Country Club Shores residents organize against exceptions to Key height restrictions

Construction of a home in Country Club Shores has local residents taking action.

The two-story home on Halyard Lane includes an enclosed elevator shaft that reaches about 10 feet above the 30-foot height limit established for single-family homes on Longboat Key.

Language in the town code allows elevator shafts as an exception to the height limit. Other exceptions include enclosed stairwells and television antennas.

Though the structure in question is not the only exception to the height limit in Country Club Shores, it is the largest.

Former Town Commissioner Lynn Larson was elected president of the Homeowners Association in Section 4 of Country Club Shores last month. She said the HOA canvassed the neighborhood and hosted a meeting last week to discuss the property.

“There was an overwhelmingly negative response to this structure,” Larson said.

Members of the HOA are currently working with an attorney to establish a restriction against structures that are built above the 30-foot height limit in their section of the neighborhood. 

On Monday, the Town Commission will consider adjustments to the town’s height restrictions, recommended by the Planning and Zoning Board, to minimize the impact that these structures have on neighboring properties.

The recommendations include reducing the square footage of structures that are exceptions to the 30-foot height limit from 15% of the roof area to 10%, which is the minimum required by the Florida Building Code.

According to Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray, the square footage of the structure on Halyard Lane is less than that minimum.

The recommendations also restrict the height of the structures to the “minimum required to provide the allowable uses,” and limits stairwells to a single run.

At a workshop meeting last week, Commissioner Armando Linde expressed concern for the allowance of structures like the enclosed elevator shaft on the home on Halyard Lane, which he called “totally out of sync with the character of the neighborhood,” as Country Club Shores has many single-story homes.

Ray explained that structures like these have been allowed under the code since 1977.

“It’s not a matter of us allowing it,” Ray said. “It is allowed.”