As of Aug. 16, staff had not responded to materials
After the acting chief planner with the City of Sarasota’s Development Services Department sought more detailed information from the project team about the plans for garbage and recycling collections at the proposed condominium complex called the 1260 N. Palm Residences, he received it on July 25, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
The latest update on Sarasota development projects under review, which the city’s director of Development Services, Lucia Panica, emails each week to City Manager Marlon Brown, indicated no staff action thus far in response to that new material. The report was dated Aug. 16.
Acting city Chief Planner Noah Fossick was the person who had requested extra information regarding the plans for the refuse, city documents show.
At 327 feet in height, the 18-story condominium tower with 14 units would spread across seven parcels on North Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota that serve as “small commercial spaces,” as the project team’s February application notes. The building would be the city’s tallest.
The original application, which staff dealt with in 2023, put the height at 342 feet.
Informally, the development is called the Obsidian, as Realtors in the county have noted on their websites.
Its planned proximity to Bay Plaza has prompted numerous residents of the latter complex to protest the project over the past year, including during appearances before the Sarasota City Commission.
As the News Leader reported last month, Joel Freedman, whose eponymous firm — Freedman Consulting & Development — is located in Sarasota, provided details about the refuse collections in a July 11 letter to acting Chief Planner Fossick.
However, on July 22, Fossick emailed Freedman, copying another member of the project team, architect George Scarfe of Hoyt Architects in Sarasota, asking for the following actions:
- 1. “Please provide an updated refuse circulation plan showing the route between the refuse storage area and refuse collection area, the location within the alley of the refuse collection area, and the appropriate number of refuse containers in the refuse collection area in the alley.
- “2. Please provide the anticipated days of the week for the refuse collection (twice per week). Please also update the narrative to reflect that the mixed refuse (residential and commercial bins) must be collected twice per week.
- “3. Please provide further information on the recycling collection process detailing the frequency of collection, location of the collection area, and the method of collection (i.e., the vehicle that will collect the recycling).”
In his July 24 response, consultant Freeman provided a graphic “showing the route from the refuse storage area in the building to the alley where collection by the City will occur.”
Next, Freedman continued, he was submitting “an updated Recycling Plan Form and calculations.”
The chart he referenced estimated that each of the 14 condominiums, when occupied, would generate 1.5 cubic yards of refuse a month. For the 6,124 square feet of office and retail uses, the calculation was 1 cubic yad per 10,000 square feet a month.
The chart also showed that 70% of both the condominium and commercial refuse each week is anticipated to comprise solid waste. Total refuse expected for the condos is 4.8 cubic yards a week; for the commercial spaces, 0.2 cubic yards a week.
Further, the chart noted, seven 95-gallon carts would be used for the solid waste, whereas four 65-gallon carts would be needed for recycling.
“Refuse will be picked up two times per week,” the document added, with four carts expected to be used one day and three carts on the second day.
The recycling materials will be collected by a private vendor, the chart pointed out. Another document included with the responses said that pickup of the recyclables from the four containers at the complex would take place once a week.
Further, the form said, each residence will be provided with instructions for recycling, as part of the overall condominium documents. “Periodic reminders will be published by the building staff,” the form noted.
Additionally, either each floor will have a room where residents can leave their recyclables “or valet trash service will be provided.”
Tenants of the commercial spaces will have to bring their recyclables to “the ground floor trash room,” the form said, where the recycling carts will be located.
As City Attorney Robert Fournier explained to the commissioners and the public in early July, the final decision on whether the plans for the 1260 N. Palm Residences comply with all of the applicable city policies and regulations will be left to the Development Services staff, with Director Panica having the responsibility for formal approval or denial.
However, circumstances could arise that would lead to the City Commission’s having the final determination on construction of the condominium tower, he said.
City Development Services staff to make decision on requested adjustments
In early July, consultant Freedman wrote that the project team had modified most of its requests for adjustments of the design since the second application was submitted to city staff in February. The original application was considered last year, with Panica denying one adjustment request and the city’s Planning Board ending up with a “No” vote on another adjustment that Panica had noted was under that board’s purview to deny or approve.
Instead of appealing that decision to the City Commission, Freedman wrote in the February application that that Planning Board action was the impetus for the developer to create “a much improved site plan and reduced adjustments.”
The developer is Michael Kihnke, president of MK Equity.
The adjustments detailed in the July 11 document are as follows, though Freedman noted the first one was unchanged from the February application:
- A 19.9% reduction in the façade coverage on the ground floor, parallel to North Palm Avenue, from 133.34 feet to 106.81. feet, to provide Florida Power & Light Co. transformer access and to allow for a driveway and utility access.
- An adjustment of 6.5% for habitable space on the ground floor, from 105.87 feet to 99.2 feet, “to provide pedestrian access to the parking garage directly from a frontage line,” as required by the City Code. That adjustment was up from 5.5%, which was cited in the February application.
- A 7.9% reduction in habitable space on the second floor, from 146.62 feet to 135 feet, “to provide a fire command center in a location approved by the Fire [Marshal].” This request, too, had changed. In the February application, the figure cited was 7.4% for the second floor, from 146.65 feet to 135.83 feet.
The July 11 document explained that those second-floor changes are necessary to comply with the Florida Building Code, which “requires that access by way of stairs be provided from a frontage street. Palm Avenue is the only street adjacent to the site,” the document pointed out. Nonetheless, the document said, “The proposed ground level meets the intent of the regulation by providing greater depth of retail/sales/office space on the ground level … The FBC [Florida Building Code],” it added, “takes precedence over the Zoning Code, so the Owner cannot be penalized for complying with the FBC.”
- A 9.3% adjustment in the retail, service or office frontage on the ground level, from 106.81 feet to 96.9 feet, “to accommodate required stairs to the second level and required garage entrance.”
The adjustment for the retail frontage alone is 20.5%, the document added. That is necessary to accommodate a “stair exit passageway” that will be 4 feet wide, it pointed out, in accord with the Florida Building Code. However, the July 11 document said, “It should also be noted that the retail on the ground floor has been dramatically increased from 640 [square feet] in the 2023 plan to a total of 6,124 [square feet in this plan].”