Urban Design Studio envisions new density, transit options

City leaders, searching for tools to help redevelop certain portions of Sarasota, have begun to dip their toes into allowing increased residential density, waters previously deemed too murky to wade into.

As the Urban Design Studio prepares to write a new form-based zoning code for the entire city, it may be prepared to throw Sarasota into the density deep end.

During meetings with various neighborhoods this year — a crash-course in form-based code principles for many residents — studio Director Karin Murphy and Principal Urban Designer Andrew Georgiadis have cautiously introduced audiences to the idea that density isn’t the most useful factor for judging new development.

Those efforts haven’t always been entirely successful. Although the sample density increases would largely be limited to highly urbanized areas and major thoroughfares such as U.S. 41, some residents in nearby neighborhoods hit a wall when they hear the word density. The studio says that mindset has been fostered by years of development under the current system, but they believe it can be changed.

Eventually, the Band-Aid is getting ripped off. To put it plainly: The Urban Design Studio does not hate density, does not want to primarily assess projects on density and thinks high-density developments are good in certain contexts.

This thought process was highlighted at a June 10 workshop focused on addressing long-term transportation issues. Toward the end of a presentation from the Urban Design Studio, the team gave the City Commission a glimpse of its planned density bonus program for the new code. Although the program is just a draft right now, the current figures would allow for density between 100 and 150 units per acre in the city’s urban centers and core.

Right now, the maximum density allowed in any district citywide is 50 units per acre. The Rosemary Residential Overlay District, approved last year to encourage the development of the Rosemary District, allows for individual projects up to 75 units per acre as long as the overall neighborhood density is an average of 25 units per acre.

"I can take a typical site downtown and build 200 hotel rooms and only build 15 residential units. To me, that's ridiculous." — Jim Bridges

For developers, the density increases would likely be quickly embraced, considering the wave of new housing projects proposed for the Rosemary District. Jim Bridges, president of development group Jebco Ventures, thinks higher density limits would make sense — and would allow builders to steer away from high-end luxury projects.

“I can take a typical site downtown and build 200 hotel rooms and only build 15 residential units,” Bridges said. “To me, that's ridiculous.”

That’s not to say the Urban Design Studio wants to eliminate density regulations. Those density bonuses would have to be earned — by proximity to existing or planned transit lines, by preserving trees, by meeting green building standards or paying into city improvement funds.

It’s all part of a larger puzzle. High-density projects in walkable areas or near transit stops will eliminate the need to devote space to parking and get cars off the road. The establishment of high-density projects will increase transit ridership. More transit ridership, coupled with developers paying into a transit fund, will help fund a more robust transit system.

Transit Authorities

The Urban Design Studio has shared a draft map of what it thinks the city’s public transit system could look like if properly built out. The map includes multiple rail lines, a trolley system, redesigned bus routes and a waterbus. It’s a lofty goal, but Murphy and Georgiadis genuinely believe that it could be pieced together over the next several decades.

Coupled with the density bonus program, they think they’d begin the process of realistically funding the endeavor.

“That would be a way to start,” Georgiadis said. “To be able to say, ‘This is how can we get that 10% we need to attract the matching 90% federal or state funds.’”

Although transit use is light in the city today, the studio has gotten feedback that residents would be less reliant on their cars if they had better options. Still, it isn’t a proposition as simple as “if you build it, they will ride.” Georgiadis says the most important factor in attracting ridership is reducing the time between each vehicle running the same route.

"We grow the system by improving the bus, and then giving the bus the advantage at intersections, and then growing the ridership." — Andrew Georgiadis

Sarasota County Area Transit, which has been the subject of conversations regarding privatization over the past few years, doesn’t have the capability to simply add more vehicles to its fleet and cut down headway times. That’s why the Urban Design Studio is encouraging SCAT to focus on a smaller number of shorter routes along major streets, concentrating its fleet and reducing the average wait time.

Even still, other incentives may need to be put into place. Georgiadis raised the idea of dedicated transit lanes — maybe shared with other vehicles at first but eventually only dedicated to public transportation — as another idea to increase ridership. It may seem jarring, but the team believes knocking down that first domino will lead to even more options in the future.

“We grow the system by improving the bus, and then giving the bus the advantage at intersections, and then growing the ridership,” Georgiadis said. “Once we see that really starting to happen, then we can look at the next upgrade.”

Those “next upgrades” include trolleys on the barrier islands, light rail along busy travel corridors and bus rapid transit, an idea developed and then abandoned by the county in 2013. The cost would be high — more than $200 million to fund all of the proposed amenities, Murphy suggested — but she invited a comparison with the construction of a new interchange along I-75.

For the price of two interchanges, Murphy said, the entire system could be funded. It was up to residents and city leaders to decide which track they’d rather choose.

“This is what we want to talk about as a community,” Murphy said. “How do we want to grow, and where do we want to spend these dollars?”