Laurel Park residents fight Woman’s Exchange expansion

Per an agreement between the Woman’s Exchange and the city of Sarasota, the consignment shop’s new loading zone would handle no more than 12 pickups and drop-offs each day.

Those 12 daily deliveries are a point of concern for the Laurel Park Neighborhood Association. On Nov. 24, the group filed paperwork with the city appealing the decision to grant a building permit for the planned expansion.

The Woman’s Exchange plans to build a 3,524-square-foot structure at 526 Rawls Ave., just north of the existing building. That project would also create a new dedicated loading area on Rawls for larger deliveries to and from the business.

That addition, proposed in early 2014, was met with strident opposition from Laurel Park. In a pair of community workshops, residents argued the street was too narrow and residential in nature to handle regular traffic from larger commercial vehicles.

Although residents pleaded with project representatives to consider a different configuration, both designers and Woman’s Exchange officials remained committed to the proposed layout. The Planning Board rejected proposed adjustments to the zoning code associated with a different aspect of the project, but the Woman’s Exchange proceeded with the Rawls Avenue segment.

“We understand our operation,” Woman’s Exchange CEO Karen Koblenz said at a February workshop. “If there was any other option that would work operationally for us, we would do it.”

The new building would serve as a storage facility for furniture at the Woman’s Exchange. Project representatives said that is a necessary step as the nonprofit grows. So, too, is the loading area, they argue, because the current setup leads to congestion in the parking lot along Orange Avenue.

"We didn’t really view it as a compromise." — Kate Lowman

A letter sent to the city on behalf of James and Helen Miller, owners of the nearby Spanish Oaks apartment complex, details much of the neighborhood argument against the proposal. With residents using Rawls for parking, trucks would have a hard time navigating the already narrow street, they argue.

Allowing the loading area would threaten the “livability and economic sustainability” of the apartments, the letter states.

The Woman’s Exchange is aware of the concern from residents. During the summer, City Manager Tom Barwin held a meeting for both sides to discuss the proposed loading zone. According to Laurel Park resident Kate Lowman, neither side was able to find much basis for compromise.

Lowman said the neighborhood would likely support an alternative proposal even if it necessitated adjustments to the zoning code. But for the Woman’s Exchange, there were no other feasible options.

“They say they have explored other alternatives, and none of them were satisfactory from their point of view, and there was nothing else they could do,” Lowman said. “From our point of view, if this is the only thing they can do, then we can’t accept it.”

To obtain the building permit, the Woman’s Exchange agreed to a series of conditions. Those conditions regulate the size of the delivery vehicles, the frequency of deliveries and the responsibility of the business to monitor the conditions along Rawls Avenue, among other requirements.

Residents weren’t satisfied with those conditions, Lowman said. She submitted a letter to the city arguing that the conditions meant the neighborhood had to act as an enforcer if any problems arose. If a truck was too big, or a car turned the wrong way off of Rawls, or too many deliveries happened on one day, it seemed as if it would be incumbent upon a resident to alert the city.

And that maximum number of daily deliveries — initially proposed as 16 but eventually scaled down to 12 — also didn’t sit well with Laurel Park. At the earlier community workshops, Woman’s Exchange representatives said they averaged about eight pickups and deliveries a day. If residents weren’t comfortable with that number, they certainly weren’t happy seeing a cap that was 50% higher.

“From a neighborhood point of view, it was more than they had ever mentioned, so we didn’t really view it as a compromise,” Lowman said. “It seemed like more than what had been asked for to start with.”

As the residents appeal city staff’s decision to approve the plans, they’re hoping to bypass a portion of the regulatory process. The Laurel Park Overlay District sends appealed cases to the Planning Board — but Laurel Park residents fear they won’t be able to get a fair hearing in front of that body.

Planning Board member Chris Gallagher has recused himself from votes relating to the Woman’s Exchange expansion because he has worked on the plans. Robert Lindsay was not required to recuse himself, but residents believe a family tie may preclude his impartiality. Lindsay is the son of Elizabeth Lindsay, co-founder of the Woman’s Exchange.

Because Lindsay does not stand to directly financially benefit from the project, he was allowed to participate in the board’s discussion of the proposal earlier this year. Lindsay was one of two votes in favor of allowing the requested adjustments to the code.

Another provision in the city code requires at least three affirmative votes before the Planning Board can take any action. With only four voting members, the neighborhood association believes it would be fighting an uphill battle to win its appeal at the Planning Board level.

City Attorney Robert Fournier said he would need more time to review the situation before he could reach a decision on whether the appeal could go directly to the City Commission.

Either way, Laurel Park residents are committed to fighting against the proposed loading area. The neighborhood association paid $1,597 to appeal the decision, raising money from individuals who live or own property near the Rawls Avenue site.

Lowman wants to make clear that residents aren’t opposed to the Woman’s Exchange itself. This disagreement doesn’t change the fact that the two have been good neighbors for a long time, she said.

“Nobody wants to see that end,” Lowman said. “But there has to be a little compromise, and compromise takes effort.”