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Board of Adjustment continues St. Armands Quay house‑raising request after neighbors challenge daylight‑plane data
Summary
The Board of Adjustment on Monday voted to continue a petition to raise a historic St. Armands Quay home after neighbors and counsel questioned survey methods, daylight‑plane calculations and whether the proposed 12'9¾" elevation is the minimum needed for FEMA compliance; the board asked applicants to submit revised elevations by March 13 for a March 25 hearing.
The City of Sarasota Board of Adjustment on Monday continued without deciding a request by homeowners Henry Kawati and Molly (Mary) Doer to lift their St. Armands Quay house, citing unresolved technical questions about the recovery elevation and daylight‑plane calculations. The board voted unanimously to continue the quasi‑judicial petition (26‑VAR‑01) to the next BOA meeting and asked applicants to provide revised drawings and data by March 13.
The applicants described repeated flooding in September and October 2024 and urged the board to permit variances tied to raising the house roughly 12 feet 9 and 3/4 inches to protect habitable space and mechanical equipment. "This is really hard on us," homeowner Molly Doer said, describing flood damage to the living areas and photos of water lines that showed interior flooding. Architect John Brown and counsel Dan Bailey said the proposed work is intended to bring the house into FEMA‑compliant configuration and to place mechanical equipment where it can be serviced and protected.
Neighbors — identified as affected persons in the hearing — and their attorney, Eugene Shuboid, pressed the applicants and staff for the raw survey and elevation evidence used to compute the board’s "recovery elevation," which affects the 25‑foot/45‑degree daylight‑plane measurement. Shuboid argued that the application lacks required elevation surveys of abutting properties and therefore the daylight‑plane encroachment and building‑coverage calculations are not verifiable. "The recovery elevation may be unvalidated; we don't have the supporting documentation to prove it's accurate," he told the board.
City flood‑zone specialist Nick Baltimore told the board how the city values a structure for substantial‑damage calculations and confirmed the valuation date would be 2024 for this case. He also explained the city's use of the Sarasota County property appraiser’s value and the option for applicants to submit third‑party appraisals. Counsel for the applicants said they used elevation certificates listing neighboring finished floors to derive the average recovery elevation.
Board members said they were sympathetic to the homeowners’ desire to protect the house but expressed concern that the package before them did not fully show how a reduced elevation would change daylight‑plane encroachments. After extended questions and technical back‑and‑forth on whether a lower elevation could meet FEMA requirements while lessening shading for neighbors, a board member moved to continue the hearing so the applicants could supply a narrower set of alternatives and updated calculations. The motion passed 5‑0. Staff said the BOA will reopen the public hearing on March 25; revised materials are due by March 13.
The continuation preserves the status quo while staff and applicants prepare more detailed elevation and daylight‑plane analyses. The board will revisit whether the requested setback and daylight‑plane variances meet the five criteria in zoning code section 4‑606(b), including whether the requested variances are the minimum needed to make reasonable use of the land.
