A View of the Future?

What's the future of Saraota? Maybe present day West Palm Beach gives some insight.

Eary this month, the West Palm Beach Post reported on a forum to discuss the success of West Palm's 9 year old downtown master plan - also put together by Andres Duany.

From the Post:

"Mayor Lois Frankel has never shown much enthusiasm for the 9-year-old master plan guiding downtown development. Thursday afternoon, she showed no enthusiasm for it at all.

And she dismissed the notion forwarded by several members of the panel that the master plan has contributed to the city's current boom in growth. "The city is hot not because of the master plan but because people want to build all over in South Florida," Frankel said.

As envisioned in 1995, the 71-page master plan capped building heights at 15 stories. High-rise buildings would be limited to main thoroughfares, with the rest of downtown limited to two to five stories.

Three major amendments were added over the years, including incentives for building residential units and the option of taller buildings under certain circumstances. For instance, the 26-story Opera Place won extra height by agreeing to build a new venue for Florida Stage.

In 1996, voters made an amendment of their own, passing a ballot measure capping building heights east of Olive Avenue.

Today, the downtown master plan area is flooded with 4,800 residential units. Another 1,300 are under construction and 2,800 are on the drawing board.

Developers riding the crest of this construction wave are pressing for taller buildings, especially along Quadrille Boulevard and Okeechobee Boulevard. Frankel has questioned whether the master plan crafted almost a decade ago can still meet the needs of a fast-growing city.

"This is no longer a small town," Garvin said."

I seems that Sarasota is following this same path. We are allowing 10 stories, with 2 exceptions for 180 ft, the Bayfront area will be allowed to have 18 story buildings, we have a couple thousand units either under construction or on the drawing board, many people are asking if this is the small town we envisioned.

Next week (Apr 13), the Planning Board will have public hearings to discuss elements of our new downtown code. This is everyone's opportunity to give their views on our growth control plan. We hope many residents take the opportunity to sound off.