City Commission hearing set for Sept. 15
A Laurel Park resident has filed an appeal of the Sarasota Planning Board’s Aug. 7 unanimous approval of Phase 2 of the Selby Gardens Master Plan.
In her application, submitted to the city on Aug. 15, Kelly Franklin pointed to the project team’s decision to remove “101 healthy native trees, 18 of which are live oaks (trees particularly well adapted to withstanding storm surge), and seven of which are protected grand trees …” If they are taken down to accommodate the planned new structures at Selby Gardens, Franklin continued, “[M]y quality of life will be diminished, and the habitat of the flora and fauna will be destroyed.”
Franklin contends that the Phase 2 site plan is not consistent with Section VII-310 of the city’s Zoning Code, which deals with the protection of Grand Trees, so designated because of their diameter at breast height.
Franklin told The Sarasota News Leader that the hearing of her appeal is scheduled for the Sept. 15 regular meeting of the City Commission. She provided the publication a copy of an Aug. 22 email from Rebecca Webster, acting development review chief planner for the city, who noted the date. Webster wrote that Sept. 15 was the “earliest available City Commission meeting” when the public hearing could be scheduled.
Franklin also maintains that the site plan fails to meet one of the city’s Standards for Review, Section IV-506(7): “Whether the proposed development, design and layout has preserved the natural features and characteristics of the land; including but not limited to the regard given to existing large trees (emphasis added), natural groves, watercourses, and similar natural features that would add attractiveness to the property and environs if they were preserved, natural drainage systems, natural buffering, and the use of other techniques for the preservation and enhancement of the physical environment.”
Then Franklin pointed out that Section VII-309 of the Zoning Code “states that canopy trees enhance the overall appearance of the City of Sarasota, improve air quality, conserve water, increase property value, and help provide shade. This is why the city of Sarasota set a level of service target for canopy coverage target [of] 40%.”
She added, “The city’s efforts to protect and replenish that canopy are appreciated. But construction and hurricanes are taking us in the wrong direction. Per the May 2024 [city] urban forest report, the city’s canopy coverage before [Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck] was 31%, with most downtown zones in the teens. Post-hurricanes, the city is facing a canopy crisis, and creating more heat islands is the last thing Sarasota needs after the region just had its first [100-degree-plus] day.”
Further, Franklin cited findings that the director of the city’s Development Services Department must make in approving the removal of Grand Trees. She asserted that none of them had been met:
During the Aug. 7 Planning Board hearing, Webster, the city’s acting development review chief planner, reported that seven of the 12 Grand Trees in the Phase 2 site plan “are in poor condition …” Two that are in good condition, she added, met the criteria of Zoning Code Section VII-310(c)(2) for removal.
The city staff report for the hearing said 241 trees were on the site at the time the required tree survey was prepared, and 102 of those were proposed for removal. Of the latter, the report continued, 79 “are located in the ‘display area’ and are exempt from the requirements of Division 3.1 — Tree Protection pursuant to [Section] VII-318(4). Of the remaining 23 trees proposed to be removed,” the report continued, “3 trees were determined to be in poor condition and do not require mitigation, and the remaining 20 trees require mitigation.”
The Planning Board discussion
During the Aug. 7 Planning Board meeting, a member of the Selby Gardens project team — Chris Cianfaglione, a certified arborist and vice president of the Kimley-Horn consulting firm in Sarasota — stressed that care was taken with the positioning of the proposed facets of the Phase 2 plans, in an effort “to preserve and protect the best trees on site.”
He told the four Planning Board members present, “Selby is a botanical gardens. They care about trees.”
“We identified large densities of poor-health trees to maximize preservation of perimeter healthy trees,” Cianfaglione continued. The trees that will be saved, he said, will benefit from preservation tactics. “At the end of the day, this is a very thoughtful process.”
Cianfaglione showed the Planning Board members graphics to illustrate factors that were part of the project team’s considerations. He also presented various options that the project team created as work proceeded on Phase 2, explaining facets of each that resulted in the choice the team made.
