Homeowners meet to discuss Christ Church plans

About 50 members of Sleepy Lagoon Homeowners Association met Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Whitney Beach Deli and Wines, to discuss the Christ Church of Longboat Key, Presbyterian's plan to build a 15,000-square-foot church in the 6400 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Jules Rauch, a member of the homeowners association, presented a project review to the group, and said that his primary concerns are parking, drainage and landscaping.

Rauch said the current plan calls for 59 parking spaces plus six disabled parking spots, lower than the required 93 parking spaces and six disabled spaces. The plan calls for 16 additional on-street parking spaces on General Harris Street. Rauch argued that, if the church grows, parking could spread to other streets in the neighborhood.

The association also circulated a petition from homeowners on Lyons Lane, General Harris Street and Norton Street to Southwest Florida Water Management District asking it to deny the storm-water design permit application. The petition says that the drainage discharge would go into a canal in back of their homes.

Rauch said the homeowners association is not opposed to the church’s plans to build in Sleepy Lagoon.

“We do not oppose the church,” he said. “We welcome the church into the community.”

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].