- December 23, 2024
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Following seven months of negotiations with neighborhood leaders and city officials, and a back-and-forth between the City Commission and Planning Board, a one-acre site mid-block between Cocoanut Avenue and North Tamiami Trail off Fruitville Road has won rezoning approval that returns the property to its prior zoning designation.
Although no plans have been submitted, the intent of Fourth and Trail Developments LLC is to develop the partially vacant assembled parcels into a residential project that permits some or all of the structure or structures to attain the 10-story Downtown Core maximum height.
The City Commission unanimously approved the rezoning at its Oct. 21 meeting.
The site, fronting Fruitville Road and Fourth Street, wraps around a portion of The Encore condominiums and, rezoned in 2018 from Downtown Core to downtown Edge, stands on the cusp of the Rosemary District. Winning the rezoning required months of meetings with residents of The Encore, leaders of the Rosemary District and Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association, and city staff; the developer represented by Bill Waddill and Philip DiMaria of land planning consultant Kimley-Horn.
In exchange for reverting the zoning to its pre-2018 status, the developer proffered:
The latter will require water lines to be moved from beneath the existing sidewalk into Fourth Street, likely a cost shared by the developer and the city.
Key to the deal is a permit for a driveway access off Fourth Street which, because it is identified as a primary street, is otherwise prohibited. Otherwise, the only access for Encore, the Fourth and Trail Development project and any future development on the block would have to use an alley off Cocoanut Avenue for parking access.
In April, the Planning Board denied by a 4-0 vote an adjustment for a driveway off Fourth Street for a different project, a 16-unit condominium building at the corner of Fourth and Cocoanut. That property is now back on the market.
In February 2024, the Planning Board recommended against rezoning approval by the City Commission for the Fourth and Trail project by a 4-1 vote, at the time opposed by The Encore and other neighborhood advocates.
By the time the development came before the commission in July, Waddill had joined DiMaria to bring all parties together to work out a compromise and, at DiMaria’s request, commissioners sent the project back to the Planning Board for further review. That resulted in a 4-0 vote to reverse its prior recommendation.
“All the affected parties got together on several occasions — The Encore, representatives from the Rosemary District and the developer — in an effort to land on what would be a reasonably positive outcome for everyone, including the city,” said The Encore Homeowners Association President Sam Stern. “Bottom line is that we were able to address our short- and long-term concerns with the applicant, and as a result we no longer oppose the application, but rather we support its approval.”
That endorsement left little to discuss among commissioners with the exception of some minor technicalities.
“I just want to congratulate and thank all the parties involved for open minds, considering each other's needs,” said Commissioner Debbie Trice. “I do think that this is a win-win. I see that the wider sidewalks and the street trees will make this more cohesive with the rest of the neighborhood.”
Although plans for the site remain under development, Waddill said Fourth and Trail intends to take advantage of the city’s attainable housing ordinance to provide the requisite number of affordable units. The base density in the Downtown Core is 50 units per acre. Providing affordable and attainable units brings a maximum bonus density of 200 units per acre providing at least 15% of the bonus units are priced as affordable housing for a minimum of 30 years.
Waddill credited the collaborative effort to achieve consensus and called it a model for future development.
“I’m really proud of the work that that our community did together over the last seven months to bring people together that didn't agree pretty substantially on some key items, and have come together in a place where they we all really feel like there are a lot of wins here,” Waddill said. “I feel like this, in a lot of ways, can be a model for these kinds of projects where we bring people together and communicate and talk about things that could be have a positive outcome for everyone.”
