Extra acreage would allow company to construct an extra 16 dwelling units within the mixed-use development
At 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 29, representatives of Benderson Development Co. will conduct a virtual Neighborhood Workshop on plans to add two new parcels to the site of the Siesta Promenade mixed-use development.
If it ultimately wins County Commission approval on those plans, the company would be able to add 16 dwelling units to its 414 total for apartments or condominiums within Siesta Promenade, the project application says.
Adding in the 130 rooms planned in a hotel on the site, Benderson formally has county approval to construct 479 residential dwellings. Each hotel or motel room without a kitchen counts as half a dwelling unit.
Thus, if the company succeeds with its rezoning proposal for the two extra parcels, the total number of dwelling units would rise to 495.
To register for the Neighborhood Workshop, click on this link. County documents indicate that Philip DiMaria, planning project manager for the Kimley-Horn consulting firm — which has worked with Benderson on Siesta Promenade — will host the workshop. The application materials for the event point out, “This is not a public hearing. The purpose of the live electronic/virtual workshop is to inform neighboring residents of [Siesta 41’s formal petitions for the inclusion of the new parcels in the project site], to solicit suggestions and concerns, and discuss the effects of these applications.”
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, Benderson purchased the two lots in August 2019, paying $825,000 for each of them. One is located at 6331 Glencoe Ave.; the other, at 6339 Glencoe Ave.
This year, the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office says the market value of the property located at 6331 Glencoe Ave. is $240,200. That parcel comprises 17,080 square feet, the property record notes.
The market value of the parcel located at 6339 Glencoe this year is $210,400, the Property Appraiser’s Office records show. That lot has a total of 17,084 square feet, the record notes.
Siesta Promenade, which is planned on approximately 24 acres in the northwest quadrant of U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road, won County Commission approval in December 2018 for residential dwellings in multiple buildings, plus the hotel, 133,000 square feet of commercial space and 7,000 square feet of office space. The development is to be constructed next to Pine Shores Estates, where the two single-family home lots are located.
The application filed with the county by Benderson Development affiliate Siesta 41 Associates LLP — the listed developer of Siesta Promenade — explains that the two parcels adjacent to the site of the mixed-use development total 0.87 acres. Siesta 41 is seeking to rezone them from Residential Multi-Family-1 to Commercial General, in accord with the zoning of the mixed-use development property.
The company filed its preliminary application with the county’s Planning and Development Services Department in June 2020. Todd Mathes, director of development for Benderson, is the person who handled that. He also was the primary Benderson representative who conducted public meetings on the Siesta Promenade plans as they went through multiple changes before the Dec. 12, 2018 County Commission hearing.
When the News Leader checked with county staff in early September 2020, Todd Dary, now the manager of the county’s Planning Services Division, reported, “The next step in the process prior to submitting an application for rezoning is a neighborhood workshop, which has not yet been scheduled. Residents within 750 [feet] of the site will be notified.”
The 750-foot radius is specified in county guidelines for such notifications.
After Benderson submitted its preliminary application, the county’s Development Review Coordination (DRC) group offered several comments on it that the company would need to address. (The DRC members represent all the county departments and divisions that are involved in land-use issues, including the Fire Department.)
Among the DRC notes in July 2020, a staff member wrote, “Landscaping must comply with CAP [Critical Area Plan] and binding development concept plan. A local street buffer will be required along Glencoe Avenue.”
The CAP refers to a county planning designation that Benderson sought for Siesta Promenade. The binding development concept plan showed the layout of all the buildings proposed in the mixed-use development, plus access points. Therefore, to add the extra parcels into the Siesta Promenade CAP, Benderson will need County Commission approval, just as it will for the rezoning.
The issue of the traffic light at Ave. B/C seems to have dropped off the radar. Has it been settled? Ignored? Is the project no longer subject to its approval? What is the status of Mr. Wallace’s appeal? Inquiring minds want to know 🙂