For Sarasota County to attract new businesses and to provide opportunities for local companies to expand, it needs more, and a wider variety of, land on which to build commercial structures.
And with continually rising property and construction costs, it needs to offer greater flexibility in both parcel size and building height within the Business Park (BP) zone district.
Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County President and CEO Erin Silk delivered that message to the County Commission on June 2 during a presentation of requested changes to the county’s Unified Development Code and Comprehensive Plan to expand opportunities for commercial development.
The BP zone district was created in April 2022, later refined in July 2022 by a new Business Park Corridor Resource Management Area that is linear, rather than geometric, in nature. That designation limited the BP Zone to areas along Fruitville Road, Bee Ridge Road, South River Road, and State Road 681, later expanded to include portions of Lorraine Road south of Clark Road…