Sarasota Commission District 2 election: 3 Democrats face off in competitive primary

The Democratic candidates for Sarasota County Commission District 2 shared their views on the recent Siesta Key hotel approvals, growth in eastern Sarasota County and other topics in interviews with the Herald-Tribune.

The three candidates are hoping to win the votes of Democratic voters in the Aug. 23 primary election. The victor will then face the winner of Republican primary on Nov. 8.

One of the candidates is Fredd Atkins, who served on the Sarasota City Commission for 18 years and was the city’s first African American mayor. He has run for County Commission unsuccessfully three times in countywide elections.

More on the race: District 2 candidates discuss affordable housing, abortion, economic downturns

Background: Brody, Cosentino are running for the District 2 seat on Sarasota County Commission

And: Former Sarasota Mayor Fredd Atkins files to run for County Commission

Another candidate is Hagen Brody, who also began his political career at Sarasota City Hall. He was elected to the City Commission in 2017 and served as mayor from November 2020 to November 2021.

The third candidate is Mike Cosentino, a general contractor and community activist. He led a campaign to try to re-open a portion of Siesta Key’s Beach Road that the county vacated in 2016 to three abutting property owners.

The race has been contentious, with candidates criticizing each other at public forums. One reason for this combativeness is that the stakes are high; Democrats have a higher chance of winning District 2 than they have had in winning a seat on the County Commission in years.

That’s because Sarasota County citizens voted in 2018 to elect their commissioners through single-member districts, and upheld that decision in another referendum in March. Under single-member districts, commissioners are elected by the citizens of their district, instead of by all voters in the county.

The new system benefits Democrats in District 2, as the district has more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. Under the previous system, all voters in the county could vote in District 2 races – and Sarasota County has more registered Republicans than Democrats.

Atkins, Brody and Cosentino hope to become the first Democrat to hold a County Commission seat in more than 50 years.

Their views on a few key topics are included below.

Siesta Key hotel approvals

The County Commission approved two highly controversial hotel projects last year, one in Siesta Key Village and the other on Old Stickney Point Road.

One of the hotels was challenged in a lawsuit filed by Lourdes Ramirez, who is competing in the Republican primary for District 2. Her suit is challenging the development order for the hotel in the village. The other lawsuit, which has several plaintiffs, challenges both approved hotels.

Asked how he would approach future Siesta Key hotel projects, Atkins said he and other county officials would “stop and wait 'till the litigation is completed.”

“Based on the litigation and how that will go, then we would decide what do the people of Siesta Key want, what would be the best way to accommodate them, and to continue to let property owners develop their property,” he said.

Brody noted that Siesta Key has a “unique character.” He said he’s afraid that the hotels that have been approved could detract from or change that character.

“My feeling is that anything that is redeveloped on Siesta needs contribute to that character,” Brody said.

Asked if he approves of the two projects, he said he hasn’t looked at them in depth, but can tell from images of the hotels that “they don’t fit with the character of Siesta, particularly the one in the village.”

Cosentino said he strongly opposes the two hotel projects and spoke against them at the two public hearings last year. He argues that the two hotel approvals were unlawful.

“Our government is currently of, by and for the developers,” he said. “We need a government of, by and for the people that will follow the rule of law. Right now, that doesn’t exist.”

Land-use decisions east of I-75

Nearly 20 years ago, the County Commission adopted the Sarasota 2050 Plan, which allowed for communities to be master planned, but also set aside green space for protection and conservation. The idea was to allow more development while preserving the area's rural feel.

Last September, the County Commission approved changes to the county's long-range growth plan – the 2050 plan – that put the Hi Hat Ranch one step closer to being able to develop thousands of acres east of Interstate 75 over several decades.

Specifically, the county changed the land-use designation of 1,258 acres of Hi-Hat Ranch from “hamlet” to “village.” Villages allow for greater density of housing units than hamlets. The county commissioners also moved the countryside line, which delineates the suburban-type development to the west and the rural designations to the east.

Some county residents opposed the Hi Hat proposal and predicted that it will change the rural character of eastern Sarasota County.

Atkins said he wouldn’t have approved the land-use designation change from “hamlet” to “village.”

“We haven’t even given the hamlets an opportunity yet,” he stated.

Atkins said county officials have thrown the 2050 plan “out the back door with the bathwater or the dishwater.”

Brody said that as a commissioner, he would look at proposed changes to the 2050 plan "individually." He said he would support a change to the plan if "it improves the quality of life of our community and our residents."

He thinks the 2050 plan should "remain true to its core values and intent."

When asked if he approves of the change from "hamlet" to "village," Brody said he is not familiar enough with "that specific decision to opine on it." Since he isn't fully informed on the matter, he said he doesn't feel comfortable taking a position on it.

When Cosentino was asked if he would have approved of the change to “village,” he said “of course not.”

“Keep the country country,” he said, repeating a phrase commonly used by east county residents.

He said the 2050 plan has turned out to be the “2020 plan.”

“And like every other plan and land development regulation, they get beat down and beat down by the landowners and land-use firms until the law doesn’t mean anything, and so the actual execution of the 2050 plan does not even remotely resemble what was the original intent of the plan,” he said.

How to increase the county’s supply of affordable housing

Atkins said “the people of Sarasota County” now live in Charlotte, Manatee and Pinellas counties and commute to work.

“I think finally it has dawned on the administration in Sarasota County that they have given up the rights of people to live and work here,” he said. “So now, they got to recover from 40 years of antiquated processes.”

Atkins feels that the county will have do several things to fix the housing problem. One is “encouraging and bringing back” nonprofit housing corporations, he said. He noted that in the '80s, one such organization helped the city of Sarasota remove shanties and other kinds of inadequate housing and replace them with low-income single-family dwelling units.

Brody advocates for building affordable housing on major transportation corridors such as Fruitville and Clark Roads. He said he thinks affordable housing would revitalize those corridors, which have some vacant lots. Residents would also have the option of taking public transportation to work.

Brody said that if the county rezones an area and allows for additional housing units there, it needs to ensure that affordable units are part of the development.

As a city commissioner, he has advocated for a proposal that he feels would encourage affordable housing. The proposal has several components, including allowing administrative review for projects that contain affordable housing and, in some areas of the city, requiring developers to set aside portions of construction projects for affordable units in exchange for incentives.

Cosentino said Sarasota County needs to stop what he calls “developer giveaways” and instead “use the tools currently within the toolbox” to address affordable housing. One example would be to turn the county’s downtown campus – which includes the county administration center and parking lots – into affordable units, he said.

Last November, county commissioners agreed to sell the property to Benderson Development Co. for $25 million. Cosentino believes the county should have instead turned the property over to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to create affordable housing.

“Until we have government for the people, we will never be able to take advantage of the multitude of tools currently within the community’s toolbox to resolve these situations,” he said. “It’ll never happen without an honest commission.”

Anne Snabes covers city and county government for the Herald-Tribune. You can contact her at asnabes@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Who is running in the Sarasota County District 2 Democratic primary?