- May 18, 2025
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Following two consecutive meetings, each lasting just more than two hours, the pace is picking up for the Sarasota City Commission as it enters the already busy budget season.
An ambitions May schedule, which includes a special meeting on May 13 to consider an appeal of staff and Planning Board approval of the controversial Obsidian condo tower at 1260 N. Palm Ave. and a city manager search workshop on May 22, begins with a full agenda at its regular commission meeting on Monday, May 5.
On the agenda is an affirmation of a prior approval of a Planning Board adjustment to allow developer Kolter Urban to relocate an existing driveway by 68 feet to the east to accommodate its redevelopment of the Hyatt Regency property, approval of a final subdivision plat application to develop a portion of the Sarasota Station property and approval of final subdivision plat application to create 13 new lots and a private right-of-way on vacant property at 4529 Old Bradenton Road.
The commission will also consider reimbursing former Commissioner and Mayor Erik Arroyo for legal expenses incurred as a sitting commissioner in 2024. In addition, the agenda includes a discussion about the next steps in its new city manager's search process.
Kolter Urban, developer of two Ritz-Carlton Residences condo towers in the adjacent The Quay master planned development, is planning to demolish the 50-year-old Hyatt Regency hotel and parking structure to make way for a two-tower project. It includes a 174-room Hyatt Centric Harborside hotel and 117 condominiums in the east tower — branded 1000 Boulevard of the Arts — and a second condo tower to the west, both over a single podium.
The driveway relocation is being challenged by Quay 1 and 9, the partnership of Miami-based Property Markets Group and investor MoneyShow of Sarasota, which is developing One Park on Block 1 in The Quay and has received approval for One Park West on Block 9, both mixed-use condo towers.
Quay 1 and 9’s objection to the project extends beyond the driveway relocation, though, contending the project surrounds Block 9 to the lot line, incurs on its portion of a shared alley, Kolter Urban’s traffic impact study on Boulevard of the Arts is flawed and the design presents a safety hazard for pedestrians, among other issues.
The commission previously upheld the Planning Board’s adjustment at its March 17 meeting by a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch opposed.
To help fund development of One Stop Housing’s long-planned affordable housing project on its former light industrial site at 300 Audubon Place, developer S.S. Sasquatch purchased a portion of the site where it plans to build 69 market-rate townhomes.
The developer is seeking final plat approval for the property zoned industrial Light Warehouse, which does not permit residential development. The developer, however, is employing Florida’s Live Local Act, which preempts local regulation from prohibiting multifamily or mixed-use residential development in an area zoned industrial, providing at least 40% percent of the residential units are affordable.
One Stop Housing is planning the affordable rental component to complement the for-sale townhomes to meet that requirement in an all-encompassing project. The plan also required multiple Planning Board adjustments, which it approved at its March 12, 2025 meeting.
Overshadowed by the larger projects is a modest development planned for a vacant 4.8-acre site at 4529 Old Bradenton Road, where property owner Old Bradenton LLC is requesting commission approval of a final subdivision plat to create 13 new lots and a new private street on the west side of Old Bradenton Road between 44th and 46th streets.
The application received full Development Review Committee sign-ff on Dec. 18, 2024.
Finally, the commission will consider a request by Erik Arroyo for the city to cover $10,285 in legal fees he incurred for his defense against complaints filed by some residents with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
The complaint stems from Arroyo serving as a registered agent for an organization attempting to activate the city-owned Ken Thompson Park while he was a sitting commissioner. The company, Ride Entertainment and its subsidiary, Park Golf Entertainment, proposed, among other things, building a “park golf” course in the City Island park, docks for water taxi service, a restaurant and other attractions.
While cleared of any wrongdoing, Arroyo is seeking compensation as state statute favors reimbursement and payment of attorney fees to avoid creating a disincentive for citizens to run for public office and to avoid creating a disincentive for public officials to bring up matters of potential interest.
Last year, the city covered $25,000 in legal expenses incurred by Commissioner Kyle Battie related to defamation a lawsuit brought by resident Kelly Franklin, which was ultimately dismissed by the 12th Circuit Judicial Court.
