A correctional/detention facility (Jail) is slated to be built in Sarasota County in the very near future. The proposed facility will house approximately 570 + inmates within a 200,000+ s.f. facility on 30+ acres. The search which is headed up by the Sarasota County Criminal Justice Commission is considering multiple locations on Knights Trail Rd. There are at least three good general reasons why the Laurel Road/Knights Trail Road area is inappropriate and incompatible for a New Jail: (1) There are approximately 1,000 existing single family homes and by our calculation approximately 10,000 new single family homes planned for the area and the New Jail is incompatible with this kind of dense single family uses;and (2) The road infrastructure is inadequate since there is only one way in and out, no alternative access and no emergency access and without significant additional road infrastructure there is no possibility of obtaining concurrency; it makes no difference how far down Knights Trail Road a site is, because all of the law enforcement traffic and all of the transporting of inmates will have to exit at the Laurel Road interchange which is the only avenue for ingress and egress for the existing 1,000 homeowners and the future 10,000 homeowners for this area; and (3) This area is already over burdened with uses incompatible with single family development, e.g., Venice Sewage Plant, multiple industrial uses west of Knights Trail Road, Venice Minerals mining excavation and its sand plant, rock plant and concrete recycling plant, Miami Valley Ready Mix (Tarmac) concrete batch plant, APAC asphalt plant, asphalt recycling and borrow pit excavation and mining , AJAX asphalt plant, asphalt recycling and borrow pit excavation and mining, proposed new Cemex concrete batch plant and concrete block plant, County Landfill and the proposed new future 400+ acre County Reservoir just north of the Venetian Golf & River Club development. Additionally we believe the Search & Evaluation Process is flawed. Examples include: (1)Only sites currently owned by the County and sites offered for purchase are being considered. There has been no effort to seek a really good site that is not near any existing or planned homes and that has sufficient access and adequate evacuation routes. (2)The evaluating commission has not mentioned one word in its meetings about the complaints and suggestions put forth by homeowners and have therefore completely ignored the citizens who have taken the time to appear at the meetings. (3)The evaluating commission changed the published agenda to prohibit citizens from speaking prior to the last four (4) site evaluations which were made regarding Knights Trail Road. We, the signers of this petition, call upon the Sarasota County Criminal Justice Commission to END CONSIDERATION OF A NEW JAIL FACILITY anywhere within the Laurel/ Knights Trail Road area and find a NEW location that will be compatible with existing and proposed land use.

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