SRQ Daily columnist Cathy Antunes serves on the boards of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations and Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government. She blogs on local politics at www.thedetail.net.

There is a stark difference between walkable and auto-centric living. Last Saturday, my best friend from elementary school came to visit. As Carol and I talked with my parents, my mother and father described how our lives changed when we moved from our walkable village neighborhood (where Carol lived next door) to our more autocentric digs. “We didn’t realize what we were getting into” my Dad explained, “that we’d have to drive a half hour to get a loaf of bread.” The mixed-use, walkability lingo is absent, but my family learned from experience how different life is when you can walk instead of driving everywhere.

It’s been a few years now since Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City, came to Sarasota and shared information on the tangible benefits of walkable development. Walkable communities offer superior economic, social, health and safety benefits over autocentric subdivisions. The City of Sarasota’s form-based code initiative has the potential to deliver these benefits through a new City planning code. The County’s work in defining fiscal neutrality will also impact whether new County development (under the 2050 plan) brings us promised high-value walkable communities.  

In order for a neighborhood to be walkable, Speck says walking must be useful, safe, comfortable and interesting. Useful walking means access to work, housing, goods and services. Safe walking is an environment where the pedestrian has low risk of being hit by a car or being a crime victim (residential development above commercial units provides “eyes on the street”—a huge crime deterrent). Comfortable walking in Florida includes shade from awnings and street trees. An interesting walk provides visual stimulation—from store windows, views and architectural variety. The mere presence of a sidewalk does not make a neighborhood walkable, yet this has been described as sufficient by at least one developer at a County meeting.

Economic and physical benefits accrue to residents of walkable communities. Data presented at the 2014 American Diabetes Association convention demonstrated an average 13 percent lower development of diabetes incidence over 10 years for people in walkable neighborhoods versus those that were less walkable; the most walkable neighborhoods had the lowest incidence of obesity. Average income in the top six U.S. walkable urban metros is 38 percent higher than the average GDP per capita ($43,900) in the 10 low-ranked walkable urban metros. 

Subdivision development is a financial drain. A 2010 study in Sarasota County showed subdivision housing takes 42 years to pay off its infrastructure—longer than the life of the infrastructure. Walkable, mixed-use development is more valuable, generating over 10 times more tax revenue. All signs point toward the County adopting a toothless definition of fiscal neutrality, one which will permit the same standard subdivisions which drain County coffers over time.

My parents solved their walkability problems by moving again to a walkable neighborhood in Rye, N.Y.  In Sarasota, municipalities which adopt truly walkable development standards will be the winners, ensuring healthier, more prosperous futures for their constituents.

SRQ Daily columnist Cathy Antunes serves on the boards of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations and Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government. She blogs on local politics at www.thedetail.net.