Planning commission recommends city council approve comprehensive plan evaluation and appraisal update

The City of Venice Planning Commission on March 4, 2025 recommended City Council approval of comprehensive plan amendment petition 24-35 CP by a 6-0 vote.

Amy Nelson, planning manager for the City of Venice, told the commission the staff-led Evaluation and Appraisal update responds to state requirements and routine housekeeping: the document was reviewed for statutory changes, date ranges were extended to meet a new 10-year planning horizon requirement, typographical errors were corrected and the plan was reformatted to improve ADA accessibility on the city website. Nelson said the largest substantive addition was language addressing coastal resilience, inserted at staff request to support future grant eligibility for shoreline and resilience initiatives. She told the commission, "The biggest addition that we made was to coastal resilience."

Staff also documented a recent statutory change that encourages local governments to permit floating solar facilities in appropriate land-use categories and included a new strategy noting floating solar as an option for large stormwater ponds and utility sites. Nelson said staff had added updated maps and removed outdated static tables (for example, transportation segment tables that relied on 2015 counts) in favor of references to current county or consultant sources.

Commissioners asked for clarification on a proposed new strategy that said the city "shall consider renegotiating" its joint planning agreement (JPA) with Sarasota County. Commissioners expressed that the phrase "renegotiating" implied a policy decision better left to City Council; staff indicated the language would be revised to emphasize "considering limited expansion or discussion with the county" and noted any formal change to the JPA would be a council-level decision.

The update also references the Seaboard master plan and flags a marina, swing-bridge concepts and other long-range ideas as "areas of future consideration;" staff emphasized those items are conceptual and would require master-plan adoption, partners and funding before implementation. Amy Nelson said the city had already begun outreach to potential partners and to state/federal grant programs to support components of Seaboard work should the council choose to proceed.

There were no public speakers. Mr. Wolfson moved the commission recommendation to city council and Mr. Hale seconded; the commission approved the recommendation 6-0.

If the council adopts the amendment, staff will submit required materials to the state and continue follow-up work on implementation items such as coastal resilience strategies, floating solar feasibility and any revisions to JPA-related language.