As Sarasota prepares for turnover in both the City Manager and City Attorney positions, City Mayor Liz Alpert feels her nine years on the Commission will provide valuable continuity. But Ron Kashden, the challenger for her District 2 seat, said now may be the best time to end an adversarial relationship between City Hall and many of its residents.

The candidates face each other in one of three City Commission battles on Nov. 5. Only District 2 voters will vote in the election.

Alpert feels the city made significant strides during her two terms. That includes establishing a nature preserve at Bobby Jones Golf Club, establishing The Bay after years of visioning and evolving zoning on Sarasota’s commercial corridors to allow for more mixed-use development.

“When I have been going door to door, for the most part people are pretty happy living here and with the city,” Alpert said. “I will hear people talk about traffic or redevelopment and talk to them when that comes up, but we are developing in the city the way you should develop.”

She said its urban sprawl that contributes to problems like road congestion and loss of green space. Development in the city core, she said, has made more compact growth patterns.

“I don’t see increased traffic,” she said. “I see increased people on the sidewalk.”

Kashden, though, feels concerned about the direction that threatens the character of the city and its neighborhoods. An active community member in Laurel Park since moving to the city in 2011, he’s frustrated by flawed approaches to planning focused on lavish incentivizing for developers. At the same time, he sees the city ignoring calls from neighbors for reasonable noise restrictions.

“It’s where you get down to details, the city commissioners fall flat and always,” he said.

He previously lived in Manhattan and said a “plainly audible” noise restriction there means businesses in one of the world’s biggest cities still make sure not to disrupt the lives of citizens living there. It makes no sense as Sarasota encourages more mixed-use development that it does not do the same.

“Do we want to become Bourbon Street where it is no longer reasonable for residents to be right next to those establishments?” Kashden said. “It seems like the city wants to do both, to have very loud outdoor events as well as encourage residential buildings right next to that.”

But a move away from Euclidean zoning and toward allowing more residential uses above commercial space has helped concerns like attainable and affordable housing. Allowing greater housing densities in the city, including in spaces as tight as 1,000 square feet, means more places are coming online affordable to a wider range of incomes.

She also said zoning changes will provide greater dividends in coming decades, more developments on U.S. 41 will have pedestrian space in the front with parking lots contained behind businesses. This could create a more walkable city and that’s more affordable and more welcoming.

But Kashden feels skeptical. Corridors like the Tamiami Trail and U.S. 301 will always primarily serve as traffic corridors through Sarasota, city planning should reflect that. “These are major arteries. Why are we trying to convert them?” he said.

He also sees problems with changes to height restrictions, which has led to massive proposals like The Obsidian, planned as Sarasota’s tallest condominium project.

Alpert notes much of the development downtown comes from vested development rights, much of that part of a Downtown Master Plan. But she also sees the city striking a balance between today’s needs and the existing concerns of residents.

“Many tell me they feel I’m the voice of reason on the Commission,” she said. “I’m thoughtful, I’m never rude to anybody and I have integrity, I hope there are people who see that.”