OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Sarasota City Commission Regular Meeting – August 3, 2026

City Commission — Monday, August 3, 2026
BodySarasota, Florida
SessionCity Commission
DateMonday, August 3, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 9:52:33
Transcript — Verbatim
27:17

Good morning.

27:19

Uh I'd like to call this meeting to order.

27:22

Welcome to the August third, twenty twenty-six regular city commission meeting.

27:29

And let's silence our cell phones.

27:33

Um first we will have the invocation by City Auditor and Clerk Griggs, followed by the Vice Mayor leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

27:43

Those who can stand, please stand.

27:50

Heavenly Father, we affirm our faith in thee.

27:52

We seek your divine strength, wisdom, and guidance in the deliberations that affect the lives of each of the citizens of our community.

27:58

In our name we pray, amen.

28:29

Move to approve the proposed agenda schedule.

28:32

Second.

28:49

Next up is got a presentation scheduled uh regarding the hurricane preparedness season, and I'm going to call upon Rachel Engel, our emergency manager to make the presentation.

29:45

I have worked at all levels of government.

29:47

I started out in the United States Air Force as an emergency manager and have worked my way down to all the way to state and local governments.

29:56

And so I bring years of experience with me.

30:00

And I also came here, my previous position was at FEMA in the state of Illinois.

30:07

So I bring a lot of that knowledge, skills, and abilities here to ensure the city of Sarasota succeeds.

30:17

For the 2026 season, we have done many, many things, and I say we, the city as a whole, because in order to be prepared, it takes more than just one person.

30:29

It takes everyone.

30:30

And so one of the things that we've done starting back in March is public outreach.

30:36

And so we go out into the communities and we do hurricane presentations on for HOAs and for other organizations, houses of worship, things like that, and give them that quick briefing on remember where we were in 2024 and how we got to where we are today, and remember to prepare your family.

31:03

And so take preparedness measures yourself and the actions that they need to take in order to withstand should we have a hurricane this season.

31:13

We've also developed the emergency operations center organization.

31:18

And so we've built out a formal organization here for the city that takes everyone in the city.

31:24

Everyone will have an emergency role where everybody plays a part, whether they are out in the field helping the community or they're within our emergency operations center, managing the response from that room.

31:40

And so that's our command center for everyone.

31:44

We've also developed some new leadership tools, such as what we call an H120 timeline.

31:49

And those are the actions that the city will take all the way out, starting at 120 hours prior to landfall.

31:55

And so all of the decisions that have to be made and the actions that have to be taken all the way down to H plus 24.

32:04

And so that's after 24 hours after landfall.

32:08

What are the things that we should be considering, decisions we should be making, and how we're taking care of our community?

32:14

That also includes how we're taking care of our employees.

32:18

Because we can't expect our employees to show up if we haven't enabled them to prepare their families and their homes.

32:26

Additionally, we've been conducting drills and workshops here at the city.

32:30

We had our first activation drill, and that was essentially you push the button, then everyone shows up.

32:38

And so folks came in, sat down, they saw the new operations center because it is now a completely open floor plan where it enables communication and collaboration across the room and across our response organization.

32:55

We have updated our continuity of operations plans across all of our departments.

33:00

I've sat down with every department and gone through and ensure that each department is also able to continue to run their essential functions during a disaster.

33:13

That also includes continuity of government.

33:15

So how do we continue to operate the business of the city during a disaster, regardless of whether it's a natural disaster or a human-caused disaster?

33:27

We've proactively built teams across the city.

33:30

So we have folks that are set up and identified that are on our damage assessment teams.

33:37

We have folks that are on our permitting teams, right?

33:40

With new Senate Bill 180 that requires us to have a permitting location open immediately and where folks can do it online and in person.

33:49

And so we've set up those teams.

35:00

And so these are the folks at the top.

35:03

We have within our organization, our agency administrator, which is our city manager, and our deputy city manager.

35:11

They serve in those roles.

35:13

Within the incident commander role, you have myself and our fleece chief, where we will I'll say swap roles so that any one person isn't always on the button.

35:26

So he and I work together and in every disaster, we'll be hand in hand.

35:33

We also have uh set up there our safety officer, planning and intelligence, so on and so forth, so that we make sure that everyone's informed whether they're working within logistics, which is how we get the things our folks need out in the field, and how we get them to them when they need them.

35:51

Um we have our police operations where that section is specifically focused on conducting all the response roles within the police department, and then we have our operations section that includes parks and recreation, public works, and utilities, as well as how we go out and do our neighborhood points of dispensing.

36:10

So how our distribution, distributing water and rations and things like that, things that we can support the community with right away.

36:25

Another slide there is an example of some of those timelines and activation schedules.

36:30

And so an entire schedule is built out throughout an operational period that says these are the meetings that we're going to have.

36:38

These are the ones that are whether they're conference calls or teams meetings that we have with the county, and others that are deliverables that we put out.

