- September 6, 2024
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Seeking to replace its inadequate facilities with a new home, the Sarasota Youth Sailing program of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron held a pre-application conference during the July 17 Development Review Committee meeting.
It may seem simple to replace a building with a new one of identical use on the same footprint, but the plan may face some headwinds strong enough to sink the project.
The Sarasota Youth Sailing site at Ken Thompson Park on City Island is in the Governmental zone district. As a result, it is required to meet the standards of the most restrictive adjacent zone district, Residential Single Family (RSF). For all practical purposes, the site is separated from any homes by seven-tenths of a mile with the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, a marina, a boat dealer, a restaurant and other commercial buildings in between.
Because of the zone districts' juxtaposition, though, its ability to store boats outside may be in jeopardy. As the current use predated city ownership of what was formerly a county park, outside boat storage was grandfathered. A new building permit, though, is subject to city zoning code.
“One question when you're going through your comments is are boats considered materials or equipment? Because if it is, we can't do this,” Joel Freedman, project consultant, said to the panel. “We can't put all those boats into the building.”
“We'll get into that,” replied Acting Chief Planner Noah Fossick.
Following the gauntlet of comments and suggestions from all the department representatives on the DRC, the issue of boat storage came back to Fossick, who at this time is unable to offer full clarity on the conflict between Sarasota Youth Sailing’s needs and the applicable restrictions of the adjacent zone district.
“I would need clarity to determine if a boat would be considered a material or equipment,” Fossick said. “Unfortunately, we don't define either term in the zoning code, so we're working off of commonly accepted definitions of such terms. So at this point, I don't have an answer for you.
"It’s understood that there's a long legacy of boats being stored outside on this property.”
Sarasota Youth Sailing wants to replace a non-climate controlled warehouse-style building with a two-story structure of 3,000 square feet on the first floor for storage beneath 2,000 square feet of meeting space, offices and restrooms. Currently, the office is, “for lack of better words, an RV," said architect Derek Pirozzi. "They're in dire need of something new."
Among the notable aspects of the building design are dual “double butterfly" roofs that will direct rainwater into a cistern, which will be used to wash boats.
The site sits on 1.39 of the overall 6.2-acre Sarasota Sailing Squadron site.
The DRC received a new submittal for a six-story, 19-unit condominium building planned for a 0.36-acre parcel at the northwest corner of North Orange Avenue and Seventh Street. The development is proposed to include 2,444 square feet of commercial space and two attainable housing units.
The zone district is Downtown Edge with a future land use classification of Urban Edge. It is also located within the Rosemary Residential Overlay District (RROD). Vehicle access is proposed from Seventh Street. The project includes two attainable housing units via the RROD residential bonus density program.
The proposed unit mix is eight two-bedroom, three three-bedroom, six three-bedroom plus den and two penthouses. The developer is listed as Gillespie Park Development LLC.
A resubmittal of the project to the DRC is required.
The DRC also held a pre-application conference to provide input on a proposed four-story, 102-room hotel on 1.82 acres just south of University Parkway near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. The property at 325 Royal Palm Ave. is bounded by a Hyatt Place hotel to the north, Sleep Inn to the west and a vacant residential parcel to the south.
The property is zoned Residential Multiple Family 2 with a future land use classification of Urban Mixed Use.
Applicant United Hospital Group of Florida is proposing to rezone the property to Mixed Use 2.
