It’s a Brave New World on Longboat Key
The only fast and true decision that the sitting Commission has made relative to the Key Club is to grant continuances.
STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher sreid@lbknews.com
Witnessing the meanderings of the Longboat Key Club application is so grueling and migraine-inducing that Jean Paul Sartre will wake from the dead and rewrite “No Exit” as one interminable Commission hearing. It is like driving railroad spikes into each side of your head. And no end is in sight.
Now the very rules and regulations the plan is being considered against are destined to be reviewed and rewritten because the applicant has found them vague and open to interpretation.And the reasons are simple only if one is prone to simple interpretations.The Key Club is doing what a property owner should and ought to do relative to this application. It is seeking to maximize its value, gain approval for the most valuable zon- ing allocations the Town will approve and is trying to avoid having the process bog down in court.Whether one agrees with the plan or not, they are entitled to ask and push for the proposal.
Role playing in Town Hall
The role of Town staff is to vet the application against the existing body of land-use and zoning regulations, the constraints of the agreements of the planned develop- ment and compliance with the overarching and control- ling document of Town land-use, the Comprehensive Plan.
The problem for the Club is the application is in conflict with numerous edicts of Town Code. That is because the existing Comprehensive Plan was set up to “Keep Longboat Longboat” vis a vis maintaining a low intensity community with a limited and controlled amount of commercial development and a cap on resi- dential population.The reason the Key Club can add new units and avoid the density cap is because it has been interpreted that residual unused and unallocated density exists at Islandside as well as at Harbouside. Basically, the Islandside Planned Unit Development was built out and less density was used than was permitted.
When originally developed and over the past 20 years, a spacious, open Islandside was desired with an emphasis on open land and REID recreational amenities.That is why there is an existing 5% cap on non-residential development. The Key Club seeks to multiply many times over the amount of non-residen- tial development and that is one of the underlying and toughest issues.
Many residents are saying reject the plan and “Keep Longboat Longboat.” Others are saying that we need more tourists and more residential units. Even though the Commission and voters approved adding 300 tour- ism units to the Key and not one has been built, many people say even more are needed and now.They also see the applicant as willing to raise and spend money on the plan and that is a perceived as a precious opportunity not be squandered — especially in a darkened economy. The opponents say the money and hotel and plan is completely out of scale and the long-term cost in alter- ing the Key will mar the island forever.And so it goes.
Amend and thou shalt not break
What recently has come to light is that the modi- fied plan, if it is to go forward, will require more than just departures, but waivers for some of the requests. Waivers require a higher threshold to approve by the Commission, however much they want to vote “yes.” Waivers must be proven through hardship on the part of the applicant. Hardship is not met by citing economic necessity or desirability or public good. The only way around granting waivers and the way to make the plan less rife with departures is to send the Town’s very codes and ordinances that are in conflict with the plan to the planning and zoning board and request they be amended. If the Commission allows that, and I have been told four Commissioners have already agreed to do just that, the planning and zoning board can suggest amend- ing the Town’s regulations. The Commission then will likely approve those code changes and voila — a plan with far fewer departures and a plan not needing waivers can prevail.
If the adopted code changes are major enough that they are in conflict with the current Comprehensive Plan, it will have to be amended and voted upon as well. The process, especially if the Comprehensive Plan is amended, could take months and months.
In many ways the Commission is to blame for the mess. The town attorney suggested at many intervals that they could in concert with hearing the Key Club application, consider amending the Comprehensive Plan.The attorney made the same suggestion to the plan- ning and zoning board.That would have vetted the rules and regulations against the desires of the board and the community.
Averse to decisions, the Commission will down the road have less of a decision to make because if the fundamental codes are altered, the applicant’s proposal will be more harmonious with amended Town rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, the Key Club’s application has been con- tinued to an indefinite date.They may pull the plan some day, or wait it out and watch the boards wallow with amending the Town codes. Remember, the only fast and true decision that the sitting Commission has made rela- tive to the Key Club is to grant continuances.
So to everyone’s distress — those opposed and those in favor — the clock keeps circling.We all move closer to our certain graves and instead of the waters clearing they are growing muddier. Now the Town will certainly spend tens of thousands of dollars examining the codes and paying legal fees and staff time to do so.The Key Club may offer to pay for the process, but it is not incum- bent on them.
At least for those opposed to the plan, those who enjoy the open space, driving range and the view across the oak trees as they enter our island, they can rejoice. For the next several months, while the land-use regula- tions that were once written to prohibit intense devel- opment on this once very restrictive Key are rewritten, Longboat will remain Longboat.
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Tennis, everyone!
There is something on Longboat Key we can all agree on: the newly constructed Town Public Tennis Center is a true asset and well-built facility and worthy of our ongoing support. I urge everyone – from hearty tennis aficionados to the most cynical taxpayers to come out this Sunday, Feb. 28 at noon for a grand opening celebra- tion.Think of it as a community endeavor — a way we can mingle and marvel at an operation that has grown from but an idea in the starry eyes of Dick Shlorf and John Mrachek to a fully functional and self-funded facility.
It is rare for government to work so seamlessly.The Commission served the community well in allowing it to happen; Naples contractor Craig-Boran built the facility for less than the Town ever thought would be bid; the magnificent oak trees were preserved; tennis players on the Key give it a complete thumbs up and the viewing platform helps hacks such as myself think I am working on my serve while sipping iced tea.
To continue with Shlorf and Mrachek — they are humble and grow embarrassed when praise is lavished on them, but all I can say is a collective and Town-wide “thank you” for a job well done and the spirit of hard work that moved a community and a Commission to say “yes” to something this and the next generation of Longboaters will enjoy.
