Key Club makes case for renovation

The Longboat Key Club and Resort continued to press its case for its Islandside renovation-and-expansion project Tuesday in response to Longboat Key’s planning director’s recommendation the club’s project be denied.

In a prepared statement, Key Club General Manager Michael Welly noted that even though Planning, Zoning and Building Director Monica Simpson submitted her opinion that the $400 million project is too intense and large, the town’s planning and zoning board approved the project in October.

“We did not expect staff’s recommendation to approve, they are not weighing the importance of the redevelopment to the future of the town — only simply how the codes and the plan match up,” Welly said. “The club’s redevelopment plan is consistent with past development in the gulf-planned development.”

As proof of its consistency, Welly cited Building 6/7 at the resort’s Inn on the Beach, explaining that the building’s 34 units built on 4.5 stories over one level of parking has less of a setback from Longboat Club Road than the project’s proposed wellness center and two of the three proposed villa buildings.

Said Welly: “Constructed in 1983, Building 6/7 has functioned without incident or concern.”

Welly also explains that a scale model that will be on display at Temple Beth Israel Monday, June 7, clearly shows the project is consistent with other development in the GPD and has less density than the maximum allowed in the GPD.

The Longboat Key Town Commission, which will make the ultimate decision on the project, will resume the Islandside project hearing 9 a.m. Monday, June 7, at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].