My recent column on the proliferation of large homes near the water, particularly in Harbor Acres, inspired one reader to wonder about all the water coming off those houses.
“Regardless of the architectural style,” she wrote, “the fact that these structures cover so much of the lot contributes to the flooding problems in that area during normal rainy seasons.
“I have a friend who has lived in Harbor Acres for around 40 years. She has a normal-sized house. About 15 years ago, mega-mansions were built on three sides of her property. Guess whose property flooded, and who was responsible for coming up with a solution to being inundated with water? It wasn’t the folks in the mega-mansions.”
I posed that comment to Josh Wynne, the custom builder who has built one fairly large home in Harbor Acres and a number of notable homes throughout the city.
“The zoning in this area is RSF-1,” Wynne said. “Maximum building coverage is 30 percent of the lot area. Total impervious coverage max is 75 percent.
“The City of Sarasota requires all drainage plans within the FEMA floodplain to be signed and sealed by a landscape architect or civil engineer. Additionally, the designer must sign off on the final drainage work prior to certificate of occupancy. If the drainage from a new home is not working, the contractor and the drainage designer are liable.”
SAF EVENTS
In advance of the second Sarasota MOD Weekend, Nov. 6-9, the Sarasota Architectural Foundation is a dual event on Thursday, Sept. 24, as part of the Ringling Museum of Art’s Art After 5 series.
From 5 to 8 p.m., SAF is opening the photographic exhibit “Paul Rudolph: The Guest Houses” at the museum. Admission is $10, and free to Ringling members. The exhibit runs from Sept. 25 to Dec 6.
At 5:30 p.m., architect Carl Abbott will give a gallery talk on the guest houses of Rudolph, the influential modern architect who is the focus of MOD Weekend this year.
That same evening, SAF will present a first look at the Walker Guest House Replica. Joe King, its reconstruction architect and builder, will offer informal exterior tours from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Based on the 1952-53 cottage on Sanibel Island, it will officially open during SarasotaMOD Weekend on Nov. 6. Tickets are available at SarasotaMOD.com.
