Sarasota County Seeks Input On Unified Development Code

SARASOTA, FL – Government regulations – even the ones with the best intentions – have a way of being overly complicated for the average person to understand. Sarasota County is looking to do something about that with its Unified Development Code.

Sarasota County is seeking the public’s input as it creates a UDC that updates and brings together the land development and zoning regulations. The code will control the development of all properties in unincorporated Sarasota County. According to the county, the new code will be more user-friendly and allow residents to more easily find the rules that apply to a property.

Residents can attend any or all of the scheduled public meetings to learn more and provide comments:

• Thursday, April 6: Planning Commission, 6:30 p.m. or immediately following, 1660 Ringling Blvd., Commission Chamber, Sarasota
• Monday, April 10: Board of Zoning Appeals, 6 p.m. or immediately following, 1660 Ringling Blvd., Commission Chamber, Sarasota
• Wednesday, April 19: Development Service Advisory Committee, 2:30 p.m., 1001 Sarasota Center Blvd., Conference Room 2, Sarasota.

Also, residents can give comments immediately by visiting the UDC project web page at https://www.scgov.net/PDS/Pages/UDC.aspx or to learn more about the project and follow its progress.

County staff will be working with Calvin, Giordano & Associates to create the UDC. The project started this month and will last approximately 18 months.

Staff will review existing documents that pertain to current land development and zoning regulations. The goal is to consolidate language and identify inconsistencies or potentially obsolete provisions.

Upon the project’s completion, the proposed UDC will be presented to various groups, advisory committees and ultimately the Sarasota County Commission for consideration. The three-phase process includes research and discovery through July, community engagement workshops in September and October and formal review and adoption by mid-2018.

Residents also can provide comments by submitting the directly to the Planning and Development Services Department at planner@scgov.net.

For more information, call the Sarasota County Contact Center at (941) 861-5000.

Image via the Sarasota County Government Facebook page