Ultimately, he said, the site plan was shifted to protect a healthier Grand Tree, while removal of a second Grand Tree will be necessary. The latter, No. 161 in the application materials, Cianfaglione noted, was found through testing to have decay “about 13 inches right in [its] dead center …”
The former city senior arborist and an independent arborist hired by Selby Gardens found that No. 161 “is not a healthy tree,” he added, and, therefore, would not be a good candidate for saving.
“Selby’s all about doing the right thing,” he pointed out.
Nearly 200 trees and palms will be planted as part of Phase 2, Cianfaglione told the Planning Board members.
City of Sarasota Development Services General Manager Alison Christie explained to the board members that she believes that Donald Ullom, the prior senior city arborist, had discussed the alternative designs for Phase 2 at length with the project team, “so he signed off [on the final plan].”
The focal point of Phase 2 is a new conservatory, which will be able to publicly showcase 95% of Selby’s plant collections, instead of the 5% on view, Cianfaglione emphasized. The structure will be created with modular, fixed metal and class buildings. With that type of architecture, Cianfaglione continued, it is difficult to adjust construction lines.
The city staff report on Phase 2 said, “The proposed project protects as many existing trees as possible while accommodating the unique and modular construction typology of a botanical garden conservatory. Natural groves of trees along watercourses have also been preserved.”
Cianfaglione told the Planning Board members that about 2,000 linear feet of mangroves exist on Selby Gardens’ waterfront.
Altogether, he said, 42% of the Gardens will have canopy trees.
The narrative accompanying the application noted that Phase 2 comprises approximately 4 acres “and includes 24,875 square feet of existing gardens, 29,000 square feet of new gardens, a 2,760 square foot Learning Pavilion, and a 32,605 square foot Conservatory Complex with 9,000 square feet of exterior nursery space.”
Cianfaglione further reported that former city senior arborist Ullom had walked the site with project team members to look at each of the trees proposed for removal.
Planning Board member Dan Clermont did ask the new city senior arborist, Jackie Hartley, whether the project team would have a hard time saving Grand Tree No. 161 during construction of Phase 2.
“Yes,” Hartley replied. “It’s going to be too close to the building, as was stated earlier.”
She was referencing comments that Cianfaglione had made about how trimming the tree to accommodate the building that would be next to it would make the tree unstable.
Moreover, Hartley continued, she had done “a very quick assessment of the trees” the prior day and had found that three of them in the same area as No. 161 “are leaning due to the past storms,” and their structure was not good before the storms.
“We don’t like to see Grand Trees go down,” Clermont told her, “and there’s a lot of trees going down.”
Hartley told him that during her Aug. 6 visit to the Gardens, she had concentrated on the trees that were not exempt from city regulatory protections. Two of them in a parking lot had been classified as being in good shape, but she said she would consider them to be in only moderate condition. Their existence in that parking lot, Hartley noted, had affected their health.
One member of the public who testified during the hearing — Jennifer Shafer of Shafer Consulting in Sarasota, who told the board that she is an environmental scientist — pointed out that, between the existing trees that will be kept on the site and the new ones that will be planted, Selby Gardens will have “nearly 6 acres of tree canopy coverage,” which represents about 42% of the Gardens’ total property in downtown Sarasota. She added that 67 canopy trees are scheduled for planting as part of Phase 2.
Jon Thaxton, director of policy and advocacy for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, which is based in Venice, also addressed the Planning Board.
While he acknowledged that he is upset about the pending loss of oaks, Thaxton noted that the “full implementation of Selby’s [Master Plan]” will achieve the creation of “one of the greenest, privately held sites in all of downtown Sarasota, something we all can be proud of …”
During remarks prior to the vote that day, Planning Board member Clermont said, “Yes, we do lose some trees … But the net gain that we get from it in the canopy more than accounts for that.”