City, businesses await action on retail study

When consultant Robert Gibbs presented his report on the Sarasota retail market in July, he told city officials and business owners the area had significant potential for growth and improvement.

Now, for the city, the process of realizing that potential has begun.

Norm Gollub, the city’s downtown economic development coordinator, said Gibbs officially completed the report last Wednesday. Gollub is overseeing the process of acting on Gibbs’ recommendations for downtown, St. Armands Circle, the Rosemary District and the Martin Luther King Jr. corridor.

City staff is just beginning to assemble to determine the best way to implement recommendations from the report, but Gollub is already determined to avoid inaction.

“In a lot of communities, consultants undertake a lot of studies, and they tend to wind up sitting on the shelf,” Gollub said. “This is something that we definitely don’t want to leave for any amount of time.”

On St. Armands Circle, the possibility of no action has been a real concern. At St. Armands Key Lutheran Church July 21, Gibbs gave a report that struck a chord with Circle business owners. He suggested several changes they largely agreed with: improving the landscaping, updating the awnings and allowing for more signage on the street.

They were changes people on the Circle had advocated for before — including some at the behest of Gibbs, following a 2005 visit from the consultant. And, yet, people in the area have been grappling with the same issues for two decades, said Eric Seace, the vice president of operations for the clothing store Dream Weaver.

As a result, many people present at the presentation expressed a skepticism regarding any significant changes.

“How are we going to make an impact here?” Seace asked. “That’s really the question: How are we going to have the impact to make this actually occur?”

Diana Corrigan, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association, said earlier attempts at change failed due to a lack of support at the highest level of the city. With a large number of property owners on the Circle, enacting higher voluntary design standards proved difficult, and attempts to codify those standards went nowhere.

“There are a lot of things we wanted to do but couldn’t do because the city wouldn’t allow it,” Corrigan said.

Staff members with connections to the study areas will work together to determine the best path toward acting on the findings in Gibbs’ report. That work is just beginning to get off the ground, Gollub said. He’s unsure when staff will go before the City Commission with its recommendations and said it’s unlikely any funding will be included in this year’s budget.

In the meantime, as downtown economic development coordinator, Gollub said he would work with downtown organizations to try to implement any recommendations they can take on in the short term.

Gollub is optimistic city leaders will eventually capitalize on the report they commissioned from Gibbs and that the results will prove beneficial.

“He certainly has the in-depth knowledge and expertise,” Gollub said. “I’m hopeful the community and commission will embrace the recommendations and carry it forward.”