Pitch would allow historic buildings to sell air rights, preserve structures

A historic preservation group has pitched the Sarasota City Commission on a program to help preserve downtown historic structures by shifting the height and density to other construction projects.

At its Feb. 12 workshop, the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation presented a transfer of development rights proposal that would allow owners of historic properties to monetize by-right development without taking a wrecking ball to their structures. It’s a practice not uncommon in cities and states; there are 36 such programs in Florida alone, according to SAHP Program Director Erin DiFazio.

The program allows owners of buildings designated as historic to sell the zoning-permitted development rights of their land to developers of other projects, moving density and height — with limits, such as two stories — to other locations.

“This is a market-based initiative for preserving historic structures by allowing the owner to sell unused development rights,” DiFazio said. “With transfer of development rights you are actually not gaining height, but rather transferring that height and density from an inappropriate location where it demolishes an historic building to one that is appropriate and does not result in the demolishing of an historic building.”

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Commissioners Debbie Trice and Erik Arroyo questioned what happens on a parcel where a historic structure, whose owner has sold the development rights, is destroyed by fire, flood, hurricane or other act of God. Once sold, they were told, that transfer still applies. Anything built on that parcel must conform to the height and size of the original structure.

“The developer buys the rights from the sending site and then transfers them to a receiving site through a private sale with a third-party agreement,” DiFazio said. “The receiving site can then utilize that buildable area and density to build more housing units than the zoning code would normally allow and/or increase the maximum height of the building by up to two floors, and only if they need it.”

The sending site then is preserved in perpetuity with demolition or inappropriate alterations to the building prohibited, “Ensuring that the historic property will enrich the lives of future generations,” DiFazio said.

As a workshop, no action was taken, and the item may be placed on a future City Commission meeting agenda. 

“Our goal is that the commission will agree to place the item on the next agenda for a vote to allow staff to create the necessary zoning text and comprehensive plan change for administrative approval,” DiFazio said.