Amid large but slow-moving plans for affordable housing, one developer’s idea is to go small and fast.
For several years, Sarasota businessman Dan Dobrowolski has been creating lush neighborhoods of RV “tiny homes.” Not here, though.
After frustrating attempts to get them approved in Sarasota County, Dobrowolski and his company Escape Tampa Bay established a growing community of 33 tiny homes east of Tampa.
Located just off US 301, the stylish one- and two-story tiny homes hold many of the appliances and touches of a single-family house – at a fraction of the size and cost.
And they filled up fast, with both renters and buyers. Residents include retirees and small business owners; a nurse, a mechanic, a graduate student, and a Sarasota restaurant manager.
Given the concept’s broad appeal and the worsening crisis in housing affordability, Dobrowolski believes these communities could thrive in Sarasota, too. And unlike other initiatives involving big buildings and years of planning, his eco-friendly approach is ready right now.
“It is quick, cheap, efficient, green,” he said. “I could literally have units there tomorrow.”
Zoning issues stop small tiny house communities in Sarasota County
The barrier is zoning.
The tiny homes built by Dobrowolski are defined by federal codes and standards as RVs, due to size and plumbing, heating and electrical systems.
In Sarasota County, new RV parks must be at least 40 acres, said Donna Thompson, county Planning and Development Services Zoning Administrator.
To Dobrowolski, such regulations make affordable housing projects like his prohibitively expensive. And he refuses to develop an RV park with units stacked like “loaves of bread.”
Instead, Escape Tampa Bay’s villages sit on a little less than four acres. Eighty percent of the community is green space. That includes a one-acre park in the center with a walking path, oak canopies and palm and olive trees that his company planted.
Cedar-color units are set apart and face forward, their huge energy-efficient windows looking out on decks filled with potted plants and flowers.
“If it isn’t beautiful, I don’t want people living there,” Dobrowolski said of his developments.
The models were adapted from his family’s business, which has decades of roots in Sarasota and Wisconsin. For years Escape specialized in building high-end cabins and designer RVs used by travelers.
In Hillsborough, the units are strapped down and hurricane-resistant. They range in size between 250 and 500 square feet. Many can house two to four people. Most sale prices are between $60,000 and $140,000. Rents usually run from $1,200 to $1,600 and cover most utilities as well as fees for maintaining the property, decks and swimming pool. A property manager lives on-site.
Lot fee increases are capped at $35. Speculators and vacation rentals are forbidden.
Tiny homes fulfill many needs for people seeking affordable housing
Like many residents, 47-year-old Krystal Williams, who owns a title insurance business, said she loves the tranquility and security of the gated community she found after downsizing from a single-family house. Sometimes she walks her dog, Poppy, at midnight.
Her A-frame unit with a screened porch was – at $192,000 – one of the most expensive of the tiny homes. While her lot fees of $715 a month are also among the highest, she’s still coming out ahead, she says, given the utilities they cover and how much she saves in property taxes and insurance.
“I don’t pay any of that here,” she said.
Mark Wildman, 72, a general manager of an Italian restaurant in Sarasota, bought his 260-square-foot tiny home for $60,000 after losing his house in Ft. Myers to Hurricane Ian.
“Everything I want and need is in this place,” Wildman said. His lot fee is $595, while his electric bill is minimal – as high as $52 during last summer’s heat wave.
Neighbors host cocktail gatherings on their decks and pick up each other’s mail when someone is out of town.
“It’s a very close community,” Wildman said.
Keishia Arlinghaus, 38, a nurse, loves that her 8-year-old son feels at home. Arlinghaus is renting the community’s biggest unit for $1,950 a month. At 500 square feet, it has a large, custom-made open living-dining-kitchen space with a wall of windows that overlooks a furnished deck. The bedroom holds a king-sized bed.
When her son isn’t riding his bicycle outside, he camps out in the living room, large enough to host his friends for sleepovers.
“Every day I feel like I’m on vacation," she said.
Sarasota needs to attack affordable housing from many angles
Given the severity of the housing crisis, Dobrowolski realizes these prices are still too high for many.
The community’s next village under development is geared to renters and will charge one flat fee of $1,350 a month – including electric, internet and all utilities, and maintenance fees.
This is the concept he is advocating for Sarasota County. What’s more, if the county works with him and allows communities like these on public surplus lands, the rents could come down even more. Seniors and young professionals especially could find them appealing.
“This doesn’t solve every problem for every person,” he said. “But it solves a lot of people’s problems, and it solves them fast.”
Jon Thaxton, chair of the Sarasota County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and a former county commissioner, said the commission can readily adapt code regulations for a proposal like Dobrowolski's by creating special zoning districts.
“There is no single solution to any of this,” Thaxton said of the housing crisis. “But we need to be firing from all barrels, and this is definitely one that we are missing out on.”
This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.
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