Benderson, Sarasota creating new traffic management group for UTC
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Traffic stinks along University Parkway, this much Benderson Development Company knows.
The University Park-based developer has proposed creating a private Transportation Management Association to oversee transit solutions for its millions of square feet of shopping spanning the road on both sides of the Manatee-Sarasota County line. This would be the first group of its kind in Sarasota and Manatee counties -- and Thursday night will be the first the public will hear about it.
The Sarasota County Planning Commission and the public will get its first look of the proposed group when the commission hears several requests by Benderson to expand its University Town Center. The commission meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in commission chambers at the Sarasota County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd. If approved for recommendation, the Sarasota County Commission is scheduled to
consider Benderson's plans on Jan. 27.
The transportation group is tied to a request by Benderson to build another 600,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 square feet of office space on the south side of Interstate 75 and University Parkway.
The time is right for Benderson, as all of its properties are maturing as Nathan Benderson Park gears up for rowing and other sporting events, according to a Benderson official. Transportation Demand Management plans are often required for large-scale developments, but local governments have no way to support the traffic planning and management once these developments are approved, said Todd Mathes, Benderson's director of development.
"No one here has pursued this because we just haven't been there with intensity, density, synergy and development in one particular location that really resides with one owner," Mathes told the Bradenton Herald Wednesday.
Essentially, the group will be tasked with getting people to ditch their cars when going between shopping centers.
"Anything from getting people using the public bus to a Zipcar-type program," Mathes said, adding the group will have a menu of options.
Sarasota County government is receptive to the proposal, Mathes said, and county officials continued to negotiate details Wednesday.
Sarasota County Transportation Planning Manager Paula Wiggins helped create this TMA and was too busy to talk to a reporter this week about the unfinished plan, said Jason Bartolone, Sarasota County spokesman.
"She's still working on the TMA report with late requests for changes by Benderson," he said Wednesday.
The public will get a chance to weigh in at the hearings tonight and again during the Jan. 27 County Commission meeting.
Traffic plans
Traffic has always been a concern along the University Parkway corridor, which led the state to commit to build a $72 million University Parkway-Interstate 75 diverging diamond interchange. Lakewood Ranch's Schroeder-Manatee Ranch committed to build extensions of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard South that includes widening the intersection at University and Cooper Creek Boulevard.
A draft staff report states that construction plans cannot be approved for additional UTC (also known in county documents as SIPOC -- Sarasota Interstate Park of Commerce) construction until an interim association has been developed along with a Transportation Demand Management Implementation and Monitoring Plan.
The initial plan should detail a timeline for implementing traffic management strategies that could use bicycling, walking, flexible work schedules, a trolley system, remote parking and shuttles, according to the report.
Incentivizing mass transit
If Benderson wants to be able to continue building in that space, it will be required to form this new private work group, according to a draft staff report.
The proposed transportation work group is comprised of tenants on the UTC property, which includes the Mall at University Town Center, a planned hotel and the Super Target shopping center, to handle internal traffic issues.
Mathes envisions the mall, its main anchors, Target and other large employers in area centers to be involved as well as Sarasota County Area Transit and Manatee County Area Transit. Both bus lines will be able to use a new bus station Benderson is building in its shopping center by the new mall next year, Mathes said.
"As we add residents to the UTC property or as we grow services beyond our own boundaries, then we can bring other members," he said.
One way to get people to ride mass transit? Pay them. Kind of.
When The Mall at University Town Center opened, mall workers parked in a dirt lot where the District East at University Town Center would be built. A shuttle picked up workers and took them to the door where they could win a gift card.
"We were giving away gift cards every so many hours as part of a lottery," Mathes said.
The same could happen for the general public, because the greatest challenge in making buses and a private trolley system work is to get people on the bus for the first time.
"You've got to get them on it the first few times," Mathes said. "It makes it easier than moving your car or losing a spot during lunch."
Benderson is "totally committed" to starting the trolley service during peak tourist season in 2015, Mathes said. The staff report shows that the trolley service is a requirement.
Developing a marketing and promotional plan to "educate tenants about the plan" and encourage the use of the services and solicit membership into the association is also a requirement, according to the staff report.
The group would also have to agree on a method to measure and gather trip reduction data and a schedule of employee surveys. A staff report shows that the program would have a biennial analysis of the transportation program to see if it meets a 16 percent trip diversion/reduction goal and to have recommendations if it doesn't meet that mark.
"We're going to listen to our consultants about what are the first best steps we can take and what are the strategies," Mathes said.
All of those details are being hammered out as the two sides continue to negotiate.
Benderson already has much of its overall plan in place or filed, said county planner Adriana Trujillo-Villa, including a traffic management plan.
"They take into account developments to the north and east of 75 and University Parkway area," she said. "It is very, very intense and detailed."
Public hearing items
Benderson has four requests up for a vote Thursday by the planning commission, each requiring a public hearing and county staff is recommending approval for each request. If the planning commission passes each request, the recommendations for approval then move to the Sarasota County Commission for approval.
Benderson's District at UTC looks to add 600,000 square feet of commercial and 100,000 square feet of office space on the property. Overall, gross leasable space would grow by 680,000 square feet -- from 1.9 million to 2.58 million.
For comparison, the Mall at UTC is 880,000 square feet. The bulk of this commercial activity would go between the Mall at UTC's east side and I-75.
The property would also grow from 276 to 281 acres by adding parcels -- which will remain open space -- acquired just west of Super Target.
"I think the unique thing is there is a long list of people who want to be here," whether that's new retailers to Florida or small shops who want to expand, Mathes said.
Retail could start as early as late summer 2015, followed by office construction later that year. Work would then move to the additional hotel and residential areas, Mathes said.
The application shows a new build-out date for the entire property, including housing, as Dec. 31, 2020. The development order for UTC is set to expire at the end of the month.
Benderson wants to swap the location of housing from the eastern shopping area to the southwestern edge of UTC along DeSoto Road, beside a planned Homewood Suites. Housing classification would be changed from moderate density residential to high density residential. Between 750 and 1,750 homes can be built at UTC, which doesn't change with the reconfiguration.
Another hearing covers a substantial deviation of the previously approved Development of Regional Impact application. So-called DRIs meet certain thresholds of space on a land that triggers review and comments by neighboring jurisdictions as well as the state. The request would update the allowable square footage on the site.
"If they exceed thresholds, then they have to provide some type of mediation for those negative impacts," Trujillo-Villa said.
A third hearing covers the rezone application for 281 acres of the District at UTC that keeps the same zoning classifications but with updated stipulations, which include the relocation of housing and the increased square footage.
A fourth hearing amends the site's concept plan to include existing stipulations with the new parts of the property and new construction, Trujillo-Villa said.
Charles Schelle, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow him on Twitter @ImYourChuck.
This story was originally published December 4, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Benderson, Sarasota creating new traffic management group for UTC ."