Sarasota neighborhood recommendations, please (Laurel, Whitfield: for sale, renting, crime)

[Rich2010]

My wife and I are looking for a house or town house in a safe, quiet, attractive, not-too-crowded Sarasota neighborhood. Ideally it will be within walking distance of a food market and perhaps a drug store and not within a flood zone. Suggestions?

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by Rich2010

My wife and I are looking for a house or town house in a safe, quiet, attractive, not-too-crowded Sarasota neighborhood. Ideally it will be within walking distance of a food market and perhaps a drug store and not within a flood zone. Suggestions?

downtown sarasota: Laurel Park, Burns Court, Arlington Park (Sarasota Memorial Hospital area...

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

downtown sarasota: Laurel Park, Burns Court, Arlington Park (Sarasota Memorial Hospital area...

I second Ladys recommendation. Anywhere really close to downtown Sarasota. Burns Court is a great area to start looking for close proximity to shopping.

[gypsychic]

Living downtown is great for being able to walk to things; however, we lived for years in Laurel Park, and the lots are very tiny and the neighborhood is noisy. It is also still not really that safe, IMO. Even though it is trendy and expensive these days, I still have friends there and some of the same issues with transients and undesirables camping out and causing problems are still there. And did I mention over-priced?

Burns Court area is nicer, but also very expensive, don't know what your budget is, if you are renting it's probably affordable, very expensive to buy.

A little to the south is an area around Southside Village (near the hospital) maybe that is Arlington Park? I think that is a really great area myself - I would look there, stay a bit away from downtown proper. As far as flood zones, you will have to check on any individual property you are interested in, they can really vary.

[Rich2010]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions, Ladywithafan, SoFlGal, and Gypsychic. Two follow-up questions, if I may:

* Burns Court (the street) is only two blocks from the water. Wouldn't that likely put it in a flood zone, or does the terrain rise steeply there? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find good flood zone maps online for Sarasota -- just the unreadable and probably outdated FEMA maps.

* Sarasota sounds like a wonderful place to live in, and no town is without challenges. The ones I've intuited from following this forum from afar, plus some collateral reading, are the homeless, the crime rate, the poor (a rather high 16.7% of the population), and a sometimes irresponsible attitude toward the city's architectural heritage. While there are no magic bullets to these problems wherever they crop up, is there some shortcoming in Sarasota's governance that is making these problems more difficult to deal with than would otherwise be the case?

[FLBob]

Fema has an online presents, so knowing an address or zipcode will allow you to lookup the current map for a given local. Once you have the FEMA map identifier you can enter that into the FEMA map viewer and see what flood zone designation is in effect for a property.

Here's is a link to the FEMA map search page " + theTitle + "

This page will help you locate a map id

To view the map goto this page FEMA Map Service Center - FEMA Issued Flood Maps

to list the maps or just enter the map id into the map viewer.

It's a bit combersom but once you do it a few times it gets easier. Using this approach you can see the most up to date flood zone info.


I think the government of Sarasota is/has done a very good job of keeping a sustainable city/county. One of the issues that many forget is that on the federal and state level the laws lean towards individual property rights. Laws or ordinances that can be construed as reducing a properties value are challenged in court where the municipality may and often is required to compensate the property owner for the lost value. So maintaining the cities architectural heritage comes with a price.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Rich2010

Thanks for the excellent suggestions, Ladywithafan, SoFlGal, and Gypsychic. Two follow-up questions, if I may:

* Burns Court (the street) is only two blocks from the water. Wouldn't that likely put it in a flood zone, or does the terrain rise steeply there? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find good flood zone maps online for Sarasota -- just the unreadable and probably outdated FEMA maps.

* Sarasota sounds like a wonderful place to live in, and no town is without challenges. The ones I've intuited from following this forum from afar, plus some collateral reading, are the homeless, the crime rate, the poor (a rather high 16.7% of the population), and a sometimes irresponsible attitude toward the city's architectural heritage. While there are no magic bullets to these problems wherever they crop up, is there some shortcoming in Sarasota's governance that is making these problems more difficult to deal with than would otherwise be the case?

You are absolutely correct, in that what you quoted above are the main problems Sarasota is dealing with. I will say that we lived here once before, from 1981 - 1997, during that time I really disliked the town, and the politics of the town; crime was much worse, much of the city was decaying, and there was a lot of irresponsible development and destruction of trees and historic properties. During the 12 years we were away, Sarasota has done an about face and somehow has become the most "sustainable" and "green" city in Florida. Also, they have planted THOUSANDS of new trees here and done more landscaping, and I understand they plan to do a lot more. Also the downtown is abolutely my little dream downtown now, whereas when we lived here before there was absolutely nothing there, and was filled with homeless bums and transients. Most of the nice part of Sarasota is basically west of the trail. We live near the bay in Whitfield Estates, and I can literally head 1.5 miles east and be in the poorest of the poor area you ever saw (15th St. E.) And another half mile you are at 301, where it is all industrial and the one topless bar (Cheetah) can be found. But - the good parts of Sarasota are very, very good, and it's easy enough to avoid the bad parts of town which most towns have anyway. For me, I don't mind it at all, I love to shop in the funky thrifts and salvage places - you can find some great deals!

Politics here still leave something to be desired, but it's better than it used to be. It is also more liberal than it was before, but that is a good thing, this town used to be very, very stodgy and conservative when we lived here before. Now, it is a good fit for me and hubby and just liberal "enough" for us without feeling "radical" in any way.

Thanks to FLBob for the FEMA info!

ETA: We really, really love living here now, don't plan to EVER move!

[iveta]

Hi,
I have a great townhouse for sale furnished or unfurnished..Completely remodeled..Just order beatiful granite for my kitchen..listed at 86,900 furnished..Negotiable!!!

[iveta]

Let me just say it is 2 min. to Publix and Walgreens across the street...Must Love the location!!

[Rich2010]

FlBob, gypsychic, and iveta -- thanks for the recent quite helpful information.