News Briefs

+ Palm garage receives green building award
During the U.S. Green Building Council, Florida Gulf Coast Chapter’s third “LEEDership Awards” ceremony, the organization honored the Palm Avenue parking garage.

The city parking garage was awarded for “outstanding LEED Core and Shell” at the ceremony, which took place last month. Projects earned awards for leading the way to a more sustainably built environment on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Green features of the parking garage include an underground cistern used to retain rainwater for irrigation, LED lighting and a solar carport on the top deck.

The 240,000-square-foot parking garage, built by Suffolk Construction and designed by Jonathan Parks Architect, has spaces for 763 cars, slots for 35 motorcycles and accommodations for 80 bicycles. The project earned LEED Gold certification in March.

+ Planner honored by planning association
Mike Taylor, former general manager for neighborhood redevelopment and projects with the city of Sarasota, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Florida Sun Coast Chapter of the American Planning Association Nov. 7.

Taylor’s colleagues nominated him for the award. He had spent more than 30 years of service with the city before leaving the position.

Under Taylor’s guidance, the city re-zoned approximately 730 acres and adopted a new long-planned Downtown Zoning Code, which became effective in 2006. Taylor, as deputy director of planning and redevelopment, worked on a draft of the downtown code incorporating new urbanist concepts into a functionable format, noted the planning association’s nomination.

+ Social Security offices to close early
Effective Nov. 19, the Sarasota and Venice Social Security offices will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday — a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday. In addition, beginning Jan. 2, the offices will close to the public at noon every Wednesday.

The day after Thanksgiving, all Social Security field offices will be closed to the public. Employees working that day will focus on reducing backlogged workloads.

Many Social Security services are available at socialsecurity.gov or by calling the toll-free number 1-800-772-1213.

Meetings & Agendas
• Public Workshop: Downtown Circulator — 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, City Hall, Commission Chambers, 1565 First St., Sarasota
• Regular City Commission Meeting — 2:30 and 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, City Hall, Commission Chambers, 1565 First St., Sarasota
• Development Review Committee — 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21, City Hall, 1565 First St., Sarasota