Year in Review
Each year, Longboat Key News reviews the events that happened during the year, particularly the large issues that are shaping the town and its future. In 2005, there were five hurricanes that shaped the news and beaches of Longboat. In 2006, the beach re-nourishment project was finished, and in 2007 the Town Commission made the decision to place two makepeace groins at the Islander Club to reduce the amount of erosion, which are now finally under construction. The following is a summary of the events that shaped the news in 2009.
Key Club expansion plan under review
One of the biggest events in 2009 was the Longboat Key Club’s $400 million redevelopment plan. In the summer of 2008, the Key Club announced its intention to renovate and expand the club’s many amenities. In 2009, the Key Club entered a quasi-judicial hearing regarding its site plan in front of the Town’s Planning and Zoning board. The board recommended 4-3 to send the site plan to the Town Commission, with 40 recommended conditions of approval. The Commission will hear the site plan at its quasi-judicial hearing beginning Jan. 8, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Temple Beth Israel on Longboat Key.
The Islandside Property Owners Coalition (IPOC) has spoken out against the redevelopment plan. The group maintains the plan is too large, would ruin the views and increase traffic, as well as decrease property values. IPOC President Bob White is optimistic that when the site plan is heard before the commission, a compromise can be reached or the plan will be denied.
The Key Club Development Plan calls for two 9-story buildings with 132 units. Also, the administrative offices in the new proposal are 12,000 square feet. The proposed meeting center is 17,000 square feet. The hotel in the new proposal is an eight-story building with 196 hotel units and 34 condominium units.
Town Attorney Dave Persson has warned the Commission that although there is an election coming up this March, town commissioners are not permitted to voice their opinions or discuss the Key Club plan because of the quasi-judicial hearing. In a quasi-judicial hearing the commissioners are not allowed to make a determination on the proposed site plan until they have heard all of the facts in the proposal.
$25 million pension liability solved
This year, the Town’s $25 million unfunded pension liability nightmare was resolved with the state. A new state actuary, Town Finance Director Tom Kelley and Town Manager Bruce St. Denis negotiated a new repayment plan, the 10-20-30 plan, of the unfunded liability that includes portions to be repaid over 10 years, 20 years and 30 years.
In February of 2008, the town learned that the state’s former actuary, Charles Slavin, did not approve of the 30-year smoothing process the town’s actuary was using to pay back its unfunded pension liability. Although the payment method is resolved, Commissioners are now struggling with ways to reduce ongoing pension costs.
Port Dolphin solved, sand spared
Manatee County, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Town of Longboat Key tried to reach a settlement on the Port Dolphin Pipeline issue this year.
Town Manager Bruce St. Denis and Vice-Mayor Bob Siekmann attended a meeting held in early September attempting to make a deal that would satisfy Longboat’s need to protect its beach quality sand location, and Port Dolphin’s desire to stay the course for their proposed 28-mile natural gas pipeline.
Siekmann and St. Denis worked to represent the best interest of the Town of Longboat Key, maintaining that it is up to Port Dolphin to remedy the situation by either paying to have the sand moved to another underwater location or by bringing the sand to dry land where it would be accessible for use by the town.
Under the agreed upon settelement, Port Dolphin will work with Longboat Key and Manatee County will coordinate with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to commence sand extraction along the pipeline route by 2011 to capture sand that will be impacted by the pipeline project.
St. Denis said, “Either they move the sand or we move the sand. As long as the sand is not lost to us or doesn’t increase our cost to harvest the sand. That the town says it needs for future shoreline protection.”
North end breakwaters in jeopardy
The north end of Longboat Key has a beach erosion problem. similar to the highly erosive Islander Club location. But instead of placing two adjustable permeable groins such as those being constructed at the Islander, the town decided to place breakwaters at the north end to combat the erosion. A breakwater runs parallel to the shoreline and in this case would be made of rocks and placed 200 feet offshore. For a while it seemed the application for the breakwaters would go without a hitch.
Last October, Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stating his concern over the rock breakwaters.
