant county
attorney Alan)
Roddy seemed to find it very easily," Chairman Joe Fink said.
Noting Roddy's absence, Fink quipped: "He must have lost his
way."
Reapproving the annexations seemed neither procedural nor
amusing to a small
contingent who showed up Monday to oppose them, however.
"We don't need any more houses," former commissioner Althea
"Buddy" Hughes
said of the Taylor Ranch annexation. "We've got enough houses."
"The idea for annexation is to bring industry here...I
think (this is) just
urban sprawl."
The most vocal opposition came in response to the proposed
Warm Mineral
Springs annexation by a small contingent of American Indian
Movement members,
who object to any development on what they consider sacred
ground. It is the
site of some of North America's oldest human archaeological
finds.
"You may think it'll put North Port on the map, but if you
develop those
burial sites we will come down here and wipe North Port off
the map," said
Sheridan Murphy, executive director of the Florida chapter
of
the American
Indian Movement. "We will use any means necessary to defend
that burial site.
If we have to go to court we will do that. If we have to talk
to these guys,
we will do that. If we have to occupy the site we will do
that."
Herald-Tribune Newscoast
Information submitted by Tom Scott
Southern Regional Support Coordinator
American Indian Movement of Florida
http://www.geocities.com/aim_sfsg/
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