STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com

Vice Mayor Dave Brenner suggested at Monday’s Town Commission Workshop that the Town look into Long Bar Pointe development proposed for the Manatee County shoreline near Tidy Island.

Developers Larry Lieberman and Medallion Homes’ Carlos Beruff want to build a mixed-use development on 463.2 acres that includes single and multi-family units, hotel, marina, office and commercial space and a conference center. The plan also proposes a 300-slip marina for boats up to 100 feet.

The site overlooks Sarasota Bay and parallels El Conquistador Parkway where 75th Street West intersects with 53rd Avenue West. The undeveloped shoreline and adjacent land was farmed for decades by Manatee Fruit Co.

Almost 300 acres of the property are situated in the Coastal High Hazard area. The proposed development would require amending the county’s Comprehensive Plan.

The Manatee County Commission earlier this month postponed a hearing on the Long Bar Pointe project to Aug. 6. But at the same meeting of the postponed Long Bar Point consideration, the board passed 5 to 2 a Comprehensive Plan change to create an “urban service area” that frees Long Bar Pointe developers from a higher level planning review known as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI).

The DRI review refers to large-scale developments that affect more than one county or jurisdiction such as Lakewood Ranch and Heritage Harbour, both of which were forced to undergo a Development of Regional Impact review process. The newly created Urban Service Area includes all of the Long Bar Pointe project site.

Manatee County Commission Chairman Larry Bustle and Commissioners Carol Whitmore, John Chappie, Betsy Benac and Vanessa Baugh all voted in favor of the Comprehensive Plan change creating the urban service area and exempting Long Bar Pointe from the additional review process. Commissioners Michael Gallen and Robin DiSabatino voted against the measure.

The public hearing on the Long Bar Pointe development was postponed to Aug. 6.

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Town Manager Dave Bullock said the issue was on Monday’s Commission Workshop agenda solely to give staff clarity on policy intent. Bullock said that when the Commission modified the Comprehensive Plan language and removed the telecommunication hierarchy evaluation method, it left him wondering if the Commission still wanted the hierarchy based language which puts cell towers as the least desirable possible solution for telecommunication issues in the land development regulations.

Commissioner Terry Gans said when the Commission removed the language from the Comprehensive Plan, it was under the premise that the hierarchy would be in the land use codes.

The rest of the Commission agreed and Bullock was instructed to follow the hierarchy approach.

Then resident and former Mayor Jeremy Whatmough asked why the new draft cell tower ordinance allowed a 120-foot tower on private property and 110 feet on public land. Bullock later said that those heights were lifted from a study the town had contracted. The planning and zoning board will consider the cell tower language and regulations on Tuesday, June 18. Any changes made by the planning and zoning board are non-binding and merely of an advisory nature. The Commission will have the authority to adopt or modify any language as it sees fit.

Longboat resident and former Commissioner Gene Jaleski suggested the Commission broaden the conversation beyond just talking about cell towers. Jaleski spoke of the legal mandate to consider all technologies and remain neutral in emerging technologies. He suggested we create a community task force on the issue since no one is an expert.

“There is no need to move forward, we are legal. No pressing need to move forward. No rush. No applications. Let’s look what is available,” Jaleski said.

Jaleski suggested the Town look at a recent Town Attorney’s memo (see separate post) and accomplish answering those questions first. “We need to define the level of service we are after, not merely address infrastructure. I think you are not doing your homework here and I worry an applicant will come forward,” said Jaleski.

Then Sarasota attorney Mike Furen asked why the Town has not hired a telecommunications expert in developing its code. Furen said staff had admitted it does not have the expertise to evaluate applications.

“I suggest they do not have the expertise to write Comprehensive Plan amendments and telecommunication code. Get them on board before you have a code to consider. We are drafting a code with folks who admit they do not have the expertise to write telecommunication code writing,” said Furen.

Vice Mayor Dave Brenner told Planning and Zoning Board Chair BJ Webb that if early on the Planning and Zoning Board members feel they need help, they ought to get a consultant.

Gans asked where the telecommunications ordinance draft language planning and zoning will have before them came from. “Does it have background or expertise behind it?”

Bullock said its genesis goes back at least eight months. Bullock said the hierarchy addresses all modes of telecommunications including DAS and Towers and others. Bullock said in October staff suggested a hierarchical approach and the Commission wanted them to go down that path. Bullock said the heights proposed are right out of the TE Connectivity study.

