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Green Makes Some See Red As Sarasota Shapes City

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By ROGER DROUIN, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: January 7, 2008

Updated: 01/06/2008 10:11 pm

SARASOTA - The next big skirmish over what downtown should look like has started, with a partially written city policy about green space and a surge of more than 50 impassioned e-mails to city hall.

Residents have debated, on several different fronts, the future of downtown for the past three years, and it is clear they are far from finished.

This time, the stakes are higher, the outcome more uncertain.

On one side are the keep-downtown-green folks, including the Save Our Sarasota activist group and condominium residents who fear that if they do nothing, Sarasota will end up looking like Fort Lauderdale.

On the other side are the merchants and landowners who thought this debate ended when the city adopted its downtown master plan by Andres Duany - who said too much greenery downtown can be "chaotic," getting in the way of sidewalk cafes, hiding storefronts and interfering with people who want to mingle. They already have sparred several times, over the removal of olive trees from Main Street, the wisdom of allowing arcade-style sidewalk overhangs and the necessity of tearing up grass to make more parking.

Proposals Soon To Be Unveiled

And Ernie Ritz, head of the Downtown Sarasota Merchants Alliance, is losing patience.

"They are trying to make downtown look like a suburban park. And they won't be able to do that, if I have any say in the matter," Ritz said.

"What I would suggest to them is they should move to Lakewood Ranch if they don't like downtown."

John Burg, senior planner with the city, is in the process of drafting a range of options to present during public workshops beginning Jan. 15.

The possibilities range from simple changes in how the city fills sidewalk planters to a more drastic shift of downtown priorities that were set several years ago, giving environmental concerns a bigger role in any upcoming development.

Those pushing for a green space plan say trees, shrubs, flowers and grass are more than mere amenities. The plants reduce temperatures and stormwater runoff when compared to an area with just vast blocks of asphalt and buildings.

But the author of downtown's master plan sees an abundance of green as an obstacle to good urban planning.

"The question is, what is the appropriate design for certain areas downtown?" Burg said. "I think when the dust settles, the whole ordeal will turn into a balance of both interests."

In his master plan approved by the city in 2005, Duany criticized what he described as a hodgepodge of "excessive" landscaping on lower Main Street.

Residents Question Duany Plan

A group of residents began to question this section of the master plan three months ago when the city attempted to replace two strips of grass and several trees along Gulf Stream Avenue with parking.

In opposition to the parking project, downtown condominium residents united with the grass-roots group Save Our Sarasota.

In October, the two groups convinced city commissioners to have city planners draft policies aimed at promoting more trees and bushes than concrete in downtown. John Moran, president of the Downtown Condominium Association, says the two sides of Main Street exemplify what residents want. West of Orange Avenue, there are more trees and shrubs.

A recently revamped stretch of Lemon Avenue north of Main Street is the opposite.

Instead of a sparse row of dwarf columnar or "condo oak" trees, which are genetically engineered to grow a small, narrow canopy, Moran would rather see wider trees, such as olive trees.

"All you see is those sticks in tree wells," Moran said. "There is no shade. They aren't attractive. No one wants to see any more of upper Main Street."

Ritz said this push for green could result in yet another regulation hurdle for developers of projects, such as the proposed retail and condo Pineapple Square project.

"We don't need SOS to tell us where to plant a tree," he said.

He plans to fight the policy when the city's planning staff holds a series of public workshops on the issue.

For Denise Kowal, president of the Burns Square Property Owners' Association, the priority should be placed on plazas and other public spaces, and not trees and large areas of flowers or bushes.

Kowal joins other merchants who say green roofs and vine-covered buildings are an alternative to rows of trees.

Kowal, the only candidate for city commission last year who had Duany's endorsement, rattled off a list of European plazas, including the Piazza di Campidoglio in Rome and Plaza Mayor in Madrid.

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