Colony owners hope for occupancy

The town compiled a report in May detailing the issues that need to be addressed before units at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort could be re-occupied. It totaled 85 pages.

But, some Colony unit owners hope to move forward and re-open a limited number of units.

“We have seen some activity related to improvements,” Town Manager David Bullock told the Longboat Key Town Commission at its Monday, July 2 regular meeting of the 237-unit property at which longtime Colony owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber is currently the sole occupant. “Nothing that would trigger a permit.”

Colony Beach & Tennis Association board member Blake Fleetwood confirmed to the Longboat Observer that two weeks earlier, the board voted to assess unit owners $1,000 each to maintain $237,000 as a contingency toward re-opening a limited number of units in the Association’s current budget. The Association is considering re-opening at least 40 units, Fleetwood said.

Bullock told the commission that the town’s role is centered only on codes.

But the idea still generated discussion among commissioners, many who had questions about the legal disputes surrounding the property.

“How can we grant permits when the ownership of the property is in question?” asked Commissioner Lynn Larson.

Town Attorney David Persson said that the issue isn’t the ownership of units; it’s who operates the Colony. Unit owners own their units and have the right to make changes to them if they meet codes.

Persson told the commission that he couldn’t estimate when legal issues could be resolved.

“To say it’s a mess is a gross understatement,” he said.

Some unit owners contend that the conditions of their units are inhabitable.

But Mayor Jim Brown worried that the re-opening units was an attempt by unit owners to meet the Dec. 31 deadline set by the commission for the Colony to re-open without losing its grandfathered tourism units. In March, commissioners warned the Colony parties that they would not extend that deadline again if they haven’t reached it by the end of the year.

“Who wants to go there and live in that declining, decaying ... I don’t even want to call it a resort right now?” Brown asked.

The mayor said he wanted to send a message to the parties that the commission is looking for resolution. He wondered if the commission was placing undue pressure on the parties.

But Commissioner Phill Younger described it as a “Catch-22” situation, comparing the parties to fighting cats in a bag: The town could place pressure on the parties or sit back and watch them fight out their issues.

“I don’t see one good answer, to tell you the truth,” Younger said.

One issue the parties will likely agree on is that they don’t want to lose the tourism designation, which could ultimately limit the property to approximately 100 units. Bullock told the commission that he anticipates an application by September to extend the property’s tourism use.

The town’s May report included various violations of the state’s building and life safety codes that need to be corrected. It stated that an engineer should inspect the water and wastewater facilities, including the privately owned lift station.

It also includes a bill that lists a $202,874.53 outstanding utility balance for the entire property. According to a memo from Finance Director Tom Kelley, each building has a master meter, so the entire balance for all units in each building must be made before service is restored to that building.