Session set for 6 p.m. at Nokomis Community Center
A third Sarasota County workshop involving the creation of a Unified Development Code (UDC) has been scheduled for Nov. 7 in the Main Hall of the Nokomis Community Center, which is located at 234 Nippino Trail in Nokomis, the county has announced.
The session will start at 6 p.m., “or as soon thereafter as possible,” a news release says.
The UDC will update and bring together the county’s land development and zoning regulations, “which control the development of all properties in the unincorporated area of Sarasota County,” the release explains. “The new code will be more user-friendly and allow the public to more easily find the rules that apply to a property,” the release points out.
“Sarasota County is committed to keeping the public involved and up-to-date throughout this process,” the release continues. A UDC Project webpage has been established for this purpose at www.scgov.net (keywords: Unified Development Code). “The proposed UDC ultimately will be subject to the full public hearing process,” the release emphasizes; the document will be presented to various groups, advisory committees and the Sarasota County Commission for consideration.
County staff members have been working with the consulting firm of Calvin, Giordano & Associates (CGA) to create the UDC, the release notes. Phase I of this three-pronged effort was a discovery process that CGA conducted; it involved discussions with various representatives of the community, public review bodies and county staff. “The existing policies and codes that pertain to current land development and zoning regulations were reviewed by these groups with the goal of identifying those areas where language can be consolidated, inconsistencies corrected, and potentially obsolete provisions evaluated,” the release explains.
Phase II has entailed engaging residents through public workshops.
In addition to seeking general comments on issues to be addressed in the UDC, CGA has been preparing working formats for various articles of the document, so members of the public can provide their viewpoints on them, the release says. Working formats are available on the UDC Project webpage, the release notes.
Comments received at the workshops will help inform preparation of the first draft of the UDC which is anticipated in December, with subsequent drafts to follow, the release adds.
A person also may submit comments directly to the Planning and Development Services Department at planner@scgov.net.