Gans then said, “There is always another expert one can turn to. One of the things I object to is the accusation that we have not been doing our homework. We have continued to have an open mind. My comments over the past few weeks is that I felt we were going down an anti-cell tower policy.”

Jaleski told the Commission of the many ways small cell telecommunication solutions are superior in his analysis to cell tower as a solution — if one is needed at all — for Longboat Key gaps in coverage. He spoke of cost, lower aesthetic impact and the fact that small cell can deliver wifi and other services. He asked the Commission to vet and understand the technology before changing cell tower regulations that would open more sites and remove the height controls from the Comprehensive Plan.

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STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com

Longboat Key Public Works Director Juan Florensa apprised the Town Commission on the state of the beach and the state of the Town’s stalled beach renourishment policy.

The renourishing of hotspots and sand for two planned groins is on hold after bids came in at 40% over budget.

The reason for the high bids, according to staff, is the consequence of Hurricane Sandy and the near $1 billion in sand projects that has the industry using all of its equipment to fulfill numerous contracts. In short: the dredges are in high demand and we would have to pay an additional $4 million mobilization cost to get a barge and dredger to our area from the Northeast where they are located.

The Town Manager recommended and the Commission decided to hold off on the planned renourishment and instead Florensa gave a State of the Beach report at the Monday, June 17 workshop.

Florensa said the Villa Am Meer residence has an 85-foot beach and is in a high erosion area. Villa De Lancia has a nearly 300-foot beach from high water line to the nearest shoreline structure on the property.

Sea Place has 210 feet of dry beach and marks the southernmost point that would have received sand from the beach renourishment on hold.

Next, Florensa showed pictures taken showing water inundating a seawall. Also, reported Florensa, the seawall along Longbeach Condominiums eroded behind the seawall.

Town Manager Dave Bullock summed up the situation: “We were unable to bring in a reasonably priced contract. The question we have is what level of protection of upland structure do we provide? The presence of seawalls is a factor, but not enough. We have some critical areas that need attention and we need to get on it. That being said, it is hard to spend $13 million for a $9 million project.”

As a going-forward strategy, Bullock said his intent is to combine the structures, the renourishment the Town had planned and combine them into one larger project that would not occur until next year. “There is some exposure,” Bullock added referring to the possibility of structural flooding or damage if a large storm came through.

Bullock said he had asked three Town-contracted beach engineers what to do and Olsen Engineering gave the clearest direction. Their recommendation was not to accept the bid and thought the cost was not justified. They recommend the Town change our areas we talked about and make it a bigger project said Bullock.

State of the groin structures

Bullock said he believes we are making progress toward getting the state Department of Environmental Protection permit. Bullock said the state has all the information necessary to approve or deny the permit. Florensa said they could issue the permit as soon as this summer. As for the Federal approval, the Town is waiting for the requisite questions from Federal agencies that must be answered prior to approval.

As an alternative idea, resident and former Commissioner Gene Jaleski suggested micro dredging be considered wherein, as he explained, a one-man operation for less than $1 million per year moves sand from prolific areas to sand starved areas and works the coastline year-round optimizing the shoreline with a small dredge.

On the wildlife front, resident Larry Grossman said the current beach profile and escarpments are not conducive to turtle nesting and are causing obstacles.

The Commission gave Bullock consensus to follow his beach plan for a larger project next year.

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STEVE REID

A Longboat Key town commission work group consisting of residents, commissioners and planning and zoning board members has finalized the questions to be asked of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in order to give the consultant its task in determining how Longboat should proceed into the future.

The refined questions were finalized on June 14 and approved by the Town Commission at a Monday, June 17 workshop. Now that the commission approved the questions, they will be forwarded to the ULI, and the ULI will return to Longboat Key in October to spend a week performing an intensive community evaluation and analysis. Then the ULI will provide a summary report and a final written report to the Commission.

The Commission hopes the results will provide implementable solutions to everything from zoning and land use policy to whether the town needs a community center. In fact, the group that refined the questions added a final tenth question on Friday, June 14 to specifically ask the ULI if and what kind of community center would best serve Longboat Key and how the town should go about its development.

Click here for approved and complete ULI questions and Contract

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Click on any page image below to open and click again to zoom in.

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The community celebration features food, music, children’s games and a brief parade. The town commission has asked for the approval since it is property owner of the street and town hall facility where the event will be held.

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