UPDATE: County passes on city's homeless shelter site proposal

The city of Sarasota's latest offer of compromise on homelessness solutions was not well-received by the county. 

During its Nov. 16 meeting, the city crafted an offer to give the county a parcel of land on Ringling Boulevard for a planned county training facility, which would then free up county land on Bee Ridge Road and Cattleman Road for its homeless shelter. At its Nov. 17 meeting, the county commission declined that offer, saying not only that the site was inappropriate for a shelter, but that the city already owed the county the parcel on Ringling.

“It’s not viable,” said Wayne Applebee, director of homeless services for Sarasota County, who said the original site search in 2013 included that property on Cattlemen. “That particular site does not meet the criteria of proximity of where the homeless services  are, of where homeless are.”

Applebee said approximately 80% of the county's homeless individuals reside in city limits.

Commissioner Robinson suggested they discuss asking the city if it was willing to offer the property on Ringling as a shelter site. She also said a memorandum of understanding from approximately ten years ago obligated the city to give that parcel to the county.

“They offered us a site they already owed us … ?” she asked Applebee.

In a response letter to City Manager Tom Barwin, Sarasota County Administrator Tom Harmer said, “ … it’s good to hear the city’s interest in the transfer of the downtown property.”

But the city's director of homelessness services, Doug Logan, said that building a shelter on Ringling wasn't the city's intention. “(The Ringling property) wasn’t offered that way,” he explained.

Commissioner Charles Hines suggested the commission had been hamstrung by the city’s refusal to allow a shelter in city limits.

“For the city to continue to ignore that the majority of these people are in the city — it is a problem that exists in the city — and to pass it outside the city, where all the services are, really doesn’t make sense,” Commissioner Hines told Applebee. Hines called for viable alternatives to their currently considered sites, calling those sites “the best we can do.”

The county has always been open to discussion, said Applebee, but the sites must meet criteria set by commissioners in 2013, including proximity to existing services, a location west of Washington Boulevard within a quarter mile of the city.

“For the record,” said Commissioner Paul Caragiulo, “there are better sites than the ones we have here. They’re just not in areas where city is willing to place them.”

Following the discussion, Barwin was critical of the county’s response to the proposal. In an email to Harmer, Barwin said the county should value city officials’ insight on the dynamics of Sarasota above the advice of Marbut.

“It is truly a shame that the county has deferred all strategic thinking on the possible locations of a (shelter) to Marbut, who is increasingly being discredited around the country and certainly here in Florida,” Barwin wrote.

The city manager suggested placing a shelter in close proximity to north Sarasota would further weaken a community affected by significant socioeconomic challenges. He urged the county to “do no harm,” stating the county’s favored sites risk creating additional problems for the city.

“Marbut’s notion that this is acceptable or the preferred option should automatically cause all to reconsider his credibility,” Barwin wrote.

There has also been pushback from residents of the community in which the county’s potential sites lie, near the intersection of Myrtle Street and North Washington Boulevard.

Abby Weingarten, Bayou Oaks resident and mother, urged the county to build a shelter elsewhere. She said the county’s proposed sites are too close to Booker Middle School, Booker High School, and the Robert L. Taylor Community Center.

Weingarten said solutions to homelessness are needed, and applauded the city’s proposal.

“City Manager Tom Barwin had good ideas about swapping out that property,” Weingarten said. “The disagreements between the city and county aren’t helping.”