Concrete Chunk Appears in the Middle of Central Ave!

Finally some newspaper coverage about a problem we have been harping about for some time now!

Giving away public space has reached a new high (or low depending on your view). The Pelican Press has a great article about the lack of design input and expertise for many of our downtown projects. Dale Parks, architect for the superb bus transfer station, also is a member of the CRA Advisory Board and has been trying for a long time to inject some design sense into our downtown redevelopment.

The latest screw up is the realization that we have somehow given away a portion of the street so condo owners can have easier access to their private residences. When SOS asked Commissioner Ken Shelin recently about this issue, he said that when this project was reviewed by the Planning Board - he was a member of the PB at that time - the porte-cochere was not on the plans. He indicated that somehow it showed up after their review and he does not know why.

We read in the Pelican article:

That way, the board hopes, it won’t have "the wool pulled over its eyes," as has happened in the past, according to Parks. He gives, as a most recent example, the porte cochere presently rising out of Central Avenue as part of the 100 Central project.

When that was mentioned at a recent advisory panel meeting, city redevelopment specialist Karin Murphy rose to the porte cochere’s defense. "I went over and took a look," Murphy said, "and it depends somewhat on how we measured the 24 feet. I think it [Central Avenue] will end up the same width as Lemon."

"If so, that’s insane," Park replied of the new narrow-appearing street between the new bus station and Whole Foods Market.

Sarasota’s Chief Planner John Burg commented, "All of us would make changes if we could. But it was a wonderful opportunity bringing Whole Foods to town. We all learned. We’ll all get better.

"Downtown projects are getting larger and developers are coming to town wanting to take over streets – and now we’ve got a chunk of concrete in the middle of Central Avenue."

Murphy countered, "We struggle with drawings. Developers want certainty. We could probably get a model out of them, but drawings, they’re not prepared to spend $350,000 to do that."

Apparently planning found a way to measure the street so that giving away public space is OK, although another planner says they are still learning. It didn’t take Parks long to learn we have a chunk of concrete in the middle of the street.

It’s nice that developers want certainty; we, however, demand certainty. We have the right to expect that screw ups like this do not happen in Sarasota. We have too many of them. Giving away the sidewalk air space at 1350 Main (a first in Florida!), no set backs on Fruitville for a new condo development thus putting the front door 4 feet from 30+mph traffic, a Whole Foods delivery dock design that requires the truck to drive on the sidewalk across the street in order to back into the dock.

What actions will our leaders take to correct this? Are we still learning and can we look forward to more screw ups?

Developers love to show pretty pictures with misleading perspective and fanciful settings. Real life ends up a lot different. This is basic stuff, everyone knows this happens as part of the pitch to sell a project. The amazing thing is how many of our leaders get sucked in by this developer tactic.

Is there any accountability or will our leaders just run for cover?