Recently elected development skeptics make the outcome uncertain.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: April 9, 2025
Host: Developer Pat Neal hopes he will be getting his way with a commercial development at a Venice Council meeting going on right now. Ramon Lopez is following that meeting and gives us the latest.
Ramon Lopez: Venice City Council members may have thought that they were done dealing with a site in North Venice, where a controversial grocery store-anchored shopping center is destined.
Pat Neal.
But real estate mogul Pat Neal’s new commercial project remains in limbo for now. This, until the seven Venice City Council members cast their votes on an appeal of the Venice Planning Commission’s approval of a site development plan for the multi-million dollar project at the intersection of Laurel Road and Jacaranda Boulevard.
At this reporter’s deadline for filing his story, debate on the appeal continued. And there was no clear picture on whether wealthy real estate developer Pat Neal will finally get his way on the matter.
Residents sued Pat Neal to challenge the rezoning of his project site. A judge ruled in Neal’s favor.
Past preliminary votes on the project favored construction of the shopping center despite vocal opposition by homeowners who want to keep the wetland that is visited by endangered birds and other wildlife from being bulldozed over. The local residents claim Neal promised to leave things as is.
The plan calls for two commercial buildings. The larger structure is for a 50,000 square foot grocery store, a 2,100 square foot liquor store and 1,750 square feet of other retail space. The smaller 7,000 square foot building would house six additional stores.
But the composition of the Venice City Council has changed, with two new council members winning their seats on controlled-development campaign platforms.
Rendering of the planned shopping center.
And it’s unclear how a third new councilman elected this past November sees the situation. So it’s anybody’s guess on the outcome of the council vote expected by close-of-business Wednesday.
As part of the appeal, the city council took testimony and accepted exhibits rather than just review the record of the Planning Commission meeting.
The Planning Commission had previously rejected the zoning change in a tight 4-3 vote. But the city council voted in July 2023 to rezone the disputed 10 acres as commercial. The dispute was appealed to the circuit court and upheld by a judge last year.
This past January, the Planning Commission recommended approval of the site plan for The Village at Laurel and Jacaranda shopping center by a 6-1 vote, saying Neal’s project adhered to the town’s zoning requirements.
But on the thorny issues of noise, traffic congestion and pedestrian safety, the commission planners said they hoped Sarasota County would step in to appease concerned local residents by installing a stoplight there.
And a new concern was raised: drainage. This, after Hurricanes Ian and Debby dumped record rainfalls in the area.
An independent evaluation revealed several issues with stormwater modeling. Opponents say residents want assurances that their property and lives will not be adversely impacted after existing floodplain storage is filled up and paved over for an unwanted grocery store.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
Host: This just in: Pat Neal did get his way in Venice. The council voted 3-2 in his favor. Ramon Lopez will have the details for our newscast on Friday.
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