The town was planning to start construction in Nov. 2010, to avoid turtle season. Town Manager Bruce St. Denis said that what McClash’s actions have created is a need for a public hearing on the subject based on his concerns as a county commissioner. St. Denis said if there is a public hearing, it will delay the project; even a couple of months could push the project back a year.
The town is concurrently working on an interim solution for re-nourishment with approximately 600 cubic yards of sand. The cost is expected to be $20-$30 per cubic yard, for a total cost of $12,000 – $18,000.
Commissioner Gene Jaleski has expressed his concern over the north-end condominiums such as Longbeach that are in danger of the encroaching waves due to the loss of sand.
At the last beach re-nourishment, the beach at the North Shore Road beach access was 130 feet wide, and now the same section of beach is gone and the beach access is closed to the public for safety reasons.
Jaleski is concerned that the breakwaters may not be the best plan for the north end beach protection and that an inlet management plan in the long-term, and temporary steel armoring in the short-term, may help the situation. Inlet management with sand bypass is a system wherein a sand pump from one location where sand accumulates is connected via pipeline to a location where the sand is needed, and is thereby pumped from one location to the other.
Private and public tennis centers open
This year saw the construction of the Town’s public tennis center and Longboat Key Club’s Tennis Gardens. The Gardens opened at the Harborside location last March, and the $4.5 million Tennis Gardens has a stadium for tennis competitions.
The town tennis center is still currently under construction. St. Denis said that the project is a capital project, and is appropriately funded under the one-cent sales tax falling under infrastructure or improvements category. Town Finance Director Tom Kelley told the commission there is $500,000 for the tennis center allocated in the budget, but currently the estimated cost for the new construction is above $700,000. The new tennis center will have a larger check in and pro-shop, increasing the old building’s 280 square feet to 1,750 square feet; and it will have tennis merchandise for sale.
Police Department troubles
This year’s arrest of Police Officer Patricia Beardsley set off a firestorm for the Longboat Key Police Department. The department has had to deal with several other problems since then. Several officers retired this year, and another female police officer, Jessica Anderson along with Patricia Beardsley, were fired from the police department. Anderson is appealing her termination, claiming that other officers in the department violated regulations and were not terminated. Beardsley was fired for brandishing a firearm on a mother and children, and Anderson for an arrest she performed on a subject who failed to produce identification.
The Beardsley incident occurred while a mother was picking up her children from Southside Elementary School, and she pulled into Beardsley’s driveway to turn around. That’s when Officer Beardsley came out of her home allegedly pointing a gun at arm level toward the car. According to the mother, the children were screaming so loudly she could not hear what Beardsley was saying as she approached the car. Beardsley maintains that she was carrying a cell phone, not a handgun. However, several other witnesses who called 911 also saw the handgun.
Officer Anderson was terminated for an arrest she made on June 14, 2009. A man was asked to move a car parked in the Gulf of Mexico Drive right-of-way, and according to the police report several people at the residence had been notified of the car being illegally parked in the right-of-way in the past. It was determined by internal investigation that Anderson violated the subject’s rights by conducting an unjustified arrest.
Also, Longboat Key Police Officer John Martin has filed a lawsuit against a condominium association for an injury he received while making an arrest at the condominium. Town Manager Bruce St. Denis is aware of the situation wherein Martin became injured, and said that the town’s workman’s compensation paid for his injuries.
The town has since hired two new officers to replace Anderson and Beardsley, but police coverage remains at historic lows.
Key politics turn feisty
This year, the town of Longboat Key will have contested elections in three out of four seats, and a preliminary election will be necessary due to the District 1 seat, which has three candidates. Lynn Larsen, Leon Pokoik and Mayor Lee Rothenberg will all be running for the District 1 seat. There will be a Jan. 26 preliminary election to narrow the race from three candidates down to two.
