City "Planning"?

During the last couple years as Sarasota’s downtown has exploded with growth, a number of issues have come up that cause us to wonder whether future construction will cause more problems. If our recent past is an indicator of what lies ahead, we are in trouble.

The Whole Foods delivery truck dock space is poorly designed. The standard semi-trucks cannot back into the loading dock without first driving onto the sidewalk across Second St from the loading dock. This is highly unusual as well as unsafe and likely to cause an ongoing maintenance issue.

The condos on the south side of Fruitville (Marquee en Ville) abut the very narrow sidewalk giving no space between the sidewalk and the building front. This seems like a very poorly designed sidewalk interface as well as a safety issue. Where is the needed setback?

The project at 1350 Main was given 4 floors of public space, 12 ft wide, above the sidewalk on Main St. Not only is this giveaway valued at $3.5M, it also brings the building almost to the curb (to within 3 ft). Visually this will present a narrowing of Main, create a canyon and will reduce the small town ambience of tree shaded lively streets. It will stick out like a sore thumb.

Over on Central, the entry way to the 100 Central building has a porte-cochere sticking out from the building past the sidewalk into a downtown street. This is on a public street! What is going on here?

Our code will allow developers to by-pass the Duany requirement that the downtown buildings be stepped back at the 4th floor - to avoid the canyon effect. Instead it was changed to allow the developer the option of stepping-forward with an arcade with 3 floors of habitable space (at least 12 ft wide and the length of the building) as an incentive to build here. This is in the most desirable city in the entire state of Florida. We make our already narrow streets into canyons to entice developers who are chomping at the bit to build here. We have talked with numerous planning officials all over Florida and all are amazed at this; it is a first as far as anyone knows. Is something wrong with this picture?

We have allowed Marina Jack to build many more docks and mooring spots. The result is that it is no longer possible to see the water from Bayfront Dr until you drive south past Ringling Dr. In addition, out on the peninsula many more docking spots have been added along the park walking path. Again blocking the view. Now instead of water views we have a used boat lot to look at. Why do we allow this? Is this construed to be some kind of investment in Sarasota's future?

Is this the kind of "planning" that Sarasota deserves. Do we need to continue to give away public property to developers, allow poorly designed buildings and close off water views so out of town people can have a convenient place to park their boats? Save Our Sarasota believes that our city leaders - elected and hired - need to think a whole lot more about what is happening and where we are headed. We also hope it doesn’t take long to get on a new track. A track that preserves what is admired and cherished about Sarasota instead of selling every piece of space that can generate some cash. We do not need "investments", we need to hold tightly to the treasures we already have.