Another test on housing

The Sarasota City Commission is expected to vote Monday on Harvey Vengroff’s affordable apartment project. An independent study sees it as a national model.

By Matt Walsh
| 9:00 a.m. April 28, 2016

Sarasota
Opinion

When Sarasota entrepreneur Harvey Vengroff’s proposed 393-unit apartment complex goes before the Sarasota City Commission Monday, May 2, one of its biggest advocates will be Edward Pinto.

Pinto has been a Sarasota resident since 1991, and before that he was among the annual snowbird flocks, dating back to 1971. Locally, he also has a claim to fame as being the designer and volunteer chairman of the St. Armands Save Our Statues project that started in earnest in 2007.

But more important to the Vengroff project is that Pinto has 42 years of senior level experience in housing finance, including executive vice president and chief credit officer of Fannie Mae (before Congress ruined it). And currently, he serves as co-director of the American Enterprise Institute’s International Center on Housing Risk.

We give you all of that as a prelude to a field research study Pinto released earlier this week on Vengroff’s project.

To summarize the study, in our words: Sarasota commissioners would be idiots to reject Vengroff’s project and should do whatever is necessary to clear any stupid, unnecessary regulatory obstacles from its completion.

In Pinto’s more diplomatic words: “The commission has the opportunity to affirmatively expand Sarasota’s supply of economical apartments; a decision with regional and national implications for bending the cost curve to foster economical apartments without subsidies.”

Almost as much as traffic is a crisis issue in Sarasota, so is the lack of affordable rental and apartment housing close-in to downtown Sarasota. Indeed, as one of the accompanying sidebars points out, Pinto’s study reports that among 36% of the millennials surveyed in a study for Sarasota County said the lack of housing affordability and choice was the chief reason for their leaving the city.

We can also attest to that sentiment. During a luncheon recently with the dean and faculty members of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus’ College of Business, to a person they chimed together that the No. 1 complaint they hear from USF students about working here is the lack of housing.

GET ON IT, NOW

In business, at a restaurant, or, say, on a professional sports team, the managements and staffs routinely perform post-mortems.

If something went wrong in the dining room or during a game, the staffs analyze what happened and immediately take steps to prevent the same mistake the next day.

That’s the kind of thinking and action we need now from our elected and government officials.

Traffic was a nightmare this past season, as we all know. And that cannot happen again next season. Too much is at stake — financially and for the future. Even if it means implementing interim steps, we cannot repeat what happened nine months from now.

This is the mindset on which taxpayers, residents and business owners must insist from public and government officials. The response that road projects are in the works or on the Florida Department of Transportation to-do schedule for 2018 or 2020 or whenever should not be excuses or deterrents to action. Work around them.

Growth is not the problem here. Population in the cities of Sarasota, Bradenton, Longboat Key, Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach has grown only 2.5% since 2000 — by 2,985. Housing units increased 5%. Those are not explosive rates over 15 years.

Instead of blaming growth, the traffic backups are more problems of timing and capacity — too many people driving at once.

That can be managed — with on-street traffic managers, light synchronization and use charges.

This region can’t wait for FDOT to build more capacity. Local and state public officials need to be creative. Most of all, they need to be ready for next season. Nine months to go.

This region can’t wait for FDOT to build more capacity. Local and state public officials need to be creative. Most of all, they need to be ready for next season. They need to be urgent. Nine months to go.

Vengroff’s project won’t solve the entire issue. But it will be a great start.

What’s more, Pinto’s field study gives the Vengroff proposal high praise:

“Having participated in the financing of 100,000s of apartment units, the participants in this study found this to be one of the most innovative design and management proposals they have seen.”

Pinto’s study specifically cited the complex’s safety and sustainability features: “pervious pavers for parking and driveways and storm water management; drought-tolerant landscape; rain-water storage for site irrigation; Energy Star appliances; tankless water heaters; green material, including recycled and renewable products; roof-top solar system for site and common lighting; balcony shading at all windows; comprehensive recycling; high efficiency air filters; low volatile organic (VOC) materials; operable windows.”

In addition to those physical features, Pinto’s study credits Vengroff’s property-management record: Vengroff’s 18 properties had 82% fewer police service calls per 1,000 population than the city in 2014 — 242 versus 1,360 per 1,000.

And quoting a 17-year veteran of the Sarasota Police Department, the study says: “Management runs a tight ship. Police get much cooperation from management … Management takes zero tolerance for drugs seriously.”

The case for approval of this project is undeniable. But this is the Sarasota City Commission. Show up Monday night at City Hall. Overwhelm commissioners with community support.