Upcoming Manatee land use meeting should grab your attention

As I drove into Myakka City last week, it was quiet.

Kind of like what you would expect in a rural, farming area.

But what this area is, or what it might become, seems wide open at this point in time.

At 9 a.m., Aug. 21, the Board of County Commissioners will be holding a land use meeting with some important topics under consideration. One will be putting some strength back into the Future Development Area Boundary, which has been compromised by some exceptions added to the Manatee County Comprehensive Plan that have made the line somewhat meaningless.

As the current board debates adding amendments or rescinding amendments, you might want to attend the meeting at the Manatee County Administration Building. 

The meeting also will be for a discussion of wetlands protections, and whether the county is prepared to fight to set its own standards for buffers. The well-intended actions of our commissioners in 2024 to set minimum 50-foot wetland buffers above state recommendations has been compromised by Senate Bill 250, that prohibits any measure that makes construction or reconstruction more burdensome or restrictive in counties impacted by Hurricane Ian. That, of course, includes Manatee County.

While setting wetland buffers at 50 feet would hardly seem burdensome to anyone for any reason, it all creates an environment for legal challenges which could chew up millions of our taxpayer dollars. Considering our commissioners already have put several important projects on hold due to a lack of funding, it wouldn't seem we are in a position, as a county, to be involved in numerous lawsuits, but that is what we might be facing.

You would think that special interest groups would be counting on our lack of fortitude in terms of lawsuits so they can capitalize when it comes to projects not even remotely connected to hurricane damage but indirectly supported by Senate Bill 250. 

To all this, you can add Senate Bill 180 in the 2025 session, a bill intended to provide hurricane recovery legislation, but which blocks local governments from adopting land-use rules that are more “restrictive or burdensome” than those in place before recent hurricanes.

If any of this irks you, attending the meeting would be a good first step, followed by a run to your state representatives and senators to make sure they are respecting your desires and not passing legislation that includes new laws that trumps anything put into place by local government.

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Those teen Ebikers must have left a trail of grease all over Lakewood Ranch, because I think we just fell down that slippery slope.

Nobody likes to be harassed by a group of foul-mouthed teens, but our county commissioners seem to be taking this isolated annoyance to extremes.

On July 29, the commission recommended some restrictions to the use of electric bikes on our sidewalks and roadways. Those restrictions made sense, although I doubt that safety was a factor as much as the desire to squash a group of aspiring Hells Angels from continuing to be a nuisance.

Ok, I get it.

But then out of the blue — I would imagine most of our commissioners must believe our teenagers are out of control — comes this plan to establish a curfew for those 16 and under from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight to 5 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

The curfew supposedly will "support parents in setting boundaries."

Here's a thought. How about the government staying out of the parents' family business?

All of our Manatee County commissioners are Republicans. I thought that meant being in favor of "small government" including less government regulation and more personal liberties.

That scary part of this, if you have lived a little, is not the action itself, but what's next? If our commissioners feel the need to intrude on family business, will they continue to take this further?

It's hard for me to believe that Commissioner George Kruse was the only one who thought this through a bit. During the Aug. 5 Commission meeting, Kruse was outvoted 6-1 when it came time to vote on whether the county's staff members should draw up curfew recommendations. 

Kruse said a curfew was an example of government overreach. He's right.

This all came up very quickly, so if you are a parent in Manatee County, you might want to call your commissioners and give your opinion on whether you want politicians running your household.

When I first heard of the curfew idea, i thought back to the movie "Footloose," in which the residents of a small Utah town go nuts, trying to ban dancing to rock music and then by burning library books they felt were corrupting the youths. It was all so stupid.

Of course, that's extreme, but it's part of the what's next equation.

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We have turnover in our sports department here at the East County Observer with Jack Nelson, a UCLA graduate, coming to take over the sportswriting duties Sept. 1. Jack is a personable, young writer with lots of energy, so please feel free to greet him with an email at [email protected].

So until that time, if you have any sports stories, ideas or results to report, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or call me at 755-5357. We want to continue to highlight our area's exceptional athletic talent during this short void.