Conversation with Steven Cover

For nearly a decade, the city has gone without a staff member dedicated to long-term planning.

Steven Cover changed that. On April 12, Cover began work as the city’s planning director. The newly created position is a response to residents’ desire to focus on the bigger picture as the city manages a building boom, transportation issues and other growth-related topics.

Cover’s experience includes work in Atlanta, Madison, Wis. and Arlington, Va. He’s helped implement transportation and housing plans in those communities, and he’s also spent time in the private sector at an urban planning firm.

We talked to Cover to get his initial reactions to his new home, the challenges of managing growth and his thoughts on how to improve the city’s gridlock.

What were your first impressions of Sarasota?

I was really impressed with the character of the city. How it relates to the bay and the waterfront; there’s some unique architecture here. I also saw some really great opportunities.

Obviously, the bayfront —when I saw that site, I called it one of my “Oh, my” moments. You go, “Oh, my goodness, this has tremendous potential.” Sure enough, later on that day, I found out the Bayfront 20:20 project was something being pursued, which I think is a really great idea.

It’s an energetic city. There’s a positive vibe here that you don’t always see in other cities. The emphasis on the arts — that’s a tremendous plus. I’m kind of a big arts guy. I like to support that every way I can.

The city hasn’t had a planning director for nearly a decade. How can effective long-range planning change the way a city is growing?

Any city needs to have a clear vision, clear goals and a clear overall plan from which then they can get into more focused studies and that kind of thing. You need to have a good comprehensive plan that represents: OK, here’s what we’re going to be doing over the next 20, 25 years in the city.

When you’re doing your transportation master plan — that can be a part of it. You can have a cultural arts component, an affordable housing component, a public health component. It really sets the stage. Unless you have a clear vision and a clear overall plan, I think you’ll find some cities will just try to solve problems piecemeal and really not be effective in the long run.

Traffic is a huge concern. How do you move from a theoretical discussion into making tangible improvements?

I think the first step is really to do a comprehensive transportation master plan. The ones I did in Atlanta and Madison, it really identified all the different opportunities. In each case, we also had an implementation component of that master plan which actually spelled out in what order and what timeframe some of the improvements should be made. That’s very systematic — people know what’s coming and what needs to be done next.

Right now, there’s a debate about the public’s voice in the development process. Based on your experience, what’s the best approach to that issue? 

I’ve seen every imaginable approach to plan review. I’ve seen where it’s all administrative to all public — from one zoning hearing officer reviewing all projects to planning boards of 15 or 20 people. I’ve seen a lot of different alternatives. I‘d like to be here a little bit longer to see how the process has worked here. One of the things I’ve done in the past is evaluated processes and tried to make them more efficient and timely — but still allow the same amount of public input or greater.

As a wave of growth takes place, how responsive should planning documents be to shifting development conditions?

With the planning documents that are in place right now, I believe those documents identify how much growth the city wants to accommodate throughout the city. When it takes place is hard to define. If the city is growing quickly but it’s being implemented according to the plan, that’s a good thing. I sense that’s what’s happening here.

How can city policy help create a more diverse housing stock?

It’s a challenge in cities all over the country. I know where I came from, in Arlington, the housing was some of the most expensive in the country. It’s not an easy issue to deal with. Certainly, we want to look at what we can do in the city. But the way the city is delineated from a boundary standpoint, I think for affordable housing, we’re going to need some cooperation from the surrounding jurisdictions as well.

Between residents and officials, what’s your sense in the city’s desire for more long-term planning?

That’s one of the things, when I came for the interview, that I picked up right away. This is a city that has a can-do attitude, I think. They want to make things happen and truly make a difference. I think the leadership here is fantastic, — very visionary, big thinkers. Sarasota is a great place now, but I think it has so much additional potential. I think with the leadership that’s in place right now, we can do some amazing things here.

This interview has been edited and condensed.