Two density questions mark Nov. 8 Longboat Key ballot

Longboat Key voters will decide the fate of two density increase referendum questions Nov. 8 in what has become a hot-button issue for the island.

Each yes-or-no question revolves around a request to convert commercially zoned properties for residential uses.

Technically, voters are deciding whether the town can add density to the Whitney Plaza and Harbour Square properties. The town’s charter requires voter approval for any density increases.

Ultimately, one referendum will decide whether Whitney Plaza owner Ryan Snyder can raze a portion of the shopping center to make way for up to 18 homes. Snyder said the plaza has more office space than the market will bear, and converting some of it into residential space makes sense.

Snyder said he intends to accommodate all of his business tenants even as he reduces 45,000 square feet of commercial space into roughly a third of that amount, with the rest going residential.

“This is a way to potentially reduce traffic,” Snyder said. “It won’t increase it in any way.”

Not all tenants are pleased with Snyder’s plans.

“Obviously, we strongly oppose it,” said Robyne Richardson, 37, co-owner of Beach Fitness at 6834 Gulf of Mexico Drive in the plaza with her husband, Allan Mestel. “We would have to relocate. I’m not sure it’s possible on Longboat.”

Other plaza storefronts include Bayou Tavern, 21st Century Investors Advisors Corp., Beach Fitness, Longbeach Cafe, Organic Dog Food Treats, Design 2000 for Hair and Nails, Caswell Legal, Island Adventure Outfitters, Rip Current and LBK Liquors.

Until September, Giacomo’s Lounge was also open in the plaza. It has since been evicted.

Glen Schloneger, proprietor of LBK Liquors at 6854 Gulf of Mexico Drive, is Snyder’s stepfather. He said his business, which opened in 2014, would be reshaped by the referendum.

“There’s so much potential because of the location,” Schloneger said. “It’s Longboat Key for heaven’s sake.”

Snyder said he believes it’s a coin flip whether voters will approve the referendum given strong prevailing sentiments against any project that possibly could increase traffic.

The last density referendum on a 120-unit hotel proposal for a site just north of Snyder’s plaza failed with 78% of voters opposing it.

The other referendum vote will determine whether Harbour Square owner Oscar Parsons can regain the simultaneous residential and business use of 4,200 square feet of penthouse office space on his property at 4134 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Parsons has owned the office plaza on the Sarasota County line with Manatee County since 1985.

Four years ago, he gave up the right to use his penthouse as a residence. Parsons said all businesses would remain at the 17,000-square-foot business complex with 72 covered parking spaces and a courtyard.

The only real change the referendum would allow, he said, is letting a business owner live in the penthouse for $5,000 a month.

“The penthouse has such an attraction to residents,” he said. “I can’t find a tenant that wants to use it for business only.”

It could also be subdivided into a maximum three residential units on the property just north of the former Pattigeorge’s restaurant.

“I think the public, once they recognize the value of it, would vote yes,” said Parsons. “It would cost nobody anything to have someone living there.”

Longboat Key Senior Planner Steve Schield said Parsons gave up a grandfathered nonconforming use and now wants it reinstated.

“At some point, he asked for it to be rented as an office,” Schield said. “Realize, you can’t go back. It happens sometimes. You can’t change your mind in 10 years because now you’re conforming to zoning.”

The two referendum items have generated no official opposition from Keep Longboat Special, the organization that campaigned against the hotel referendum in August.