Q+A with Kate Lowman

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Laurel Park Neighborhood Association, one discussion topic dwarfed the rest: the expansion of the Woman’s Exchange, the first project going through the Laurel Park Overlay District review process. Kate Lowman, former president of the neighborhood association, was a leading advocate for the overlay district, designed to give residents the voice they badly desired regarding developments on the outskirts of the neighborhood. As residents prepare for a second community workshop with developers Feb. 24, we sat down with Lowman to get an update on affairs in Laurel Park.

Q:Laurel Park is widely acknowledged as one of the most dialed-in neighborhoods in the city of Sarasota. Why is that?
A: I suppose there are two reasons. I think one is because we’ve had to be attuned to what’s happening because Laurel Park is so close to the downtown that, especially when the economy is hot, there’s always development pressure. That’s part of it, that it’s a necessity. Part of it is that it really is an old-fashioned neighborhood where people talk to each other and are pretty connected.

Q: What kind of community does that foster between neighbors?
A: People who’ve worked to make Laurel Park a good neighborhood, I think, have always valued the idea of community. There are certain rules here. We have very few rules, but you have to have a front porch; you can’t have a front fence that’s more than 4 feet high. Those are things that were put into our zoning because there was a deliberate attempt to foster community spirit. It just builds over time. What I’ve seen more and more is that Laurel Park is attracting people who like that kind of neighborhood. They want to build here or move here because they’ve come to the parties and experienced it, or they’ve rented some place in Laurel Park and decided they really liked it.

Q: The Laurel Park Overlay District is going through its inaugural tests right now — having seen it in motion, how do you feel about how it functions?
A: I’m very happy we were able to create the process. I think it was a good thing that we have been able to communicate our concerns to the Woman’s Exchange. The response thus far has been very disappointing. I’d like to think that we will still see a positive outcome. It doesn’t seem too hopeful right now. The neighborhood is engaged, and we’re going to move ahead and try to make our case, as strong a case as we can to the Woman’s Exchange at the coming meeting.

I think you probably can’t make a blanket statement about the overlay. It depends on the people who are engaged in the process. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s too soon to say whether the overlay process will work. At least we have a process — we do have some voice, which we would not have had otherwise. Now we have to figure out how to use that voice, and hopefully in a way that the voice is actually heard. I think our goal is a positive outcome for everybody. The Woman’s Exchange is a charitable organization that does good things for the community. People in the neighborhood enjoy having them as neighbors, enjoy shopping there.

Q: Some people see this desire for more oversight and say — oh, they’re anti-growth, they want to stop progress. How would you respond to that criticism?
A: We’re not saying we don’t want anything to change. But let’s make the changes be as attractive as possible. Let’s build things that are a boon and a benefit to this community.

Q: Sitting in the shadow of downtown, how important is maintaining the character of the neighborhood?
A: Certainly, the people who live here value that. We did work — I think it was almost three years — to create a national historic district. We realize that we’re not going to preserve every historic house, but we’d like to preserve as much of it as we can. People like the scale of the neighborhood; they like the feel of it. It’s a little quirky. We like that. Preserving that character is pretty much essential because it’s why we chose to live here.

Want more info?
The second Laurel Park Overlay District community workshop with the Woman’s Exchange will take place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at City Hall, 1565 First St., Sarasota.

— David Conway