Staff provides detailed report about history of 2050 Plan and remaining options for land it governs
Since October 2000, the Sarasota County Commission has approved 31,814 dwelling units for development in 16 communities located east of Interstate 75, in accord with the establishment of the Sarasota 2050 Plan guidelines, county staff recently reported.
In South County, 4,491 dwelling units have won board approval, as shown in a graphic shown to the commissioners on June 5.
Another 11,236 potentially could be built in North County, the graphic said.
The data was part of a presentation to the commissioners during their regular meeting on June 5. It came in response to inclusion in the board’s 2024 Strategic Action Plan of a request for an analysis of “What’s Left” for the 2050 Plan.
On April 5, the county’s Planning and Development Services Department completed the formal written report for the commissioners. The June 5 agenda item was scheduled subsequent to that, Matt Osterhoudt, director of Planning and Development, noted during his presentation.
Commissioner Mark Smith was the only board member to ask Osterhoudt a question in regard to the presentation. Smith referenced the written staff report, saying that the Hamlet use had been the “least desirable for the development community.” Smith added that he believed that was because it offered less residential density.
When Smith asked Osterhoudt for clarification that the Hamlets were included in the 2050 Plan to serve as transition areas between the denser Villages and the Historic Rural areas, Osterhoudt replied that the Hamlets were “certainly a stepdown approach.”
Osterhoudt noted the Hamlet areas on a map he showed the board members, adding that staff just had not received proposals for them.
None of the other commissioners commented on the written report or the presentation that day, which lasted about 15 minutes.
As explained in a June 5 county memo, which also was included in the agenda packet for the meeting, the primary purpose behind the creation of the 2050 Plan was to enhance “the livability of the County” through the following steps:
- Preserving the county’s natural resources and environmental systems.
- “Managing growth through a variety of lands uses that can support multiple types of residents and incomes.
- “Avoiding urban sprawl through efficient planning of new compact, interconnected, and walkable communities.
- “Strengthening existing communities by either preserving those with rural character or by redeveloping infill areas to encourage economic benefits.
- “And by ensuring that cost allocations result in fiscally neutral development that does not financially burden the existing residents.”
That memo also pointed out that, at the time the 2050 Plan was adopted, it consisted of six areas:
- Urban/Suburban (neighborhoods in the Urban Service Area Boundary [USB]). The USB is the line that separates portions of the county with infrastructure such as road networks and water and sewer systems from those without those services.
- “Economic Development (commercial centers or corridors inside the USB).
- “Rural Heritage/Estate (existing platted or remnant large-lot communities outside of the USB)
- “Village/Open Space (undeveloped lands outside of the USB not designated Rural Heritage, Agricultural Reserve or Greenway, which shall be developed following the delineation of a ‘Countryside Line” that designates Village land use to the west and Hamlet land use to the east of such line).
- “Greenway (environmentally significant lands and [their] linkages).”
- Agricultural Reserve (lands for agricultural uses in the easternmost portion of the county).
Osterhoudt also showed the commissioners a map with color coding, found in the Comprehensive Plan — which guides the growth in the county — that delineates each of the proposed “Resource Management Areas” (RMS) for 2050 developments. The three proposed Village areas, with the highest residential density, are shaded in blue. They were designated North Village, Central Village and South Village, he said.
The land shown in lavender was planned for Hamlets, with lower density.
Finally, he pointed out, the recently approved Village Transition Zone won commission approval in 2023 for the expansion of Lakewood Ranch from Manatee County to Sarasota County.
The map also showed the Rural Heritage Estate areas in yellow and the greenways — what Osterhoudt characterized as the “significant connections of our environmental attributes” — in green.
Further, Osterhoudt explained — as the staff report did — in 2004, the County Commission adopted ordinances relating to zoning and land development “that established the specific regulations for new development that utilized the 2050 Plan [Resource Management Areas].” The following are those zoning districts:
- “Conservation Subdivision (CS). An overlay district for Open Use and Residential Estate zones that could allow density increase within the Rural/Heritage, Greenway, and Agricultural Reserve RMA, with the intent to preserve environmental systems and rural character with flexibility in the design of residential development.” A few of those have won commission approval, Osterhoudt pointed out.
- “Planned Economic Development (PED). A new urban form with neo-traditional design standards that can provide for mixed-use and high-density projects in new or infill sites within the Economic Development RMA.” Osterhoudt told the board, “We have one of those.”
