05-03-2025
New downtown master plan committee holds first meeting, asks for more guidance from city
Sarasota's brand-new downtown Master Plan Update Ad-Hoc Committee held its first meeting at City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, in what may be a year-or-more long process to potentially reshape the city's rapidly changing downtown.
The committee's formation was approved by the Sarasota City Commision in September. Their task: to update the downtown Master Plan, which was first adopted in 2001.
The committee's formal recommendations will eventually go before the city commission for final approval.
Meet your new Downtown Master Plan Update Ad-Hoc Committee
The city commission considered more than 40 applications and came up with a board of 13, which is heavily represented by Sarasota's business and development community. Committee members were chosen by the commission in November.
Chair Howard Davis – A local developer and urban planner.
Vice Chair Bill Waddill – A senior planner with Kimley Horn and the former Managing Director of the Bay Park Conservatory.
Chris Voekler – A member of the city's downtown Improvement District board and owner of State Street Eating House + Cocktails.
Elena Paul – general counsel at the Ringling College of Art and Design.
Erin DiFazio – A realtor and member of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation's leadership team.
Jamie Still - vice president of the downtown Sarasota Condo Association and secretary of the Urbanite Theater.
Jen Stulter – president of Stutler Strategies.
Ken Shelin - Former Sarasota city commissioner and a veteran of a litany of city advisory boards.
Melissa Laughlin – The owner of a local business consulting practice.
Richard Russell – general director of the Sarasota Opera and chair of Visit Sarasota County.
Sarah Lyons – The founder and owner of architecture.
Tiffany Nisbet – A downtown realtor with the RE/MAX Alliance Group.
Will Luera – An actor, performer and director of events and training for DreamLarge.
The committee also has an official facilitator, Tammy Vrana, an urban planner and the president of Vrana Consulting out of Safety Harbor.
'My role as your facilitator is that I will be a neutral participant,' Vrana told the board. 'I'm going to just create space for the diverse voices on this committee to be heard, and then hopefully to help you do productive discussions in coming up with your recommendations.'
Shayla Griggs, the city's auditor and clerk, took several minutes at the beginning of the meeting to remind the board members that their activities fall under Florida Sunshine Laws. Members cannot discuss board business outside of public meetings and were asked to forward all committee-related communications to their city emails.
The ad-hoc committee will essentially function liken any other elected or advisory board for the city.
Election of a chair and vice chair
There was some procedural awkwardness and confusion as part of the committee's first day jitters. The process of selecting a chair and vice chair became slightly confused without a city attorney present.
Voekler voiced her concern that the board should perhaps wait until they have a clearer scope of their plan and objectives before they elect leadership, but not enough of her colleagues agreed.
Howard Davis and Bill Waddill were both nominated to be chair. After an extended period of consulting with city staff, the board ultimately elected Davis, who won out by a single vote. Waddill was then voted in to be vice chair.
Nisbet asked if a city attorney could be present at the next meeting, an idea seconded by Waddill, to ensure a smoother procedural process. City Planning Director Steve Cover said that staff will look into it.
Davis and other board members asked city staff for more direction on what will be expected from them as a committee. The newly minted board chair said he wanted an overall timeline of the committee's work 'so we can at least see what the steps are and the approximate time it will take to get from the beginning to the end.'
'This group needs to have a more clear sense of the schedule. This group needs to have a more clear sense of the step by step by step - 'this is how this process will work.'' Davis said.
The meeting's only public commenter was Marlon Brown, the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce's director of government affairs, and Sarasota's former City Manager.
'This is a very, very important and monumentous task that you're about to undertake,' Brown said, as board members nodded along. 'As I've always said to everyone, this is a marathon. It's not a sprint. So please take your time and do this right and do it for the right reasons."
Sarasota Vice Mayor Debbie Trice was also present for the meeting, as a spectator.
City officials indicated the committee's next meeting will be March 26.
Christian Casale covers local government for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Email him at ccasale@ or christiancasale@
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: New city board to update downtown master plan holds first meeting
