Sarasota County Commission leans towards returning to in-person neighborhood workshops.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: May 23, 2025
Host: Before they get the go-ahead, developers have to present their projects to neighbors in community workshops. During the pandemic, these workshops shifted online, but now, after criticism by activists, Sarasota County Commissioners seem to want them to return to an in-person format—at least in part, as Ramon Lopez reports.
Ramon Lopez: In-person or virtual public meetings? That is the question addressed by the Sarasota County Commissioners at their Tuesday meeting.
Neighborhood workshops are required before any new real estate development is approved in Sarasota County.
Because of COVID, the county switched from in-person meets to virtual neighborhood workshops much to the unhappiness of many county citizens like community activist Becky Ayech.
Becky Ayech.
Becky Ayech: I have written numerous emails talking about the inability of people to get on virtual meetings, how we get dropped once we’re on, how questions are not answered. I have not heard a single person say that they would like to do a virtual workshop.
RL: She said in-person meetings are the way to go.
BA: It’s a unique opportunity for people to speak with each other. That’s one of the things about virtual workshops: You do not get to speak to each other. You get to type something in, and you get to hope that it’s read into the record, but you do not know if it will be or not because you do not get to see what the other people are putting in. So you have to assume that everything is being told to you. But we know about assumptions.
It’s not filtered. It’s not censored.
We only did it because of COVID. It was working perfectly before, and it’ll work perfectly again.
RL: After hearing from a county staffer who said the developers favored continuing only virtual workshops to ease logistics on their part, several county commissioners weighed in on the issue.
RL: We first hear from District 2’s Mark Smith.
Mark Smith.
Mark Smith: I’m a strong proponent of in-person neighborhood workshops. I believe we should include virtual—like a hybrid. I believe strongly that getting public input in person for these developments is important. The more we listen to people, the better. I’m not sure what we want to do today, quite honestly, and present it to the board for consideration.
RL: Commissioner Tom Knight backed Smith, as did Chairman Joe Neunder.
Joe Neunder: On this particular topic, I happen to agree with Commissioner Smith and Commissioner Knight with respect to the opportunity for the public to have a personal, one-on-one engagement.
RL: But Commissioner Ron Cutsinger took the opposite position.
Ron Cutsinger: I’m going to go the other way on this one. I think we get a lot more participation and possibility of participation for digital. We live in a digital age. Everything we’re doing now is online.
RL: In the end, the county commissioners decided not to decide for the moment. Mark Smith:
MS: If it’s the will of the board, I think I’d just pause on this. When I get some more information, I can bring it back, and then we can have a discussion and put it on the agenda. I’d like to hear what the public have to say, since they’re the reasons we’re doing this.
RL: This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
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