New zoning code aims to freshen up city storefronts

More than a year after a retail consultant criticized the storefronts on St. Armands Circle and in other commercial districts, the city’s Urban Design Studio is working with merchants to update Sarasota’s sign standards.

Tasked with developing a new form-based zoning code for the city, the Urban Design Studio held a pair of workshops in August to present proposed changes and gather feedback on how signage should be governed.

In a 2014 report, consultant Robert Gibbs called the city’s retail signs and awnings outdated. In crafting new regulations, Urban Design Studio Director Karin Murphy said she hopes to offer storeowners more flexibility but also call for a higher standard.

“We want to make sure to allow that creativity — and in some areas, move away from some outdated signage in exchange for that,” Murphy said.

Beyond clarifying existing rules, the new code also aims to tailor standards to individual areas of the city. Signs that might be popular on Main Street might not be welcome on St. Armands Circle, Murphy said, a fact not recognized in the current code.

“St. Armands has a lot of guidelines (now), but the guidelines don’t have any teeth,” Murphy said. “We’ll work with them to say, ‘What would you like to bring into that section for your sign palette?’”

"We want to make sure to allow that creativity — and in some areas, move away from some outdated signage in exchange for that." — Karin Murphy 

Straightening out A-frames

The city has been searching for a way to allow businesses to place A-frame signs in the public right of way without permitting the entire population of Sarasota to post their own signs as well.

The Urban Design Studio is proposing new regulations that would address this topic. The new code would break down the right of way on retail-intensive streets into distinct zones, including an “amenity zone” separate from the pedestrian thoroughfare.

Features such as traffic poles, trash cans, trees and bus shelters would all be located in the amenity zone, leaving the pedestrian space free of obstructions. In a draft version of the code, each store would be permitted to place one A-frame sign in the amenity zone during business hours.

Murphy said other cities, such as Portland, use concepts similar to amenity zones. In addition to providing a designated space to place A-frame signs, the amenity zones call for a more holistic examination of the assets located in the public right of way.

Trees, bushes and other plants near the end of sidewalks served as a point of criticism for the Urban Design Studio. That’s because, currently, there aren’t any standards for where and how greenery should be placed. As a result, the plantings can obstruct storefronts, signage and other amenities.

“Sometimes our first instinct, if we see a vacant property, is to pretty it up,” Murphy said. “We might put bushes or plants or other things there. But as the city fills in, you need more trash cans, more light poles, things like that.”

At first, that line of thought might not sit well with green space advocates working with the Urban Design Studio on stronger tree protection regulations. Murphy says the sidewalk must be looked at as an entire ecosystem. Trees, if planted in the middle of a storefront, can block the view of a business. The roots might also cause conflicts with utilities, and bushes near a curb can get in the way of shoppers attempting to get into or out of their car.

"We have to look at multiple interests in that limited space." — Karin Murphy

That’s not to say trees should be excised from the sidewalk area completely. Murphy just wants to make sure that, during the planning process, the city begins to look at a bigger picture.

“Our job is to get them to see how this interrelates,” Murphy said. “You can show them this and tell them, ‘We have to look at multiple interests in that limited space.’”

The Urban Design Studio is working on extending the pedestrian-oriented primary street and retail frontage designations beyond the downtown core and into the city’s other districts. Murphy said that, like the rest of the forthcoming code, will go through a public vetting process before anything is finalized.

In addition to the August workshops, which gave merchants the opportunity to comment on which signs they do and don’t like, the Urban Design Studio is still seeking more feedback on storefront standards. On Wednesday, the group posted an online sign survey for residents to respond to.

“We’re always trying to get more public input,” Murphy said.