Mar Vista moves forward with expansion

It’s been nearly five years in the making, but Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub can finally move forward with the addition of a second story. But renovations won’t give diners a rooftop view.

This morning, the Longboat Key Planning & Zoning Board unanimously approved plans for new second-story storage and office space at the historic Longbeach Village restaurant. Owner Ed Chiles asked to expand outdoor seating instead of including dining in the new upstairs portion, which the town had approved as part of a previous application in 2014.

The decision allows Mar Vista to move forward with kitchen renovations, and pave the parking lot. The restaurant will remain at 169 seats, but the covered porch area will expand from 54 to 90 seats, and the area under the trees will expand by eight seats, according to the staff report.

Rod Gerling was the only Longbeach Village resident to speak during the quasi-judicial hearings, during which he asked whether Mar Vista would consider ways to reduce smells coming from the dumpster. 

Chairman Jim Brown and Vice Chairwoman B.J. Bishop both discussed the desire for attractive buffer plantings around the restaurant’s improved site.

“If theres a desire to have some enhanced plantings, I’m certainly not opposed to that,” said engineer Lynn Burnett, who represented Mar Vista. “Because, again, the historic nature of Mar Vista is to keep it that quaint, very well-vegetated and well-buffered little jewel that it is.”