Sarasota City Commission Regular Meeting - November 2, 2026

The Sarasota City Commission held its regular meeting on 2026-11-02, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and adjourning shortly after 4:08 p.m., with recesses from 10:15-10:30 a.m. and 12:21-1:30 p.m. Commissioners present were Mayor Debbie Trice, Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, and Commissioners Jen Ahearn-Koch, Liz Alpert, and Kyle Battie. The meeting included proclamations, citizen input, board reports, consent approvals, a legislative public hearing on the Transportation Chapter, and a quasi-judicial FLUEDRA appeal hearing on 1260 North Palm Residences.

Proclamations & Presentations

• The Commission proclaimed November 2026 as National Family Caregivers Month, citing 4.3 million family caregivers in Florida and 63 million Americans, who spend an average of over $7,200 per year out of pocket. Representatives from AARP, Senior Friendship Centers, Active Age, and Town Square accepted.
• The Commission proclaimed November 1-15, 2026 as Eat Local Week, presented by Sunshine Community Harvest for its 15th year, featuring 13 activities celebrating local food producers.

Citizens' Input (Morning Session)

• Henry Kahwaty, a St. Armands resident making his eighth appearance, urged the city to allow homeowners to build above the 8-foot base flood elevation plus 1 foot of freeboard (9 feet total) to improve storm resiliency, and submitted recommended daylight-plane language.
• Robert Moss, a city resident, opposed proposals in the 100-day administrative report to reduce public comment opportunities and to require all five commissioners to agree before placing items on an agenda, arguing this would silence minority and neighborhood concerns.
• Martin Hyde, a non-city resident, opposed the same administrative proposals, accused the city manager of importing "Chicago-style politics," and suggested items were being rushed before the November 3 election.
• Mike Hassett, a city resident, said he voted no on Amendment 3, favored a decentralized "citizen-farmer" model, and urged commissioners to say no to affluent requests so city resources could prioritize residents with greater needs.

Consent Calendar & Board Actions

• The Commission unanimously approved the minutes of the October 5, 2026 Regular City Commission Meeting.
• The Commission approved the minutes of the October 7, 2026 Special Joint Meeting with Longboat Key by a 4-1 vote, after adding the word "future" before "topics" on page 2.
• Cindy Emshoff, General Manager of Housing and Community Development, and Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) Chair Drayton Saunders presented the annual AHAC report. The committee met on May 22, July 22, and September 16, 2026. Recommendations included funding the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (Recommendation 12A), voluntary inclusionary zoning, increasing the density-bonus affordable set-aside from 11% to 15%, and more flexibility on setbacks. Planning staff noted the ALICE report found one in two Sarasota residents could not meet a survival budget, and that more than 1,000 attainable housing units were in the private-sector pipeline.
• The Commission unanimously authorized staff to submit the annual report to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation and to consider the AHAC Local Housing Incentive Strategy Recommendations.
• Consent Agenda No. 1 (minus pulled item 6.3) was approved unanimously, including three-year collective bargaining agreements with I.U.P.A. Local #6045 (officers, sergeants, crime scene investigators) and Local #6043 (police lieutenants). Item 6.3 was then approved unanimously after discussion.
• Consent Agenda No. 2 was adopted unanimously, including a supplemental budget appropriation of $31,075 for an overtime-work grant (listed on the agenda as Resolution 27R-3437; read aloud in the minutes as 27R-3430) and a supplemental appropriation of $9,275,050 in State Housing Initiatives Partnership funds for housing production and administrative costs (Resolution 27R-3438).

Legislative Public Hearing - Transportation Chapter (Item X.1)

• Staff presented Ordinance No. 26-5610, amending the Sarasota City Plan's Transportation Chapter and related Level of Service provisions to transition from Level of Service (LOS) to Volume-to-Capacity (V/C) Ratio standards, consistent with Sarasota in Motion, the Multimodal Connections Plan, and the Engineering Design Criteria Manual (EDCM). The process included 10 in-person events, an online survey, and state agency review.
• Public speakers Martin Hyde, Patrick McNamee, and Dan Lobeck (via Zoom) urged deferral. They argued the city was not required to act until 2029, that the change would reduce developer accountability for traffic, that the plan included road diets on 10th and 12th Streets, and that the vote was being rushed 24 hours before an election.
• Commissioner Ahearn-Koch raised concerns that a revised redline document dated October 30 had not been posted publicly before the hearing. The City Attorney and city staff said such updates could be added to the record and that second reading on November 16 would be a full advertised public hearing.
• The Commission unanimously approved an amendment changing "should" to "shall" in two affordable-housing coordination action strategies, after staff confirmed these were city actions not developer requirements under Senate Bill 180.
• The Commission then voted 4-1 to adopt amended Ordinance No. 26-5610 on first reading, with Commissioner Ahearn-Koch voting no. Final adoption was scheduled for November 16, 2026.

Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing - 1260 N. Palm Residences Appeal (Item XI.1)

• The Commission considered the FLUEDRA Mediated Settlement Agreement and Special Magistrate's final recommendation concerning the proposed 14-unit residential project at 1260 North Palm Avenue (also referred to as the Obsidian).
• The Commission voted 4-1 to accept late-filed letters from both attorneys into the record due to the compressed timetable.
• Applicant attorney Robert Lincoln and applicant Matt Kihnke argued the Special Magistrate correctly found the prior denial unreasonable and unfairly burdensome, that the requested adjustments were the minimum needed for any building over two stories, and that the city staff supported the approvals.
• Intervenor attorney Morgan Bentley, representing Bay Plaza, argued the project did not meet the code by definition, offered no mitigation, and was incompatible; he urged rejection of the Special Magistrate's recommendation.
• Thirteen members of the public spoke. Most, including Bay Plaza residents and downtown residents, urged denial, citing the building's height and scale, construction risks, trash pickup on Palm Avenue, retail frontage reductions, and the two prior 4-1 denials. One speaker, Jonathan Abrams, said rejecting the project would stall Sarasota's future and prevent progress.
• During commissioner questions, city planning staff testified that a two-story building under 10,000 square feet could potentially be built with no adjustments, while applicants' representatives disputed the economic viability of such a project.
• Commissioner Ahearn-Koch moved to reject the Special Magistrate's recommendation and uphold the denial of site plan 24-ASP-07 and adjustment 24-ADS-04. The motion passed 3-2, with Mayor Trice and Vice Mayor Ohlrich joining Commissioner Ahearn-Koch; Commissioners Alpert and Battie voted against the motion, citing concerns about potential litigation exposure.

Other Board Actions & Key Outcomes

• The Commission gave consensus direction to draft a letter to appropriate state/federal agencies supporting a no-wake zone at Ted Sperling Park.
• The Commission agreed by consensus to file an appeal as a placeholder in the code-enforcement case at 0 North Washington Boulevard, with a shade meeting to decide whether to continue pursuing the appeal.
• City staff reported that Hart's Landing was at 60% engineering design, was scheduled for Development Review Committee review on November 4, and was awaiting FEMA approval for the approximately $3.7 million project.
• The City Clerk reminded the public of ShredStock on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Van Wezel parking lot, and that a 5:30 p.m. statutory meeting would follow.