- “Hamlet Planned Development (HPD). To be a collection of rural homes and lots clustered around a crossroads with small commercial, civic, or shared amenities area and with 60% of the site designated for Open Space. Applicable within the Village/Open Space RMA that has been mapped for Hamlet land use.
- “Village Planned Development (VPD). To be a collection of residential neighborhoods that are supported internally by a Village Center that provides mixed-uses which serve the retail, commercial, office and civic needs of residents. Each neighborhood will also include Neighborhood Centers that provide public/civic uses or small commercial areas for the residents. The Village must maintain at least 50% of the site as Open Space and include recreation areas and a school site. Applicable within the Village/Open Space RMA that has been mapped for Village land use.
- “Settlement Area Planned Development (SAPD). To allow for one or more residential neighborhoods that may be supported internally by a Village Center that provides mixed-uses which serve the retail, commercial, office and civic needs of residents or by existing uses located within five (5) miles of the site. Settlements must maintain at least 50% of the site as Open Space, or a minimum of 33% if golf courses are not included as part of the open space … The neighborhoods will also include Neighborhood Centers that provide public/civic uses or small commercial areas for the residents. Applicable within the Urban/Suburban RMA for Settlement Areas of the Future Urban Area.”
‘Several notable amendments’
The April staff report pointed out that within the past five years, “there have been several notable amendments to the Sarasota 2050 RMA that will direct the future growth of the remaining undeveloped areas east of I-75 within the Village/Open Space RMA”:
- In 2021, the board approved a Comprehensive Plan amendment “that allowed for a change in the land use designation of the properties known as ‘Hi Hat Ranch’ from Hamlet to Village.” That will allow for a future Village Planned Development with up to 13,081 dwelling units and as much as 450,000 square feet of non-residential uses.
- In 2022, the commissioners adopted another Comprehensive Plan amendment that provided for the “McCann East 2400 Property” to take advantage of the Village/Open Space density incentives previously approved for the Clark Road Properties, “and to add new incentives for Greenway restoration,” the report said. “This will allow for a future [Village Planned Development of approximately] 4,600 units “that can adjust development patterns within an area that includes a large portion of Greenway [Resource Management Area].”
- In 2022, the board adopted Comprehensive Plan amendments to provide for the Business Park Corridor Resource Management Area. The linear designation along four major thoroughfares was “intended to provide for economic development and employment in proximity to existing and planned residential development.”
- In 2022, the commission approved the Village Transition Zone for Lakewood Ranch Southeast, so that development could have more residential density than a Hamlet but less than a Village.
- In 2023, the board adopted another Comprehensive Plan amendment to add language to the Village/Open Space policies for the Clark Road Properties “that would allow for the transfer of excess development rights between the different sites that make up the ‘Clark Road Properties’ area.” That amendment made it possible for Neal Communities to plan up to 6,500 units on the 3H Ranch land between Skye Ranch and other Villages located east of I-75, the report explained.
What is left?
The final section of the report deals with what remains to be developed through the 2050 Plan.
“Overall,” the report said, “most of the undeveloped areas” [designated as Villages/Open Space] have been or are in the process of being entitled for planned developments.” Three parcels remain within that designation, it adds. One, located on the eastern part of Fruitville Road, comprises about 10 acres. A second, east of Lorraine Road, has approximately 30 acres, while the third is located north of Clark Road and east of Hi Hat Ranch. It comprises about 160 acres.
However, the report points out, a Village Planned Development project typically has a minimum area of 200 acres of developable land, so none of the three is large enough to develop as a standalone Village Planned Development.
Further the report says, the larger remaining undeveloped portions of the Village/Open Space RMA are designated for Hamlets, which allow for residential cluster developments with a maximum of 400 units; a minimum of 60% of the entire site must be dedicated as open space.
Additionally, the report continues, of the lands with the Settlement Area overlay, within the Urban/Suburban RMA, only two remaining un-entitled areas exist for potential projects. Those are located east of Englewood Road, it notes. One of them, on Keyway Road, comprises about 153 acres. The other, south of Manasota Beach Road, has approximately 67 acres. “[H]owever,” the report explains, “both sites prove challenging for development due to the small-scale size of these areas,” along with the fact “that they are made up of multiple parcels with different owners.”
As for the Business Park Corridor areas, the report points out that one has been approved along the corridor that runs through Fruitville Road. Up to 10 buildings can be constructed for light industrial service and/or flex office space.
Staff has received inquiries about future Business Park Corridor rezoning options within the Bee Ridge and Fruitville Road corridors, the report says. Further, the report adds, the development of the McCann East 2400 properties could include a Business Park within the State Road 681 Business Park Corridor.