Project will be handled under ‘Yes in God’s Back Yard’ provisions of state affordable housing law
With a unanimous vote this week, the Sarasota County commissioners approved a proposed settlement with one of the multiple sets of Live Local Act project applicants that have filed lawsuits against the county.
As a result of the decision, Yeshua’s Love Biblical Fellowship of Sarasota, Florida Inc. and Curco Land Holdings LLC will move directly to what is called the “site development” process, County Attorney Joshua Moye explained during the commission’s regular meeting on Oct. 6, which was held in Venice.
Attorney Robert C. Benedict of Englewood is the registered agent of Curco, the Florida Division of Corporations says.
Officially, Moye said on Oct. 6, the lawsuit will be placed on hold as the developer completes the steps necessary to comply with the county standards for construction in Residential Multi-Family-3 zoning districts, including obtaining county permits.
“Approval of the Settlement Agreement would not constitute a rezoning of the Property,” as noted in the memo that the Office of the County Attorney provided in the board’s Oct. 6 agenda packet.
Site development includes land clearing and grading, along with the installation of infrastructure — such as water and sewer lines — and any required measures to comply with stormwater regulations that a community will need, unless those already are in place.
Thus, Moye pointed out, the commissioners would not be expected to have another opportunity to address the proposal, given their vote that day.
The property slated for the Yeshua’s/Curco initiative stands at 8893 Fruitville Road, in Sarasota County Commission District 1, which is Commissioner Teresa Mast’s territory.
In September, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll had refused to dismiss the Yeshua’s/Curco case, as the county had requested. Instead, he agreed that the arguments made by the applicants’ attorney and those made by the Office of the County Attorney should be heard during a trial.
During their regular meeting on Aug. 25, the commissioners directed Moye and his staff to pursue further negotiations after Yeshua’s/Curco representatives offered a settlement proposal to the county. That entailed the construction of a Live Local Act affordable housing development under the state law’s provision for religious organizations, referred to as “Yes in God’s Backyard,” or “YIGBY,” for short.
The proposal that the commissioners accepted on Oct. 6 calls for the construction of 306 multi-family residential units, representing a density of 13 units per acre or less, with a maximum height of 35 feet, as noted in the memo from the Office of the County Attorney.
All of the households will be priced at 80% of the Area Median Income of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for at least 30 years, the proposal added.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sets each MSA’s Area Median Income on an annual basis. The following part of those figures for the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota MSA for this year:
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, the memo that the Office of the County Attorney provided the commissioners in their Aug. 25 agenda packet explained that the Yeshua’s/Curco proposal “may … be eligible for consideration under subsection (6)” of the Live Local Act.
That memo emphasized part of the language in the law’s subsection: “[T]he board of county commissioners may approve the development of housing that is affordable as defined in [Florida Statute 420.0004], including, but not limited to, a mixed-use residential development on any parcel zoned for commercial or industrial use, or any parcel including any contiguous parcel connected thereto, which is owned by a religious institution as defined in [Florida Statue 120.201(2) which contains a house of public worship regardless of underlying zoning, so long as at least 10 percent of the units included in the project are for housing that is affordable.”
The Fruitville Road issues
Commissioner Tom Knight, who was the first board member this week to express a willingness to approve the revised settlement, called the number of affordable units “huge for our county.”
He was ready to make a motion, but Commissioner Mast indicated a desire to first ask County Attorney Moye a question.
She pointed out, “This [development would be] literally in my backyard, no pun intended, so I’m very familiar with this area.” Then Mast noted the increasing concerns of East County residents about extra traffic being added to Fruitville Road, whose widening from two lanes to four from Lorraine Road to Verna Road has no funding and, thus, no timeline.
In contrast, the widening of Fruitville from Debrecen Road to Lorraine Road — a distance of 1.4 miles — is on what county Transportation Department Director Spencer Anderson calls the “Seven Connect” list of top board road priorities. That project potentially could get underway in the spring of 2027, as Anderson wrote in an update to the commissioners that was dated Aug. 17. The necessary right of way acquisition was underway, Anderson noted.
“It’s just very important,” Mast stressed on Oct. 6, “that we really get this road widened and … in such a fashion that it makes sense.”
Then she explained that a number of egress points for communities on the south side of Fruitville Road allow right-turns only, with drivers having to find ways to make a 180-degree circuit if they are planning to head west.
Mast added that she understands roundabout construction has been suggested at some of those sites in the future. Even so, she characterized the situation for westbound drivers as “absolutely maddening.”
Then she asked whether the additional negotiations the board members called for in late August had included any discussion of constraints on Fruitville Road.
Moye explained that Assistant County Attorney Stephen Shaw represented the county in the negotiations. Shaw came to the podium so Mast could pose her question to him.
The Fruitville Road issues were not part of the negotiations, Shaw told Mast. However, he explained, when the county’s Development Review Committee members reviewed the Yeshua’s/Curco application, they did talk about the Fruitville Road problems.
(Those members represent county departments and divisions that deal with land-use issues.)
Shaw added of the Yeshua’s/Curco representatives, “They’re still required to be compliant” with the county’s land-use and zoning regulations, as well as the Comprehensive Plan — which guides growth in the community — as part of the site development process.
“It’s really, really important,” Mast told him, that the Fruitville Road issues be a major focus for staff during that site development engagement with county staff.
“I hear Commissioner Mast clearly,” Commissioner Knight said. Then he went ahead and made his motion for approval of the settlement, with the stipulation that the Fruitville Road concerns be highlighted.
Commissioner Mark Smith seconded the motion, and it passed 5-0.
“We’ll see where that goes,” Chair Ron Cutsinger told his colleagues.