As you know, one of our biggest projects this year is the potential rezoning and building of an oil change facility called Take 5 at the entrance to the Willowbend Community. A lot is happening behind the scenes that the BOD would like to make you aware of, even though we will be providing an update at the upcoming BOD meeting on April 18th. Such as:
Traffic consultant Drew Roark (recommended by our Attorney) has been hired and had an initial retainer of $2500. Based on our meeting and agreement it was decided that this effort would be split into two pieces because of timing constraints. The first piece would consist of Drew validating things that the County stated concerning traffic for this site/project. The second piece would commence at a later date and could focus on actual trip counts for other Take 5 locations and include comparable sites providing the same services. If we do both pieces we are probably talking 5 to 6K.
There has been a lot of discussion concerning traffic and we are told by both the traffic consultant and our attorney that traffic is not the magic bullet. Although safety is a powerful component it is very hard to validate. We have also provided our Attorney and Drew with pictures and addresses of recent buildings across from where Take 5 would be located including The Dental OFC, Seaside Springs and Poly Clinic and they both agreed this just reinforces how Take 5 is certainly not in keeping with the surrounding area businesses.
We also discussed with our Attorney prep for our April 19th meeting at Lakewood Ranch with the Take 5 Attorney and owner. It was decided that we were not going there to discuss any changes or modifications to the structure, to include signage or colors appropriate to our surrounding residential neighborhood. Our position is that there is no interest in agreeing to this project in our Community.
Residents are encouraged to attend and speak at the May 2 Public Rezoning Hearing. In discussions with our Attorney it is felt that it would be important to focus on those things that would resonate with the County, which we will elaborate on at the BOD meeting. Since the residents Take 5 Action Group has organized around specific areas of interest perhaps they would be willing to provide a recap of their activities to date at the April 18 Board Meeting too.
This project requires us to navigate the following calendars all at the same time: our Attorney, our traffic consultant, Take 5 Attorney, Take 5 owners.
IMPORTANT DATES:
- April 18 – 1:30 pm – BOD meeting
- April 19 – Meeting with Take 5 Attorney and our Attorney
- Zoom meeting with Community and our Attorney: before May 2, date TBD
- May 2 – 5:00 pm – Public Hearing at Robert L. Anderson Admin. Center, Commission Chamber, 4000 Tamiami Trail S, Venice, Florida 34293
We are encouraging all Community residents to attend the Public Hearing. If you need transportation to this meeting, please let us know and we will attempt to arrange transportation with other members of the Community.
Sincerely,
Willowbend Board of Directors