Applicant seeks vacation of Aspen Wall right-of-way and rezoning of 4401 Mango Avenue in City of Sarasota

At a City of Sarasota community workshop, attorney Robert Heinz said the applicant is seeking to vacate a 30-foot-wide by 100-foot-long section of the Aspen Wall right-of-way and to rezone 4401 Mango Avenue from industrial light warehouse to Downtown Edge.

Heinz said the right-of-way section currently dead-ends at a railway, is only partially paved and not maintained, and does not contribute to the street grid’s connectivity. The applicant proposes to grant an easement over the northern portion of the Mango Avenue property so the city could connect to the railway right-of-way in the future if needed.

Heinz said the rezoning to Downtown Edge is the implementation zoning for the area’s Urban Edge future land-use classification and would match zoning on adjacent parcels to the south. He said making the lot uniform would be “more conducive for future development purposes” and could allow combined parcels in the future.

The applicant described a potential use for the rezoned parcel: a single-story records facility to serve Sarasota County. Heinz said the county “would really like to have a new records building” and that such a facility would have low traffic, with about four to five employees on site. A project representative said the existing metal buildings on the site would be demolished if the project proceeds.

No formal decision or vote took place; the meeting was conducted as a community workshop, which Heinz described as a required step under City of Sarasota development review procedures for certain applications. Attendees asked questions about immediate plans for the site; the applicant answered that a records facility is the intended use if approvals and other conditions align. A specific development timeline or application schedule was not provided.