64-apartment complex near East Venice Ave. fire station set for workshop by developer

East Venice Avenue area residents can learn about a proposal to build a 64-unit apartment complex on five acres between the site for a new Sarasota County fire station and Unity Church in an online workshop Tuesday evening.

The development, dubbed DiPiazza Village, would spread the housing units among three structures – a three-story building on the north portion of the property north of East Venice Avenue with 10 units on each floor, and two two-story buildings with 17 units each.

The complex will also include a central clubhouse and pool.

“This is a property that’s sandwiched between a new fire station immediately to the west, it’s got an industrial plant directly across the street that’s all major employment center, it’s got two non-residential land uses to the north and to the east – two churches – so in my opinion it’s an appropriate location for a higher-density land use, being along an arterial roadway,” said Brian Lichterman, owner of Vision Planning & Design.

Lichterman said the plan calls for market-rate apartments but the development could eventually morph into condominiums.

The parcel is owned by Gautier Fabrication, which is operated by Nokomis residents Michael Gautier and Kevin Gautier. The plan is for the owner to partner with another entity to develop the project.

The developers are asking for a growth plan change for the land from low density residential to office/multifamily residential, and a zoning change from one home per five acres to an allowance for 13 homes per acre.

When is the neighborhood workshop?

The Zoom Neighborhood Workshop is set for 6 p.m. April 30 at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/9336201982?pwd=VHA0dFZ3dVRmNS91UUJQeUlqemdLUT09&omn=88590392041.

The meeting ID is 933 620 1982, the password is 123456 and the call-in number is 1-646-876-9923.

Neighborhood workshops are meetings where a landowner – typically a developer – presents a plan for a development project to the public. Developers are required to hold them before bringing a project before the Planning Commission and the County Commission.

Sarasota County has the proposed widening of East Venice Avenue from two to four lanes in its 20-year capital improvement plan.

What else is planned for East Venice Avenue?

In addition to being located next door to a future fire station, Lichterman noted that it is across East Venice Avenue from more than 80 acres of land currently carrying industrial light warehouse zoning that is considered a future major employment center.

Much of that is under the control of Hughey Construction Services.

The two closest subdivisions are Caribbean Village on the northwest corner of River Road and East Venice Avenue and Stonewalk Preserve south of East Venice Avenue, between Lee and Keystone roads.

Just east of Stonewalk, one developer is planning 565-home residential development that would wrap around the North River Marketplace development, which would feature both 285 multi-family homes and a 57-acre commercial development that would include a supermarket and self-storage.

West of the fire proposed complex, on the  southwest corner of East Venice Avenue and Havana Road, the Loveland Center is building the “Senator Nancy C. Detert Home of Your Own” inclusive housing community.

That includes an 83-unit apartment complex that can be rented by individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities or seniors age 65 and older who live on no more than 65% of the annual median income for Sarasota County.

Farther west on East Venice Avenue more than 900 homes are envisioned by two developers, including owners of a 50-plus acre site once eyed as a hospital location until Community Health Systems Inc. closed its medical operations in Venice.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Workshop to cover 64-apartment complex in south Sarasota County