Is the present a harbinger of the future?
AL GREEN
Contributing Columnist
green@lbknews.com
One of the various ways I keep up with the goings-on 1,100 miles away is with e-mails. E-mails go both ways, and I can get a glimpse of what is happening just from reading my mail.
I got a few e-mails telling me why they and all of their neighbors voted for the Key Club. The essence of the messages was that the people at Islandside were “rich, selfish bastards.” I am sure they have their share of bastards, and from the price of the condos I won’t argue the rich designation. I just don’t figure the selfish part. They were simply trying to have some control over their own living space. Why my correspondents felt it in their interests to attack that is pure conjecture. It might probably be just a flavor of the libertarianism and negativism mixed with a bit of populism that is being reflected in the politics countrywide.
However, I did receive an interesting communication from a long-time reader and friend. She enquired if I could predict who was in greater danger from this current more permissive climate, the condo owner or the single-family homeowner.
For the moment, it will be the commercial and tourist area that will see the most change. The changes will not be as dramatic as the $400 million country club expansion, but there will be changes.
For example, a vital clause in the Sign Code when we worked on it 15 years ago was the elimination of neon signs on the Key. This was a cornerstone item in beautifying and containing the signage on GMD. This has quietly been changed, and now all you need to do if you want neon signs is put a piece of glass in front of it.
Of course there will be much more. Commissioner Dave Brenner can hardly restrain himself in planning additional departures. The sky is the limit. I doubt if we will get a casino on the island—that is unless the Seminole Indians buy the Colony—but if one were proposed, you could easily count on at least five who would vote for it.
However, for the moment, let us address my friend’s query and think about the residential portion.
Condominiums are generally protected from any major change in their operation by their own documents. Since these require a substantial percentage, usually at least 75 percent of the owners, to make any changes, they will not be vulnerable to this current commission. The only exception to this is Harbourside. There, according to the new math, they have about 800 unallocated units waiting for the second shoe to drop.
This is not the same for the other single-family dwellings. At present, single-family homes are protected by the code restriction that requires a minimum of 30 days stay for a rental. Since nothing can change a single-family residential area like the in and outs of short-term rentals, this is potentially a big problem.
I expect this clause will be challenged whenever the commissioners get around to it. For years, Harry Christensen, owner of Harry’s Continental Kitchens, has contended that if this rule were waived for the non-high season months, Longboat Key would be flooded with Europeans, and everyone in business would make a fortune. Surely he won’t let the existence of a compliant P&Z Board and Town Commission go to waste. Look for this to surface this fall.
Even without the change, I expect that a town manager would find it worth his job to suggest to the one lonely code enforcement officer that she concern herself with the observance of this code. It should be noted that the commissioners avoided any discussion as to whether the new condos they approved in Islandside will have to comply with the residency regulations.
There is already too much of the town’s square footage devoted to commercial, so I don’t see any drive to expand this. However, you can probably expect to see a broadening of the usage of this space.
For example, the current code doesn’t permit any chain take-out place like a McDonald’s or Taco Bell. At this juncture, it seems likely in this climate the only thing keeping them away is their own financial acumen, not the town’s readiness to maintain their current rules. Given the current concern for commercial property owners, it could be said, “ask and it shall be given.”
It is important to remember that all of the possibilities listed above were allowed when the town was first incorporated. The changes that forestalled any of this occurring came only when a group of citizens decided to take the future into their own hands and started an organization called PIC. During the eighties and nineties, it was difficult if not impossible to be elected to the Town Commission without the backing of PIC. Their policy could be summed up in few words: Longboat Key was to be a residential community with just enough commercial activity to satisfy the local population. During this period, real estate values on the Key rose 800 percent.
If the people NOP (North of Publix) come to a realization that they are just cutting off their nose to spite their face in demanding a change in this policy, all of this might simmer down; but it will take another citizen action group and a few elections before this could occur.
The damage to date is dramatic, hopefully not terminal.
Click here for more Green Reports.
Editor’s Note: This column should have reported that Harry Christensen of Harry’s Continental Kitchens is not in favor of short-term rentals in residential areas and agrees with the 30-day rental rule. (Updated July 16, 2010.)
