UF/IFAS Extension to host community workshop

UF/IFAS Extension will host a series of workshops about food policies and agriculture policies in the Sarasota County comprehensive plan to collect community input.
Robert Kluson, the Agriculture and Natural Resources agent, will direct community workshops to talk about agriculture in the upcoming comprehensive plan updates. The idea for these workshops stemmed from the Feb. 9 Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations meeting at which members expressed the need for food policies to be more specifically addressed in the comprehensive plan updates.
Food policies, although not specifically named in the current comprehensive plan, are listed in the agricultural policies section of the plan and state the county's support for sustainable and compatible agriculture including community gardens and farmers markets.
The meetings will go over the current policies and how they work for the community now, and participants can discuss what needs to be changed, Kluson said. For those who missed the county's comprehensive plan kick-off meeting Feb. 11, Kluson will give a brief overview of the comprehensive plan update process.
Those interested in attending can register on the Sarasota County Extension Office website. There are three meetings scheduled next week in Sarasota, Venice and South Sarasota.

Tactical Plan

Sarasota County has put together an informational document, called the tactical plan, to help answer residents' questions about the comprehensive plan and the updating process. The 50-page document describes why the updates are needed and how this update is different than the previous one completed in 2006. The document is available online at www.scgov.net/CompPlanUpdate.

IF YOU GO
What: Comprehensive plan food policies community workshop
When: 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 2.
Where: Selby Public Library conference room, 1331 1st St., Sarasota.