ENGLEWOOD — After years in the works, 120 parcels of land have been rezoned residential/commercial on 51.5 acres designated as an arts overlay district, but local pioneers worry that what they see as an amazing opportunity is a well-kept secret.

The designation means business owners in myriad fields from artists and nail salons to pizza parlors, fitness centers and musicians, can live, work and sell out of their homes – after going through a building permitting process.

But only one local artist has stepped up to stake a claim in the new mixed-use zoning, which has been in place for more than a year.

The Englewood arts overlay district boundaries are generally north to Harvard Street, west of Old Englewood Road, east to Elm Street with a portion including Coconut and Perry, and south of Dearborn from Elm almost to Green Street.

Chris Bowersox, who carves wooden statues of sea turtles using a chainsaw, single-handedly embodies the Englewood arts overlay district.

Permitting required that Bowersox provide at least one parking space and make his bathroom ADA compliant, or be within 1,000 feet of public parking and rest-rooms, which he is.

Bowersox lives, works, makes art and sells it at his property at 465 West Dearborn St. out of a garage workshop under a mimosa tree.

Years in the making, the Englewood arts overlay district was finalized in mid-2009.

“Now we’re just waiting for people to renovate existing properties,” said Debbie Marks with the Englewood Community Redevelopment Agency. “They’ve all been rezoned. They’re ready to go. The county’s done everything it can do.”

Those who have been involved in the years-long process blame the economy for sluggish-to-non-existent interest in business owners taking advantage of the mixed-use zoning.

“Nothing is happening because of the market,” Marks said. “We’re hoping that now that it’s in place, when the markets start energizing, they’ll move into this area.”

A handful of local artists including Bowersox, Bill Houghton and Tommy Kester led the push to change zoning and create an arts district.

Houghton, who owns property and a studio on Cedar Street in the district, remembers speaking to the Sarasota County Building Department as early as 1994 and 1995.

“This was the plan and this is the realization of the plan,” Houghton said. “There are a lot of artists living in the area who may not be able to afford to do the necessary renovations. We are prepared for when things turn around.”

Houghton works with metal, fashioning sculptures such as a 36-foot lobster now displayed at Sarasota Investments.

What looked good on paper and sounded good in meetings turned out, in reality, to be problematic for Houghton: His long driveway on Cedar Street could deter potential customers from visiting his home and studio, he said.

That’s where his friendship with Bowersox comes in handy.

“I go to Chris’s studio,” Houghton said. “He helps me with my visibility.”

The overlay district was modeled after successful arts districts in Bradenton and Sarasota.

Linda Bronkema is president of the Bradenton Village of the Arts, a community of 240 homes where artists live and work on 42 acres just south of downtown.

What once was a blighted district now hosts weekly arts walks with 35 shops open two days a week in summer, four in winter.

Bronkema lives there and owns a quilt shop, Bits ‘n Pieces.

She watched the district evolve from a negative neighborhood to a positive one, and along the way, said she experienced the joys and challenges of living in an arts overlay district.

“We built the area back up from junk, from a low tax base, and they tripled our taxes almost immediately. Insurance was also problem.”

The first year the district was in business, Bronkema says four or five artists were living there. By the third year, it had grown to 30.

Then entrepreneur investors came in and bought up large sections of the village. Some did needed renovations and rented the spaces out.

“But some didn’t want to fix them and that slowed down the individual artists,” Bronkema said.

The city code enforcement came to the rescue, Bronkema said, enforcing policies already in place to keep the area looking good.

“I hope Englewood takes off with a bang,” Bronkema said.

Tommy Kester works with wood and steel, creating fireplace surrounds and door frames. He owns property on Cedar Street.

Other Englewood artists credit him with dreaming up the idea for an Englewood arts overlay district.

He and six friends sat down one night for dinner and came up with a name for a nonprofit that would steer the arts overlay district: The Arts Alliance of Lemon Bay now operates at 477 and 479 West Dearborn St.

“There was so much enthusiasm six, seven years ago,” Kester said. “It was a real community project. We started pounding the pavements, getting petitions signed, holding meetings. High-priced consultants came, told residents what they already knew and left. We made models of piers that were going to be built. One by one, they got buried. It was heartbreaking because the potential of Englewood is unbelievable.”

Dearborn Street looked different than it does now, Kester said. There were lots of art galleries that aren’t there now.

The first section of the arts overlay district was approved in May 2009, deep into the recession.

A 30-car public parking lot is in place on Cedar Street with plans and space to expand to 75. Public restrooms are in place behind Cafe de la Bay in the 400 block of Dearborn Street.

What has to happen, what may already have happened, Kester said, is for someone to start the ball rolling. Someone like Bowersox.

“I think this will be a slow ride,” Kester said. “That’s how Bradenton got going.”

In Kester’s vision, swales need to be filled in, signs made, homes made to look like galleries. Inviting shell driveways must be installed.

“It has to look pedestrian friendly,” Kester said. “There are all these grand ideas but no money to do it. Zoning is in place, everything’s in place, then the excitement dies down. Energy is diffused. The spark has to be there again.”

A lot of these changes will be made by individual property owners as they redevelop, Marks said. There is a master sidewalk plan in place but funding is to come from surtax dollars, which are not yet available.

“The money’s not coming in as fast as everyone hoped,” Marks said. “It could be as much as five years before we see sidewalks through the rest of the community.”

Artists continue to create beautiful objects in Englewood. A visit to the Arts Alliance of Lemon Bay or the Englewood Art center will attest to that.

Harmony Rio has started a community art project at 175 S. McCall Road.

And in another hopeful sign, Evelyn Dow, a former Montessori school administrator, bought four properties totaling 1.5 acres on Old Englewood Road and plans to build a community gathering place where people can come to learn about sustainable food practices.

“It’s in the very early stages,” Dow said. “We’ve got a wealth of ideas, a lot of energy and Englewood has made that possible with their arts overlay district. It’s premature to know exactly what we’re going to be able to do. Englewood is committed to sustainability.”

There’s room for artists and others to come and open up studios or businesses and work from their homes in Englewood, Bowersox said.

“We need people baking cookies and selling them out their front door,” he said. “There’s all these properties that people don’t realize are stores.”

E-mail: dsanchez@sun-herald.com