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Madeira takes step toward downtown redevelopment
By WAYNE AYERS
Article published on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 |
MADEIRA BEACH – The city commission took the first step at a recent workshop session toward creating a plan that would guide development of the area surrounding Madeira Way.
The district is mainly commercial, but rumors have been circulating of possible condominium development on the Winn-Dixie property, among other hints of redevelopment.
The area in question stretches along Madeira Way and Municipal Drive from Gulf Boulevard to 150th Avenue.
City Manager Jill Silverboard told the commissioners at the March 7 session that a plan is needed for the area that would give potential developers a proactive guideline as to what the city would like to see happen “rather than have developers coming to us with their plan.”
The commission authorized community development director Paula Cohen to obtain cost estimates from consultant HNTB Inc. to develop a proposal that would include a vision for what is needed in the area consistent with what the current infrastructure (roads, water, sewers and more) will support.
Silverboard said that the city currently has $225,000 budgeted for physical capital improvements in the Madeira Way vicinity. A portion of the money would be used to conduct the study.
Cohen said later that the project would be an expansion of a current study under way with HNTB that is looking at traffic circulation, landscaping and parking needs in the Madeira Way area.
Silverboard hinted at the meeting that the city would like to see a diversity of development in the area, essentially nonresidential in character. She spoke of a resort hotel complex possibly becoming a part of a redevelopment plan to help keep the city’s tourism base intact. Improvements to public property in the area, such as a new city hall and library, also were mentioned.
Silverboard said that private developers would be called upon to participate in the public improvements in exchange for approval of their projects.
“We’re going to tell them, ‘Here’s how you’re going to do it and what you need to give back to the community,’” she said.
While Silverboard conceded that the cost of the proposed plan “seems like a lot of money for a piece of paper” she said, “I’d rather spend the money now and be better poised (for the redevelopment to come).”
The land use study was viewed favorably by City Attorney Michael Connolly, a Sarasota resident.
“It works to have a plan out there of what the commission envisions; otherwise the market takes over,” Connolly said.
Commissioner reaction to the plan creation was mixed, although a consensus was reached to move ahead with obtaining cost estimates.
Mayor Charles Parker questioned the expense of the study.
“We’re just a small community,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of money.”
The plan “sounds like a good idea,” Commissioner Arnold Alloway said, but he added that major hotel projects, a possible component of the plan, “tend to split the community.”
Commissioner John Wolbert said that proposing a plan for the area, in his view, “puts the cart before the horse.” Wolbert said that the developer usually comes in with a project that the commission then evaluates for approval.
Resident Steve Kochick said that a design plan would be beneficial to property values and to the future of the community.
“People will say ‘That’s beautiful, they made the right decision.’ The rest of the beaches can look at us and say ‘They did it the right way, let’s follow them,’ ” Kochick said.
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Article published on Wednesday, March 15, 2006
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