Two other districts in the upcoming March election are also contested races, with current Commissioner Hal Lenobel running against candidate Phillip Younger for the At-Large seat. Current Commissioner Peter O’Connor will be running against former Planning and Zoning Board Chairman David Brenner for the District 3 seat. Brenner inquired earlier this fall if it would be possible to form a party and run under one ticket, however Town Clerk Trish Granger informed Brenner that it would not be possible as the town is non-partisan.
Incumbent Bob Siekmann is running unopposed, although he has run opposed in both of his prior elections.
The four seats that are up for the March 2010 election are the District 1 seat currently held by Mayor Lee Rothenberg, the District 3 seat currently held by Commissioner Peter O’Connor, the District 5 seat currently held by Vice-Mayor Robert Siekmann and an At-Large seat currently held by Commissioner Hal Lenobel. Lenobel if re-elected, will be entering his second term, Siekmann if re-elected will be serving his third term, O’Connor if re-elected will be entering his third term and Rothenberg if re-elected will be serving his fourth term, since his first term was a partial term, the Commission voted this month to allow Rothenberg to run again. The point is contentious since the town charter says that commissioners are only able to serve three consecutive two-year terms, and some residents and two commissioners felt that the partial first term Rothenberg served should count toward his three terms, and he should not be allowed to run again.
Roundabouts opposed by commission
The town of Longboat Key allocated $25,000 this year to spend on an engineering firm to analyze Sarasota’s traffic study and proposed roundabouts at intersections along US-41.
Currently, the city of Sarasota has concept plans that will place roundabouts at various locations along US-41 including10th Street, 14th Street, Boulevard of the Arts, Fruitville Road, Gulf Stream Avenue, Main Street, Ringling Boulevard, Orange Avenue and Osprey Avenue.
Town commissioners are concerned that placing roundabouts at intersections along US-41, specifically Gulfstream Avenue, will slow traffic and therefore, impede Longboat residents’ ability to reach Sarasota Memorial Hospital, as well as add to the already existing traffic problem in getting to and from the key.
To address their concerns, Longboat commissioners decided that the best course of action was to hire an outside engineering consultant. Commissioner Hal Lenobel voted against funding the analysis because he felt that the Town may spend the $25,000 only to find out that the consultants agree with the City of Sarasota. The engineering report produced by its consultant differed only in minor points.
Rod Warner is Connectivity Chair for The City Alliance, a coalition of businesses, property owners, residents and art groups whose objective is to connect downtown Sarasota with the Bayfront. Warner says that the connectivity plan is part of a bigger picture, and is based on the city’s 2020 Master Plan, which will make a more pedestrian friendly city.
According to Warner, the concept still has to go through a year-long design phase where professional engineers will turn the ideas into a concrete formalized plan. After that, the FDOT has to examine the design plan and give its approval or disapproval. Lastly, the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has to acquire funding from federal and state agencies for the project; of which other projects are also competing for the same money. The MPO funding could take up to 15 or 20 years, says Warner.
Moore’s receives go ahead for re-zone
Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant received the ability to re-zone the property from commercial to residential this year. Alan Moore requested at the December commission meeting a charter amendment change to allow him to re-zone his property from commercial to residential. In a 4-3 vote, the commission voted to pass the charter amendment on first reading.
Moore said that he was making the request in an attempt to re-negotiate his loans that will be due in January 2010. According to Moore, the property, located at 800 Broadway, is better collateral if it is zoned as residential and will enable him to improve his loan terms with his financing company. If the commission does not pass the charter amendment on second reading, Jan. 4, Moore says he will most likely close his business. If it is passed Moore’s property will change from C-1 commercial to R-6SF residential (six units per acre, Moore’s restaurant is a .89 acre site).
Several planning and zoning board members have contested the re-zone issue. The majority expressed concern that if Moore’s is rezoned residential and then the restaurant closes, another restaurant may not be able to open again in its place. The town planner has said that if the property remains zoned C-1 there is no guarantee it will remain a restaurant and other uses such as a beauty parlor may be placed at the site. Other planning and zoning board members were concerned that if the restaurant is re-zoned residential, that other commercial properties will attempt to do the same, and that if the town does not grant it, they are vulnerable to litigation.
