'The end for IPOC'?

The state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has no objections to the Comprehensive Plan amendments the town proposed relating to the Longboat Key Club and Resort Islandside renovation-and-expansion project.

Key Club attorney John Patterson said the DCA’s lack of objections means the central argument of the Islandside Property Owners Coalition (IPOC) has been eradicated.

“It’s essentially the end for IPOC,” Patterson said. “If anyone had any doubts of the eventual outcome, they won’t anymore.”

Town attorney David Persson agreed.

“It’s pretty evident to me the process the town is heading in will be ultimately successful,” Persson said. “The question is, how much the process will be slowed down until we reach the final conclusion.”

IPOC President Bob White said he does not agree with either Patterson’s or Persson’s assessment of IPOC’s demise.

“The report was disappointing but not unexpected,” said White, who said his coalition is most likely moving onto two other pending legal challenges in Sarasota’s 12th Judicial Circuit Court.

IPOC and its attorneys have stated since the Islandside project was proposed in April 2008 that Longboat Key’s Comp Plan does not allow a mix of uses or density clustering in planned unit developments, such as Islandside.

IPOC filed an appeal with the DCA in July, challenging Town Commission-approved changes to the town code that affected the estimated $400 million Islandside project.

The DCA ruled in October that the town’s code changes were partly inconsistent, because it wasn’t clear that non-residential uses and densities are allowed by the Comp Plan, even though they currently exist in town planned unit developments such as Avenue of the Flowers.

To alleviate the DCA’s concern, Persson recommended the town make Comp Plan amendments that clarified that planned developments allow for a wide range of uses.

On May 20, the DCA issued a letter and an Objections, Recommendation and Comments (ORC) report to Longboat Key Mayor Jim Brown, citing that “the department raises no objections to the amendments proposed.”

If the town decides to hold public hearings this summer, the Town Commission could adopt the amendments as early as its Monday, Sept. 12 regular meeting.

IPOC can challenge the Comp Plan amendments once they are approved and sent back to the state.
“(But) the crux of IPOC’s argument is over,” Patterson said.

IPOC’s petition for a writ of certiorari, which challenges the Comp Plan and the Islandside project ordinance the commission adopted, is in limbo while a judge rules whether to postpone the hearing until the town adopts its Comp Plan amendments. For that petition challenge, a judge would rely solely on the record from Islandside hearings held last year at Temple Beth Israel to make a decision.

And a request for a de novo hearing, which allows IPOC to ask for a new hearing challenging the Islandside project, does not have a court date scheduled. The de novo hearing requires new testimony and does not rely on the Islandside hearings record.

Persson called the DCA’s response last week “excellent evidence” for a judge to make a ruling in the town’s favor in a de novo hearing.

IPOC attorney Michael Furen disputes Persson’s sentiment.

“The report has no direct impact on the status of either pending lawsuit,” he said.

Both legal challenges could take up to two years to be completed after all appeals are exhausted.

White said IPOC’s legal challenges are not delay tactics.

“However, we will remain engaged in the process,” he said. “We intend to continue to oppose the scale of the development and press on with challenges we deem appropriate.”

Patterson, however, thinks IPOC is just wasting its time.

“It’s up to IPOC to decide how much longer they want to spend money on a battle they will never win,” Patterson said.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].