Neighbors erupt as Tamiami apartment project is approved

Emotions boiled over at the end of the July 12 Sarasota Planning Board meeting as some Central Cocoanut neighborhood residents left the meeting chamber, because they didn’t leave quietly.

Following a 90-minute quasi-judicial public hearing and discussion, the board, which includes two new members in Daniel Deleo and Shane Lamay, unanimously approved a three-story, 33-unit apartment building at the three points corner of North Tamiami Trail, 18th Street and Panama Drive. 

The building was designed under the auspices of the North Trail Overlay District and board members generally agreed that the 1.11-acre site isn’t ideally located nor is the design of the south side of the building as presented aesthetically pleasing, but it meets the letter of the zoning code and the board had no standing to reject it. The architect said design tweaks will likely be made. 

Following the vote, some residents stood and shouted at Planning Board members, prompting Deputy City Attorney Michael Connelly to instruct staff to summon police.

Called 1800 Residences, Haverford LLC is listed as the developer. With the address of 1800 N. Tamiami Trail, the site is within the North Trail Overlay District, which is intended to encourage, but not require, new urbanism designs that push buildings to the street with parking and amenities placed out of view.

The building will include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

Because only a small portion of the site actually fronts Tamiami Trial, some board members lamented that it qualifies for overlay district considerations that include, among other incentives, a reduced parking requirement intended to encourage multi-modal transportation over cars.

That the development will have 33 parking spaces — one per unit — was only one objection of neighbors who are concerned that parking will spill over onto neighborhood streets. Others included light pollution, the location of the pool adjacent to single-family homes and the removal of a number of grand trees. Arborists for both the developer and the city agreed those trees were rotting at the base and were unsafe to leave standing.

“There are hollows and they're just not sound,” said Donald Ullom, the city’s arborist ordinance compliance specialist. “You're just waiting for the tensile strength of the wood to be overcome by the weight of the overhead branches … and that's what we found at the base of three of them.”

The project could have been permitted at four stories and 38 to 39 units in the overlay district, which permits 35 units per acre, said architect Chris Gallagher of Hoyt Architects.

Planning Board member Michael Halflants, himself an architect, suggested the design of the elevation facing 18th Street — largely a flat surface with a dozen windows, a single door and some balconies at the corners — should be aesthetically enhanced.

Courtesy rendering

Courtesy rendering

“I think we met the letter of the law,” Gallagher said. “This is not the final design. As you go through the (Development Review Committee) process you make sure that your height and bulk falls within requirements, but certainly there is a lot of design to be done on the building.”

Development Review Chief Planner Allison Christie told the board the basic design treatment along 18th Street meets code. On rebuttal, she addressed many of the concerns expressed during testimony of nearby residents with affected persons status. 

She confirmed the percentage of the building along Tamiami Trail met requirements, as did the design of the south-facing facade along 18th Street. 

“The lighting is reviewed to be compliant with code at the building permit stage, so it's not a requirement during site plan review, but it will be reviewed with the building permit it will be required to meet all code standards,” she said. "That does include shielding of the light so that it doesn't shine on to adjacent properties.”

With the building pushed as far to the southwest as possible with parking and trees along the perimeter, Halflants said the buffer between the apartments and the single-family lots is adequate. In making the motion to approve, he added the condition that the south elevation improvements be included.

“I think that it's a zoning issue because there's not much of this property is on the North Trail, but yet the North Trail is dictating what can occur on the property,” said board member Terrill Salem, ”which kind of puts the whole neighborhood in an interesting situation because it is going to bring a total character change to the neighborhood.”

Planning Board Chairman Daniel Clermont agreed with the zoning incompatibility, but added the city created the North Trail Overlay District to encourage development and redevelopment along North Tamiami Trail between downtown and University Parkway.

“The desire of the city is to try to get the (residential) unit numbers up and not have them just in anywhere in somebody's neighborhood, but along arterial roads and that's what was already determined when the North Trail Overlay District was approved and this lot was included in it,” Clermont said. “I can’t vote against it based on the parking ratio. I'm concerned about the issue, but the ship has sailed. The code and zoning already allow this.

”It does belong to the North Trail Overlay District and I don't see a concrete reason to deny it.”