SemCon 2013 planned for Sarasota

A third SemCon planning conference will be held this year in Sarasota.

An ad hoc committee made up of Sarasota downtown leaders met Thursday to go over the preliminary details of the conference. According to ad hoc committee member Ernie Ritz, the committee has not yet set a date for the conference.

Possible topics at the SemCon 2013 conference, which will be open to the public, could range from downtown density to ways to make Fruitville Road downtown easier for pedestrians to cross, said Tony Souza, also a member of the ad hoc planning committee.

The conference would follow SemCon 2007 and SemCon 2010. The idea for the Downtown Improvement District’s Main Street sidewalk improvement project, which is now in motion, stemmed from the June 2010 SemCon conference, titled “Public Downtown Design Workshop.”

The two-phase event provided an overview and history of Sarasota and highlighted success in other historic downtowns, and held a platform for residents and business owners to discuss different options for downtown.

The Downtown Improvement District and the Downtown Sarasota Alliance funded SemCon 2010 featured speakers, who were familiar with historic districts and included the senior planner of Winter Park, and Orlando suburb.