Redgrave resigns P&Z seat

‘The Islandside Property Owners’ Coalition was forced to spend money on the Town’s process. They could sue us for everything.’  — Gene Jaleski

STEPHEN REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com

Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board Member John Redgrave resigned immediately on Thursday, March 4, upon learning that he did not meet the residency requirement to sit on a Town board. The fact that Redgrave has lived at Glenridge Retirement Community and has been homesteaded there over the past five years has raised the accusation that the entire Key Club redevelopment hearing in front of the Planning and Zoning Board lacked propriety and the Town could face a challenge.

The issue came to a head when Longboat Key News was provided evidence that Redgrave, while registered to vote on Longboat Key, signed Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Applications with the Sarasota County Property Appraiser that stated he resided at Glenridge since 2005.

Louie Guinart, managing director for the Sarasota County Property Appraiser, confirmed the annual applications and that said affidavits confirmed his residency in Glenridge.

Redgrave told Longboat Key News Thursday evening that he was unaware that the exemption application constituted residency and said that he thought the fact that he continued to vote on Longboat Key satisfied the requirement to sit on the Planning and Zoning Board.

Town Clerk Trish Granger said that as of Feb. 16, 2010, Redgrave was registered to vote on Longboat Key.

According to Kathy Dent, Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections, Redgrave has been notified by mail that her office, “…has received information that the residential address listed in the Florida Voter Registration System is not your legal residence.”

The letter goes on to say that if he does not refute this information and provide evidence at an administrative hearing that it may result in the removal of his name in the Florida Voter Registration System.

Redgrave had lived on the key for 16 years at the Players Club before selling his condominium to his son in 2005. When he decided to seek a seat on the Planning and Zoning Board, Redgrave said he thought he met the Longboat Key residency requirement by renting a room at the condominium from his son.

Redgrave said he was unaware that residency necessarily goes along with homestead exemption and added that when he learned of his violation on March 4, he mailed a letter of resignation and informed Town Attorney Dave Persson that he was stepping down effective immediately.

Redgrave was nominated to the Planning and Zoning Board by the Town Commission March 2, 2009. At the time, Commissioners Lee Rothenberg, Peter O’Connor, Joan Webster and Hal Lenobel voted in support of Redgrave and Commissioners Randy Clair and George Spoll did not support his appointment.

The entire issue is of “grave concern” for Islandside Property Owners’ Coalition President Bob White since Redgrave made the motion to pass the Longboat Key Club proposal on to the Town Commission. The motion carried in a 4-3 vote with Redgrave voting in affirmation.

“It calls into question the integrity of the Planning and Zoning Board hearing as well as the integrity of that vote,” said White.

For Commissioner Gene Jaleski, the matter puts the Town at great risk.

“He was illegitimate on that board, his vote was illegal, and the whole vote from the Planning and Zoning Board was illegitimate. IPOC was forced to spend money on the Town’s process, they could sue us for everything,” said Jaleski.

Redgrave said the issue of the homestead never came up and he wishes someone would have mentioned it when he assumed the Planning & Zoning post.

“The discussion I got into was it is a second home. A number of people approached me and said why don’t you do this, get on the P&Z, and I was trying to put some of my background into the discussion and try to calm things down on the board,” said Redgrave.

Redgrave has a long political history on the Key, having served 10 years as a Town commissioner and was part of the board that rewrote the Comprehensive Plan in 1996. He is known for his avid love of tennis and the Town Tennis Center and moved to Glenridge to help care for and support his wife, who subsequently passed away.

Redgrave says he cannot homestead at the Players Club for two reasons: first, because it is his son’s property and secondly, because of the economic pressure involved in relinquishing his residency status at Glenridge.

White wrote in a memo late Thursday evening that John Redgrave’s ineligibility to serve “Casts a cloud over the deliberations and the decision of the Board on an issue of critical importance, and potential impact, to the community as well as the integrity of the process in which he cast a deciding vote. His motives for seeking an appointment to this position as well as his substantial contributions to a candidate for Town Commission are now called into question. The procedures for verifying the eligibility of candidates for Town Boards also appears to be inadequate.”

Persson said Redgrave’s resignation takes effect immediately and the Town Commission will have to appoint a resident to fill the vacancy. Persson said he expects the matter will be addressed at the next Commission workshop on March 19.