Key Club offers final plan
Club seeks to amend ordinance to add five condo villas to north parcel. IPOC President Bob White says group will not sign off on idea.
The Key Club says it needs units on its North parcel to make the plan work. CREDIT: Steve Reid
STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com
The Longboat Key Club has made a final formal attempt at compromise and submitted an amended redevelopment proposal Thursday, June 24, to Town Hall.
The Key Club’s amended plan puts back all but 10 of the units that were cut in the version of the plan that passed first reading by the Town Commission two weeks ago. By putting units in five villas on the north parcel, moving the wellness center to the north parcel and building a seven-story condominium on the south parcel, the Key Club hopes to make the plan financially viable while winning over the support of Town Planning, Zoning and Building Director Monica Simpson and ideally, the Islandside Property Owner’s Coalition (IPOC) as well.
As it stands, the commission is destined to vote at 5:01 p.m. Monday, June 28, in a second reading of the ordinance that was crafted by Mayor George Spoll and staff. That ordinance removed all residential development from the north parcel, rendering the project financially unviable according to the Key Club.
Key Club attorney John Patterson explained Thursday afternoon the club’s process, hope and strategy.
“We used our design team and went through numerous modifications to see how we could make this work. We found in the process the number of units you can get on a seven-story building on the south parcel was limited,” said Patterson.
Patterson added that the Spoll-Simpson plan that was approved on first reading allowed the lost units in theory to be placed on the south parcel, but the constraints of parking and the practical matter of staying within the proposed parking structure precluded further expansion on that site.
“So we explored and made numerous tweaks literally working non-stop and concluded this plan that we presented today could work by adding villas on the north parcel that lay out very nicely. We do not know if it is a superior plan to our original, we lose 10 units and some of the synergy of having the wellness center next to the hotel is lost. But the benefits are that the villas have about the same height and mass as some of the residential buildings on the north GPD,” said Patterson.
Patterson said there are no departures requested on the north parcel, which might also be compelling for Simpson and commissioners.
“This should work for IPOC and should work for the town,” said Patterson.
IPOC responds
IPOC President Bob White said the Key Club’s latest revisions are “a non-starter as far as we are concerned.” He characterized the Key Club’s changes as putting the mass and scale back into the plan and amounting to little more than “rearranging the deck chairs.”
White said Mayor Spoll’s proposal was as far as IPOC was willing to compromise, and he added that Lighthouse Point residents are also not inclined to lend any credence to the most recent proposal.
The town has several decisions it must make relative to the proposal at both a staff and commission level. Patterson made clear the club fully seeks Simpson’s approval or acknowledgment that the plan can be interpreted as compliant with the Comprehensive Plan. That interpretation, if met with an affirmative vote of the Town Commission, could help undercut IPOC’s challenge.
As of Thursday mid-afternoon, Simpson said she did receive the Key Club’s revised plan, but she said she will not and has not been asked to make a formal analysis of its compliance, in part she said that would be difficult since many of the necessary calculations that demonstrate compliance or non-compliance are lacking. Simpson said the apropos time for her to consider any revisions to the already revised plan is “when the target stops moving.”
The fact is that the Key Club’s revisions, unless or until they are championed as amendments by one of the sitting commissioners at Monday’s meeting, are not on the agenda to be considered.
So what can residents expect Monday at 5:01 p.m. in the Temple? According to Town Attorney David Persson, the Town Commission has several options. One is if a majority votes in support of the Spoll-Simpson plan, that approval would stand. Another option is any or all commissioners can offer up amendments to the Simpson-Spoll plan, thereby crafting a revised proposal. If that is the case, and commissioners on Monday night agree on some form of an approval, Persson and staff would redraft the ordinance and the meeting would continue to a second reading at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 30.
Patterson said that one of the commissioners would have to more or less champion the Key Club’s revised plan in the form of amendments. The Key Club cannot make amendments or offer amendments—only the commission has that ability. The club, in addition to sending its proposed revised plan to Simpson, also sent it to Persson. Persson will forward the applicant’s proposed revisions and proposal to commissioners on Friday, June 25, and he will likely elucidate how commissioners can go about amending the ordinance if they so desire.
The money game
Another issue to be resolved is the ultimate financial cost, or exaction, the Key Club could be required to pay the town for an approval. Under the current Spoll-Simpson plan, the club would pay a total of approximately $6 million, which includes Gulf of Mexico Drive beautification and a fee for re-zoning the land and using recreational open space. In the original Key Club plan, the club contributed a total of $2.5 to $3 million to the town.
One idea reportedly under consideration is for the club to offer the town up to a $1 million credit for usage of the future meeting center for public events and not-for-profits.
