P&Z seeks rules that could preclude Unicorp’s Colony plan

Although the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort has been closed more than six years, the Town of Longboat Key is still struggling with a land use policy to consider a redevelopment proposal.

The town Planning and Zoning Board met last week to consider proposals for a Planned Unit Development process that could be used to evaluate a Colony redevelopment plan as well as redevelopment plans from other multi-acre properties that might like to seek to redevelop.

Planning and Zoning Director Alaina Ray brought forth an ordinance for consideration that was drafted following numerous meetings where both the Planning and Zoning board and the Town Commission gave input. Ray was rebuked at the meting last Tuesday and was accused of bringing forth an ordinance that did not reflect what the Planning and Zoning Board wished to accomplish.

The criticism and demand for a radical change in direction was made by Planning and Zoning Board Chair Jim Brown when it came to an issue that would very likely have a direct impact on what kind of Colony resort would be allowed to redevelop.

Ray proffered Planned Unit Development rules that would allow a redevelopment of the Colony or any other multi-acre tourism zoned property to propose a redevelopment that could have residential, tourism or mixed used elements.

That thinking evolved from two specific sources. First, the Town Commission and Planning and Zoning Board, as well as town staff have discussed for years that future redevelopment of properties such as the Colony, The Whitney Beach Plaza and large aging condominiums would be best served to modernize, invest and redevelop using a redevelopment process that allowed for larger unit sizes to reflect modern market tastes, as well as a possible mix of zoning to create mixed use flexibility.

The other source for Ray’s Planned Unit Development approach is in the very definition she provided which states that Planned Unit Developments allow the consideration of a proposal to foster flexibility in approach to height, setbacks, and other regulations to allow the best use of a particular site. Her definition also states that the Planned Unit Development process anticipates the creative mix of uses and demands that the developer/applicant make a convincing case as to how these uses are compatible and function to produce a superior results over simply straight zoning.

 

Colony must not be mixed use says Brown…

But at the meeting, Chairman Brown told Ray that the Planned Unit Development rules she brought for consideration were incorrect for Longboat Key and needed to be fundamentally changed.

“Applicants need to follow the law and build at the density allowed. If they want to show us a Planned Unit Development and how creative they are or can be, then they have to maintain the existing use. We created the 250 tourism unit pool to offset the losses of tourism on the key. We want a PUD that allows flexibility, not the ability to go residential,” said Brown.

Brown and fellow board member George Symanski agreed and Brown told Ray that the ordinance should not allow currently zoned tourism properties, such as the Colony, to be eligible to add mixed uses or residential uses or density and that he believed the community wished to see its tourism properties remain strictly tourism.

Ray responded to Brown’s assertion, “When we held joint meetings between the Planning Board and the Commission, we had a lot of conversation about allowing mixed use. We decided to allow developers to make that decision.”

Brown told Ray that she, “Came up with a stronger feeling about mixed use than we meant. There are very few areas on the key that could be considered. The danger is, you put it out there and I don’t want that.”

Symanski agreed with Brown, “It’s unfair; it’s supposed to be planning what you’ve got. I’ve been asking for a pure tourism zoning district since the day I was born.”

Brown then continued in saying that Longboat Key wants to be a low density key and he added that developers will maximize any site they have.

“We allowed that (too much density) recently (at the former Hilton). I don’t know how that was allowed to happen, but it did,” said Brown.

Board member Len Garner said that zoning density and intensity are the two strong considerations when developing land use parameters.

The request made by Chairman Brown would completely disallow the redevelopment plan for the Colony that Unicorp President Chuck Whittall has successfully negotiated with the Board of directors and the 237 unit owners are currently voting on. That proposal offers to pay each owner $138,000 for their unit and additional monies for beachfront units. More importantly, the proposal is directly predicated on redeveloping the Colony using what could best be called the “Ritz Carlton” model which calls for a blend of residential condominium units and a luxury hotel sharing amenities on the 17.2-acre Gulf front site.

Last week, Whittall spent about an hour before the town commission explaining he was seeking 180-unit tourism/hotel along with 180 condominium units and he would have to go before voters for approval of the residential units.

It was one week later that Chairman Brown urged changes to the Planned Unit Development process that would not allow any residential use on a site such as the Colony.

Whittall was surprised by the direction Brown had taken.

“I feel that the town developing rules that would preclude the redevelopment of the property using a mixed residential and tourism use would deprive both me and the owners of their rights and would lower the value of the property tremendously,” said Whittall.

Whittall explained that the tourism market today does not support the development of a five-star resort without a residential component. He said the residential units provide the necessary capital to build the level of amenities and the kind of resort that is on par with the Key Club or Ritz-Carlton. He said he was under the impression that the commission was seeking the highest and best use for the property and that such a mix would lower traffic since residential uses less traffic than tourism and would ultimately bring the top tier resort to the island.

 

Mixed directions

The fact that the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning board is seeking land development language that would not allow the plan that Unicorp has promulgated for the last two years and now has before unit owners for a final vote is further compounded by the fact that on Monday, Sept. 26, Whittall is slated to go before the town commission and discuss his plans for a referendum to ask Longboat Key voters for permission to build up to 180 residential units at a future Colony. If Whitttall is successful and the unit owners approve his redevelopment plan, he could hit a roadblock if the town does not have a redevelopment process in place to consider a residential and tourism mixed use resort property.

To add to the swirl of redevelopment conundrums is the fact that Manfred Welfonder, who has been proposing to redevelop the Colony with the exact same number of units that were historically on site and that have been grandfathered, is still seeking to find his own path to redevelopment. The Colony Board of Directors and Redevelopment Board long ago considered Manfred’s plan and it was rejected after a meeting at the Temple Beth Israel wherein Whittall represented Unicorp and Welfonder told the unit owners exactly how they wished to redevelop the property and how much they would be willing to pay each unit owner to buy them out. Whittall at that meeting said he was prepared to pay $138,000 for each unit and a premium for waterfront and beachfront units. Welfonder, when pressed, said that each unit owners would be paid in the neighborhood of $50,000. They went with Whittal.

In the background of this discussion is the fact that Longboat Key voters recently rejected a request to allow a 120-unit hotel on the north end of the key. Also part of the equation, the former Hilton is slated to reopen with double the hotel rooms it previously had, as the Zota Beach Resort by year’s end. Another fact is voters allowed the Longboat Key Club to build several hundred additional tourism units for another hotel to be built along New Pass on Key Club property.  Several residents have indicated that many Longboaters use their properties as tourism units using online sites such as VRBO or AirBNB.

The above calls into the debate whether Longboat Key wants additional tourism and traffic or if it might prefer a residential and tourism mix. Others have argued the town should not make that decision but should set an upper ceiling for the number of units it would want to see on a site and let the developer bring the strongest proposal they can for consideration.

The Planning and Zoning Board will consider revisions next month to the Planned Unit Development ordinance. Meanwhile, the commission will consider Unicorp’s request for residential density on Monday, Sept. 26.