Commissioners,
As in my July 23 email to the Planning Commission (which I copied to you), this is to urge that at your meeting Tuesday [September 22] you vote against transmitting to the state a Comprehensive Plan amendment to delete the requirement of affordable housing as a trade-off for the incentives of the Sarasota 2050 Plan.
The claim that this is required by state law is flatly false. The law allows a requirement for affordable housing in exchange for voluntary incentives which fully compensate the developer for the lost profit. It is beyond question that the Sarasota 2050 Plan does that.
The amendments would repeal the current requirement that in order to receive the incentive under the Sarasota 2050 Plan to build at urban densities and commercial uses rather than rural densities, not less than 15% of the units must be affordable housing, that is sold to families at under 100% of Area Median Income (with 2/3 of those homes at 80% AMI).
Instead, a developer would be allowed to build at up to 5 dwelling units per acre in the developed area with no affordable housing. All that would be left is the current “incentive” that a developer could go up to 6 dwelling units per developed area acre if the extra units are affordable housing.
Given the densities that developers have been building in Sarasota 2050 developments, the 5 units per acre will not be exceeded and developers will have no desire to get the 6th by affordable housing. So, goodbye affordable housing in Sarasota 2050 developments if this is adopted.
The affordable housing standard would be further weakened in the UDC because this amendment provides that while 2/3 of the homes must be for families with 80% of AMI, half of the remainder would be for 100% AMI and half of the remainder would be for 120% AMI. This would unlawfully conflict with VOS Policy 1.4 in the Comprehensive Plan, which provides a goal that at least 15% of the housing will be available “for families with incomes below the median family income for Sarasota County.”
These changes are based on a complete misunderstanding or mischaracterization of new state legislation as applied to the current affordable housing requirements of the Sarasota 2050 Plan.
Section 125.0155, Florida Statutes now bans a requirement for affordable housing, sometimes known as “inclusionary zoning.” Instead, it allows a local government to seek affordable housing by “incentives.” Paragraph (2)(a) of the statute provides that the incentive may be “allowing the developer density or intensity bonus incentives or more floor space than allowed under the current or proposed future land use designations.” [Paragraph (2)(c) broadly includes “granting other incentives.”]
Sarasota County is already complying with this requirement today. The entire Sarasota 2050 Plan is a voluntary incentive which grants developers increased urban densities and commercial (“more floor space”) uses on land which is otherwise limited to rural densities, if the developer complies with various requirements in return. One of those requirements is that 15% of the housing be for persons below the Area Median Income. The incentive has been enhanced since adoption by exempting affordable housing from Greenway density transfer requirements and any fiscal neutrality requirements (although those measures have not been enforced and are proposed to be weakened as well, such as by including the 120% AMI standard).
Well said Dan. The developers have convinced the BCC that incentives in the 2050 Plan are their rights now - even after all the public benefits of opens space, environmental preservation, fiscal neutrality and, now, affordable housing have been eviscerated. The 2050 Plan is a hollow promise to the public that now is just a gravy train for developers.
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