Does anyone at your business have insight into the height restrictions on Dearborn Street? I have been talking with some folks that live in the area and everyone is anxious to see some new buildings go up, but we have heard that the height restrictions may be a cause of the delay. Can you elaborate?

Thanks
Amy T.

As a planning consultant, and Charter Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, I have been involved with this topic for over a year. The CRA hired a consultant (they snubbed us) from Vermont to advise the County on the future of Dearborn Street. Our firm has had ambitious plans for Dearborn, and it did not please some vocal members of the CRA. We always would get words of encouragement, however, after meetings.

I have been very dismayed by the plans for Dearborn that are being suggested, and it ties to your question about building height. I question what quality of planner is influencing the future of Englewood and Dearborn Street. One of the classic books any planner should be familiar with is Kevin Lynch's "Image of a City". His thesis runs contrary to our local planners, and that is the problem. The local planners are fixated on the limitation of 35 feet, like it has some universal meaning. It may be that they are influenced by members of the community that are opposed to growth of any kind(they are numerous)and use of a 3-story limit is their way of a appeasing them.

Lynch points out that it is important to allow some buildings in a city to have a prominent height, particularly at major street intersections, because it gives people a sense of where they are in relation to other parts of the city. Everyone who has every settled into new urban area experiences this. It is what he terms "your image of the city".

The local planners also seem to oppose the urban growth of the the City of Sarasota, which really surprises me. Sarasota is becoming a "world-class destination". Can anyone explain to me why that is a problem? When I raised this notion to the head of Englewood's CRA she stormed out of our office.

Our view of the future of Englewood, and the heart of this little resort city, Dearborn Street, is that we should plan with an open mind. One of the processes that I developed while in graduate school was a consensus-building strategy which sorts through opposing opinions on controversial subjects, ie. the future growth of Englewood. The CRA never allowed us our chance to do this, so what the County got for it's $150,000 planning study is a meaningless diatribe that leads to little or no progress in the future. Florida will always grow, and our part of Florida will see special pressure because we have a lot of prime land near one of the prettiest coastlines in the world. We need to educate our planners that it is not a choice of the Miami Beach look or Key West. Ugly urban should be discouraged, but intelligently-planned urban, including high-rises, where appropriate, should be considered.

Post edited by: dsepulski, at: 2007/05/31 20:28

Post edited by: dsepulski, at: 2007/05/31 20:28

Thank you for your response. You sound very experienced and a wealth of knowledge.

I do agree that we should plan things with an open mind. I am from the northeast and used to seeing tall buildings among small ones. Florida in general seems to like flat building. Sarasota County's height restrictions seem fine up in the Sarasota area itself. They have many nice tall condo buildings going up.

When do you feel we will see any new development starting on Dearborn Street?

thanks again!
Amy