- July 8, 2025
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Following a month away from the meeting chamber the Sarasota City Commission will hit the ground running at its Monday, July 7 meeting with several key items on its agenda.
Among them is a quasi-judicial public hearing about Phase 3 of the Bobby Jones Golf Club renovation as it considers approving a 17,000-square-foot, two-story clubhouse as the final piece of the restoration of the city-owned golf course to its original Donald Ross layout.
The item is a continued public hearing that was opened at its Sept. 3, 2024, meeting for the clubhouse and restaurant facility estimated to cost upward of $9 million.
The applicant, which in this case is the city, is proposing a facility that includes a cart barn, golf shop, office space and a second-story restaurant with a wraparound veranda. The proposed restaurant is approximately 3,485 square feet along with the associated bar and kitchen areas, as well as a 490-square-foot community room.
The clubhouse facility will be open to the public, including the restaurant. The structure is located internal to the golf course parcel, located off of the main entrance from Circus Boulevard.
On April 10, 2024, the Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of the site plan. The golf course is currently operating out of a temporary clubhouse with carts stored outside.
Unless pulled for further discussion and a separate vote, in the consent agenda is the second reading to approve an amendment to the Future Land Use Chapter of the city’s Comprehensive Plan to allow for rezoning of the Mira Mar building and associated property at 65 S. Palm Ave. and 136 Miramar Court.
The owner of the property, Seaward Development, plans upward of $29 million restoration of the Mira Mar building, providing the rezoning of the entire site to Downtown Bayfront to accommodate two 18-story condo towers. The site is currently Downtown Core, which has a height limit of 10 stories.
During a marathon meeting on May 19, 2025 — much of it regarding the Mira Mar matter — the City Commission unanimously approved the Comprehensive Plan amendment. Because it's a site-specific change, the amendment will not go to Tallahassee for review and comment.
Presuming second-reading approval, a quasi-judicial public hearing will take place later on Monday on rezoning the 1.2-acre tract from Downtown Core to Downtown Bayfront.
The rezoning request would allow for the property to be developed with the two 18-story towers on a shared podium in order to realize adequate revenue to rehabilitate the Mira Mar building, which will incorporate into the design of the new buildings and will continue to serve as retail storefronts facing South Palm Avenue. A boundary adjustment application would be required to combine the two properties into one lot and any future redevelopment will be subject to administrative site plan review.
On May 19, 2025, the Planning Board voted 3-2 to recommend approval of the Comprehensive Plan amendment.
Staff is seeking additional direction from the commission regarding its role in the search for Sarasota’s next city manager.
On May 23, 2025, the commission directed staff to issue a letter of interest to the Florida Local Government Executive Search Firm List, since receiving several responses. On June 16, the commission requested supplemental responses from each firm, and the firms provided them.
From here, staff is looking for direction on the following:
The city has been without a permanent city manager since Marlon Brown retired in October 2024. Senior staff member Doug Jeffcoat filled the role on an interim basis through May 2025, when former Longboat Key Town Manager Dave Bullock was named interim city manager.
In a matter of housekeeping, the commission will look to formally adopt a resolution granting the appeal by Bay Plaza Property Owners Association of the Planning Board’s approval of Obsidian.
On Feb. 12, the Planning Board by a 4-1 vote approved three adjustments for Obsidian, a 342-foot-tall, 18-story, 14-unit condo towner planned for 1260-1274 N. Palm Ave. The opposing Bay Plaza, which effectively wraps around three sides of the site, appealed that decision to the City Commission, which granted the appeal by a 4-1 vote on May 14, reversing the Planning Board’s decision.
The city zoning code requires the City Commission to adopt a resolution following an appeal hearing. That sets the stage for a possible, if not likely, appeal by developer MK Equity Corp. to the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, which by code must be filed within 30 days from the day that the City Clerk accepts the executed resolution for filing with her office.
