City passes affordable housing incentive
Density, height bonuses to complying builders
Another affordable housing incentive squeezed past the Sarasota City Commission on the second reading at a special meeting Monday.
A zoning text amendment that will offer a density and height bonus to developers that build affordable housing in certain districts passed with Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch and Commissioner Debbie Trice in dissent. The amendment creates three new districts in growing areas that aim to encourage mixed-use developments, and it passed by the same vote on the first reading March 4.
The districts — known as urban mixed-use 1, 2 and 3 — are located in along major corridors like Fruitville Road, Washington Boulevard and U.S. 41 in the North Trail area. Developers that build in these districts will receive up to a triple the density bonus if 15% of the bonus units are priced attainable.
The amendment allows developers to build up to 75 units per acre in mixed-use 1 and 2 and 105 units per acre in mixed-use 3, located in the North Trail area. It also affords developers a height of up to 5 stories if projects meet the 15% threshold, though a development can’t exceed 70 feet.
Overall, the districts include more than 700 parcels along the designated areas. Their implementation is the latest in a line of affordable housing measures, which have included a downtown density bonus and a recently introduced fund for affordable development.
Briana Dobbs, chief planner for the city of Sarasota, said the new districts will ideally encourage walkable, mixeduse projects with residents of varied incomes.
“It really does allow for the development we would like to see along these
corridors,” Dobbs said.
The amendment has been widely debated since its introduction. While proponents have supported the amendment for addressing the affordable housing issue, opponents fear the extra units and height the amendment affords will inundate districts with excess development while also doing little to solve the problem.
Some members of the public called the amendment a step in the right direction and others cautioned that its language was too lenient on developers.
Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, a candidate for the District 3 city commission seat, said the affordable unit requirement isn’t high enough to implement adequate affordable units in the corridors.
The density bonus will proliferate the corridors with too many market-rate units and won’t change Sarasota’s affordable housing landscape, Ohlrich said.
“If we don’t get it right this time, more and more and more working people will not be able to afford to live in our city,” Ohlrich said. “It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be right.”
Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch echoed Ohlrich and others in her dissenting vote, remarking that she was unsatisfied with the amount of affordable housing the amendment requires. She cited an online inclusionary housing calculator that concluded increasing the requirement would scarcely impact a developer’s profitability.
The 15% threshold, Ahearn-Koch said, was too low, and with little change to profitability, she felt the amendment could raise the requirement without turning developers off.
“If we could be asking for more, we should be asking for more,” AhearnKoch said. “We have one shot to get this right.”
Supporters of the amendment, however, felt it was a significant step toward encouraging affordable housing locally. In a city where many below the area median income — $64,000 per capita annually — are cost-burdened by housing prices, proponents of the amendment felt any push for attainable housing would make a positive impact.
Heather Kasten, president of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, said the city can’t afford to wait for a perfect solution while prospective residents are continually priced out.
“We just cannot keep talking about the issue and kicking the can down the road,” Casten said. “It’s time to move forward.”
Commissioner Eric Arroyo motioned to pass the amendment with no changes, despite requests from AhearnKoch to raise the affordability requirement and eliminate the inclusion of outdoor bars as permitted with major conditional use in the new districts.
Trice also requested to remove the commercial elements from the districts and render them strictly for residential use, which Arroyo also denied in his motion.
The motion drew approving votes from Arroyo, Commissioner Kyle Battie and Mayor Liz Alpert, who all praised the step. Though the amendment isn’t perfect, Alpert said, it’s a start.
“I’m very excited about the possibility of this,” Alpert said. “Maybe it should be tweaked here or there, but overall, it’s a really good plan.”
Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.