Downtown group hosts form-based code presentation

The city’s Urban Design Studio has been working for more than two years to create a new form-based zoning code for the city, but still, questions surround the forthcoming regulations for many residents.

On Thursday, the Downtown Sarasota Alliance hosted an event at The Francis designed to clear up some of the confusion. As part of the group’s Urban Strategies Speaker Series, Fort Myers-based planner Bill Spikowski gave a presentation outlining the strengths and weaknesses of a form-based code, as well as some pitfalls to avoid.

Spikowski, a member of the Form-Based Codes Institute board of directors, explained this style of zoning regulation is still relatively new — less than two decades old. He said that standard zoning codes, in place throughout most of the city of Sarasota, are often tailored toward suburban, rather than urban living.

“This is mainly from an era where were focused on not letting anything go wrong,” Spikowski said. “We weren’t thinking about what being this restrictive would mean.”

By encouraging a holistic approach to governing how streets function and a mix of uses within individual blocks and neighborhoods, form-based codes have grown in popularity in cities across the country, Spikowski said.

"Variety within neighborhoods provides housing choices. Everybody doesn’t need a single-family home." — Bill Spikowski

Traditional regulations often discourage or prohibit the type of mixed-use projects that planners and officials now see as desirable in urban centers. Form-based codes attempt to get out of the way in that regard, Spikowski said.

“There’s no reason that, in the right areas, the government should be part of the problem there,” he said.

He discouraged systems that encourage extensive review processes from elected officials, staff and advisory boards, stating that a good form-based code allows a developer and residents to know exactly what can and cannot be built in their neighborhood. He also encouraged those in attendance not to get caught up in the specifics of architectural standards — a hot topic in Sarasota recently.

“Don’t let a dispute over that one subject block you from going ahead with your code,” Spikowski said. “The architectural control is always an optional part.”

In a city struggling to create a larger supply of affordable housing, Spikowski said a form-based code could be designed to encourage the development of a healthier residential mix. By reducing the emphasis on density regulations, which encourages the building of larger units, smaller units can emerge. Transitioning from single-family housing into multi-family housing within certain parts of residential areas helps, too.

“Variety within neighborhoods provides housing choices,” Spikowski said. “Everybody doesn’t need a single-family home.”

As the Urban Design Studio continues to work with neighborhoods on refining a draft of the new city code, Spikowski said it’s important to get resident buy-in regarding the proposed changes.

“It’s legitimate for people to be scared about this,” Spikowski said. “If you can’t make a compelling argument that it’s good for your neighborhood as well as the whole city, you’re probably not going to get anywhere with it.”