City freezes development permit, application timelines

Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin issued an order extending permit expiration dates and deadlines for reviewing pending applications. The city is also closing the Van Wezel through April 26.

By David Conway
| 2:55 p.m. March 30, 2020

The City Auditor and Clerk's office is currently accepting limited development applications by mail.

Sarasota
News

The city of Sarasota issued an emergency order today freezing the expiration dates for active development permits while Florida remains under a state of emergency because of COVID-19.

The order also halts state-mandated timelines for the city to process development applications that have already been filed. Florida requires municipalities to review an application for completeness within 30 days of receiving it. A municipality must then approve or deny the application within a maximum of 180 days.

In a release, the city said the order applies to “all building and zoning permits, rezonings, special exceptions and other official actions of the city permitting the development of land.”

In a separate order, the city also extended the closure of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall through at least April 26.

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