36:48

And so those are our situation reports.

36:50

Those look backwards and tell everyone this is what we've done in the last operational period, whether that's 24 hours or 48 hours.

36:59

Um the incident and our response dictate what that is.

37:03

And so we've produced those, and those also go to the county as well as yourselves.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Engagement█████████████████17%
Zoning And Land Use█████████████████17%
Transportation Safety█████████████████17%
Parking Management████████████████16%
Urban Planning█████████9%
Procedural████████8%
Public Meetings Law████4%
Natural Disaster Preparedness███3%
Affordable Housing██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Sarasota City Commission Regular Meeting – August 3, 2026

The Sarasota City Commission met on August 3, 2026, at 9:00 AM to discuss a range of topics including hurricane preparedness, street vacations, a major transportation chapter overhaul, and downtown parking changes. The meeting included public testimony, staff presentations, and multiple votes. Key actions included approval of the Osprey Court vacation, transmittal of the transportation chapter to the state, vacation of Aspinwall Street, a rezoning for the Clerk of Courts records facility, and a suspension of the recently enacted parking enforcement changes.

Consent Calendar

  • Comcast Easement (VI.1): Approved unanimously with an amendment requiring city arborist approval for any tree trimming related to the easement.
  • Traffic Concurrency Methodology Clarification (VII.1): Approved unanimously on second reading with an amendment to delete the phrase "per the City of Sarasota zoning code" from subsection 7A of Appendix A, to avoid excluding Live Local Act uses from the highest-use comparison.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • General Public Comments (morning):
    • John Harshman (city resident) urged the city to create an ordinance to force property owners to maintain blighted buildings, citing a deteriorating structure at Five Points.
    • Henry Kowani (St. Armands resident) updated the commission on zoning barriers to home elevation projects, noting that 11 jurisdictions along Florida's west coast have made zoning text amendments post-Hurricanes Helene and Milton to facilitate such projects.
    • Mary Signer (city resident) requested amendments to allow affordable and accessible senior living facilities in redeveloped strip malls, and criticized a new senior living project with a rooftop pool as unaffordable.
  • Public Comments on Parking (Item XII.1): Over 20 speakers, including downtown merchants, restaurateurs, and cultural venue representatives, urged the commission to suspend the recently extended paid parking hours and increased citation fees. They cited significant business declines (e.g., 40% drop at one retail store, 25% at a wellness business, a 25-year-old toy store closing) and stated that customers were deterred by the complexity and cost. Many requested a return to pre-June 2026 hours and free parking on Sundays.

Discussion Items

  • Hurricane Preparedness 2026 Season (II.1): Emergency Manager Rachel Engel presented updates including a new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) layout, a disaster debris management plan, and enhanced coordination with FPL and contractors. Commissioner Ahearn-Koch raised concerns about tree trimming language in utility easements and the stress on the Public Information Officer during emergencies. The presentation was informational and no action was taken.
  • Osprey Court Right-of-Way Vacation (IX.1): The applicant, PFI 721 Development LLC, sought to vacate a 4,145.4 sq. ft. alley to combine two parcels for a redevelopment project. Mayor Trice proposed a proffer limiting building coverage to the original lot size (27,809 sq. ft.) to preserve light and air. The applicant argued that the project already provides 3,600 sq. ft. of setbacks and stepbacks. Vice Mayor Ohlrich suggested extending the term of attainable housing units from 30 years to the life of the building. After discussion, the commission approved the vacation 4-1 with an amendment to require the affordable units for "not less than 30 years" (later amended to "life of the building" if agreed by the applicant). Commissioner Alpert opposed, citing procedural concerns about late changes.
  • Transportation Chapter Transmittal (X.1): Staff presented a comprehensive update to the Transportation Chapter, including a shift from Level of Service (LOS) letter grades to Volume-to-Capacity (V/C) ratios. Public testimony criticized the process as rushed, noted lack of community engagement, and feared it would increase gridlock. The Longboat Key commissioner requested a delay. After debate, the commission voted 3-2 to transmit the amendment to the state for review (Commissioners Ahearn-Koch and Trice dissenting). The motion included an amendment to add "parking impact fees" as an item to be studied, and a separate unanimous vote to include the Planning Board's recommendations on heat resiliency, developer accountability, safety, and zoning implementation analysis.
  • Aspinwall Street Vacation (X.2): The applicant, Swift Family Limited Partnership, sought to vacate a 2,904 sq. ft. section of Aspinwall Street to allow a single-story Clerk of Courts records facility. The commission approved the vacation unanimously on first reading, subject to conditions including a 20-foot public access easement on the north side of the property, a 10-foot by 250-foot easement on the east side (Mango Avenue), and a reverter clause if the building permit is not pulled within a specified timeframe.
  • Rezone of 401 Mango Avenue (XI.1): The commission unanimously approved the rezoning of the property from Industrial Light Warehousing (ILW) to Downtown Edge (DTE) to facilitate the records facility, subject to proffers limiting total development to 27,000 sq. ft. and office space to 3,500 sq. ft.
  • Extended Hours of Paid Parking and Citation Fee Increases (XII.1): After extensive public testimony, the commission voted unanimously to suspend enforcement of the changes made by Ordinance 26-5590 (extended hours for paid and timed parking, and Sunday enforcement), pending a town hall and workshop. However, the increased citation fine structure was retained (3-2 vote). The suspension returns enforcement to pre-June 2026 hours (paid parking until 8 PM, free timed parking until 8 PM, no Sunday enforcement) while the city gathers data and develops a long-term solution.

