Key Club asks judge to toss writ challenge

Sarasota County Judge Charles Roberts heard arguments last week in the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s request to dismiss a petition for a writ of certiorari. The Islandside Property Owners Coalition (IPOC) and L’Ambiance and Sanctuary associations filed the writ against the Longboat Key Club and Resort and the town of Longboat Key.

But Roberts didn’t make a ruling at the Oct. 13 hearing. Instead, as the clock ticked closer to 5 p.m. — the end of the two hours he reserved for the hearing — the judge chose to schedule a date during the week of Nov. 13 to hear the challenge from IPOC and the L’Ambiance and Sanctuary associations. The hearing would be canceled in the event that Roberts decides to throw out the case before then.

During the hearing, Jim Syprett, who represents Key Club Associates, argued that IPOC lacked legal standing to appeal the decision.

“IPOC owns no property, and it didn’t set into evidence that it suffered damages,” Syprett said. “It’s not a real party of interest.”

Syprett also argued that the L’Ambiance and Sanctuary associations didn’t participate in the quasi-judicial hearings leading up to the project’s approval.

But attorney Robert Lincoln, who represents IPOC and the condominium associations, disagreed with Syprett’s arguments.

“The idea that the associations did not participate is not true at all,” he said. “They appointed IPOC as their organization.”

Lincoln argued for IPOC’s right to claim damages, citing concerns about traffic, loss of open space and changes to the neighborhood that affect residents of the condominiums that IPOC has represented.
IPOC President Bob White accused the Key Club of causing unnecessary delays.

“They’re now, two years later, raising the issue when they could have objected at the time,” he said. “They seem to be trying to avoid getting before the judge and arguing the merits of the case.”

But Key Club Associates attorney John Patterson said that there isn’t much related case law.

“If you don’t show up at a trial, you don’t get to appeal anything to it,” he said. “Maybe because it’s so nonsensical, there’s nothing in the common law like what we’re dealing with here.”