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AUGUST 2017 941.349.0194 | ISLAND VISITOR PUBLISHING, LLC
PAID PARKING AT SIESTA BEACH A potential solution to traffic congestion on the island, county commissioners agree
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HOTEL County Commission asks for draft amendment to Siesta zoning regulations that would lower setback requirements for commercial buildings, including hotels
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MULTI-STORY HOUSES
Residents raise worries about boom in towering Siesta Key houses designed for tourists page
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INCREASED WAVE ENERGY
Significant increases in wave energy striking Siesta and Bird Keys to be expected if Army Corps of Engineers allowed to proceed with Big Pass dredging plan, SKA leaders say
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Siesta Promenade
Plan revised to include 415 residential dwelling units and a 130-room hotel, plus commercial space, latest documents show. By Rachel Brown Hackney Benderson Development has revised its plans for the proposed Siesta Promenade project to encompass 415 residential dwelling units, a hotel with 130 rooms and 140,000 square feet of retail and office space, as outlined in materials submitted to Sarasota County’s Planning and Development Department on June 28. The application Benderson filed with the county in August 2016 called for 506 dwelling units and a 150-room hotel, with 140,000 square feet of retail/office space. A recent Siesta Key Association survey that included a question about the 2016 Siesta Promenade plans found by a ratio of 23-1 members agreed with the nonprofit’s “push for no increase in density or intensity” and its opposition to “any plan that will exacerbate traffic congestion.” More than half the members responded to the survey. In January, the County Commission voted 4-1 to allow Benderson to proceed with specific studies in accord with the company’s petition for a Critical Area Plan (CAP) designation for the approximately 24-acre site at the northwest intersection of U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road. If ultimately approved, the CAP designation would allow Benderson a density up to 25 units per acre, instead of the 13 permitted for the county’s Commercial General zoning districts. That also would enable the company to construct buildings as tall as 85 feet, which it is continuing to plan on, as evidenced by documentation in the materials it filed on June 28. County staff estimated it would take up to 45 days to complete the review of the material. After the application has been determined complete, a county Planning and Development Services Department notice said, it probably will be another 60 days before the Planning Commission will hold the first public hearing on the Siesta Promenade proposal, with the County Commission hearing 45 days later, at the earliest. By our calculations, the County Commission hearing probably would not be scheduled before some time in November. Benderson is seeking county approval to rezone the property, too. As Todd Mathes, director of development for Benderson, explains in the newly submitted material, the firm “purchased the Pine Shores mobile home park and adjacent parcels that are components of the Stickney Point Road project in 2005. The property was used as a mobile home park starting in the mid-1950s.” However, Mathes continues, the county’s Future Land Use designation of the site recently was changed to Commercial Center and Commercial Corridor. “Accordingly,” Mathes points out, “our company has studied a number of different potential commercial uses for the project, ranging from a mix of residential, hospitality, and commercial uses that were dense and intense in form, to lifestyle
Multi family residential area
Street View
and town center projects that evoke new urbanism concepts.” Therefore, he adds, “What we are presenting to the County for consideration is a mixed use, open air retail/small lifestyle center... The proposed layout will significantly enhance the streetscape of the Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41 intersection by constructing a series of buildings along the perimeter of the property.” In the original site plan Benderson developed for the property — in 2014 — the project “would have transitioned quickly from commercial to single family residential,” Mathes continues. “The mixed use project provides a residential buffer, stepping down to a three story, multi-family building before transitioning to the single family neighborhood of Pine Shores Estates.” Continued on page 8