Key Outcomes

  • Comcast Easement: Approved with arborist review language.
  • Traffic Concurrency ZTA: Approved with amendment removing "per the City of Sarasota zoning code."
  • Osprey Court Vacation: Approved 4-1 on second reading, with affordable housing term set to "not less than 30 years" (applicant to consider life of building).
  • Transportation Chapter Transmittal: Approved 3-2 to send to state review; includes a study of parking impact fees.
  • Aspinwall Street Vacation: Approved unanimously on first reading with additional easements and reverter clause.
  • 401 Mango Avenue Rezone: Approved unanimously.
  • Parking Changes Suspended: Suspension of extended hours and Sunday enforcement effective immediately; citation fines remain at increased levels. The commission will hold a town hall and workshop before a final decision.

Meeting Statistics: Total time: approximately 8 hours (9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a lunch break). Votes: 5 unanimous, 2 split (4-1 and 3-2). Public speakers: over 30. Revenue collected from extended hours (3 weeks): $62,078; Sunday collections: $23,064; citations: $20,270.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. Uh I'd like to call this meeting to order. Welcome to the August third, twenty twenty-six regular city commission meeting. And let's silence our cell phones. Um first we will have the invocation by City Auditor and Clerk Griggs, followed by the Vice Mayor leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Those who can stand, please stand. Heavenly Father, we affirm our faith in thee. We seek your divine strength, wisdom, and guidance in the deliberations that affect the lives of each of the citizens of our community. In our name we pray, amen. Move to approve the proposed agenda schedule. Second. Next up is got a presentation scheduled uh regarding the hurricane preparedness season, and I'm going to call upon Rachel Engel, our emergency manager to make the presentation. I have worked at all levels of government. I started out in the United States Air Force as an emergency manager and have worked my way down to all the way to state and local governments. And so I bring years of experience with me. And I also came here, my previous position was at FEMA in the state of Illinois. So I bring a lot of that knowledge, skills, and abilities here to ensure the city of Sarasota succeeds. For the 2026 season, we have done many, many things, and I say we, the city as a whole, because in order to be prepared, it takes more than just one person. It takes everyone. And so one of the things that we've done starting back in March is public outreach. And so we go out into the communities and we do hurricane presentations on for HOAs and for other organizations, houses of worship, things like that, and give them that quick briefing on remember where we were in 2024 and how we got to where we are today, and remember to prepare your family. And so take preparedness measures yourself and the actions that they need to take in order to withstand should we have a hurricane this season. We've also developed the emergency operations center organization. And so we've built out a formal organization here for the city that takes everyone in the city. Everyone will have an emergency role where everybody plays a part, whether they are out in the field helping the community or they're within our emergency operations center, managing the response from that room. And so that's our command center for everyone. We've also developed some new leadership tools, such as what we call an H120 timeline. And those are the actions that the city will take all the way out, starting at 120 hours prior to landfall. And so all of the decisions that have to be made and the actions that have to be taken all the way down to H plus 24. And so that's after 24 hours after landfall. What are the things that we should be considering, decisions we should be making, and how we're taking care of our community? That also includes how we're taking care of our employees. Because we can't expect our employees to show up if we haven't enabled them to prepare their families and their homes. Additionally, we've been conducting drills and workshops here at the city. We had our first activation drill, and that was essentially you push the button, then everyone shows up. And so folks came in, sat down, they saw the new operations center because it is now a completely open floor plan where it enables communication and collaboration across the room and across our response organization. We have updated our continuity of operations plans across all of our departments. I've sat down with every department and gone through and ensure that each department is also able to continue to run their essential functions during a disaster. That also includes continuity of government. So how do we continue to operate the business of the city during a disaster, regardless of whether it's a natural disaster or a human-caused disaster? We've proactively built teams across the city. So we have folks that are set up and identified that are on our damage assessment teams. We have folks that are on our permitting teams, right? With new Senate Bill 180 that requires us to have a permitting location open immediately and where folks can do it online and in person. And so we've set up those teams. And so these are the folks at the top. We have within our organization, our agency administrator, which is our city manager, and our deputy city manager. They serve in those roles. Within the incident commander role, you have myself and our fleece chief, where we will I'll say swap roles so that any one person isn't always on the button. So he and I work together and in every disaster, we'll be hand in hand.

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