LAKEWOOD RANCH — For the better part of a year, the Lakewood Ranch Civic Action Forum has studied whether Lakewood Ranch should incorporate as a city.
The Interdistrict Authority Board has scheduled a strategic planning session for district supervisors to join the discussion about the community’s future from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today at DaySpring Conference Center in Ellenton.
Even though it is not at Town Hall and is being held in a private facility, the meeting is under Florida Sunshine rules and open to the public, said Bradenton’s Jim Stansbury, president of Stansbury Resolutions By Design Inc., the session’s facilitator.
The purpose of the session is to get the 14 to 15 district supervisors expected to attend to share their thoughts on what Lakewood Ranch should be like in 10 to 20 years.
“One of the keys in this is to think about Lakewood Ranch as a whole,” Stansbury said.
“We are not looking for answers. You have to get the ‘what’ before you get the ‘how.’ I know in some people’s minds, incorporation is the how. We are not attempting to go for hows. We just have a few hours to consider what do people want Lakewood Ranch to be and what are the things that need to be addressed in a strategic way.”
Stansbury, who works as a facilitator and mediator throughout Florida, South Carolina and in Canada, said he expects incorporation not to be the main topic of discussion.
“It may well come up, but because no one knows what the result of that work will be, how quickly it could come into being or even if it will be agreed to, I am hoping it is not a distraction from everything else that needs to be considered,” Stansbury said. “My job will be to not let it be the focus of everything else.”
Stansbury has already done some advance interviewing of supervisors, performed considerable preparation and will not only facilitate the workshop, but will later document the results, he said. The IDA is paying him $7,000.
District 4 supervisor Michael Spring said he expects every supervisor to try to put into words what they want for the community’s future. “For me, the major goal for the future is to maintain the value of Lakewood Ranch homes,” Spring said. “That means making Lakewood Ranch more desirable for people to buy here.”
Spring noted that on Florida’s east coast many previously “hot” communities near Miami cooled off in value over the years as home-buyers continually moved north toward attractive new communities.
But some near Miami that had established their brand, such as Boca West, remained viable and valuable despite the northerly trek of suburbia, Spring said.
“Over the next decade, we won’t remain the new community, but we want to maintain the value of our homes as new communities sprout up,” Spring said. “What can we do to help facilitate that? While others will have their own ideas, that, for me, is what this will all be about.”
DaySpring is at 8411 25th St. E., Ellenton.
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