Welly, White spar over project

More than a year after the Islandside project was approved, Longboat Key Club and Resort General Manager Michael Welly and Islandside Property Owners Coalition (IPOC) President Bob White are debating in emails sent to their respective members.

In a June 24 email sent to IPOC supporters, White expressed his shock that the club would consider building its five-star hotel first if that’s what the market dictates when it’s time to start its project.

White wrote that the town proposed and IPOC accepted a proposal last June that approved everything except 34 condominiums on the project’s north parcel. But the club, which rejected the proposal, maintained last year during hearings that the market dictated that the condominiums needed to be built before the hotel.

The approved project includes a five-star hotel with 196 tourism units and 76 residential units, 20 units at Villas on the Pass, 27 units at Condos on the Pass and 32 units at five residential villas.

“Loeb (Partners Realty) rejected the compromise, claiming that the project was not feasible without all of the condominium units to provide financing for the hotel,” White wrote. “Suddenly, we are now told that, in fact, the hotel is both feasible and being promoted with no condominium sales needed for financing! So, has the Longboat Key Town Commission been hoodwinked into approving a total of 155 residential units as the price to get the hotel? You bet!

Welly responded to White’s email in a June 28 email to club members and project supporters.

“We have not claimed that income from the sale of the condominiums are no longer necessary, we merely stated that some of the individuals interested in providing financing wished to discuss moving the hotel into the first phase of the project, because financing in today’s economy is more readily available than for residential real estate,” Welly wrote. “This is a change from the economy we were in when we first developed our plans. So who is trying to hoodwink who? ...

“The question remains, when is IPOC willing to accept the importance of this project to the future of the town and join with the rest of the community in support of the project? Enough is enough. Stop wasting everyone’s time and money with stall tactics.”

Judge rules in IPOC’s favor
Sarasota County Circuit Judge Charles Roberts has denied a request by the town of Longboat Key and the Longboat Key Club and Resort to postpone the oral arguments of the writ of certiorari challenge that the Islandside Property Owners Coalition has issued to challenge the Islandside project.   

Roberts ruled June 30 that the writ of certiorari did not need to be postponed until the town completes amendments to the Comprehensive Plan that are being made to make the plan consistent with project-related code changes the Town Commission approved in May 2010.

In the writ of certiorari challenge petition, a judge relies solely on the record from the hearings at Temple Beth Israel to make a decision. The writ of certiorari challenges the town’s Comp Plan and the Islandside project ordinance the commission adopted in July 2010. 

Islandside Property Owners Coalition President Bob White is pleased with the judge’s ruling.

“We are glad we can begin moving forward with this challenge without further delays,” White said. 

Roberts has ordered all parties to reschedule arguments that had originally been scheduled for March 29. 

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].