Longboat P&Z Chairwoman cautions Commission about Colony vote misunderstanding

Planning and Zoning Board Chairwoman BJ Bishop said she now questions her decision to suggest the Town Commission approve Unicorp National Developments' plan to develop 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Orlando-based developer Chuck Whittall, his legal team, town staff and residents testified before the Board just after Presidents’ Day about a plan to develop the 17.6-acre site of the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort. 

The two-day meeting filled with dissent and accord about the proposal ended with the Planning and Zoning Board voting 6-1 to recommend the Town Commission approve Unicorp’s plan to build a 166-room St. Regis hotel and 78 adjoining condos. Bishop voted in the majority. 

"I didn’t ask enough questions, and I didn’t see the document in writing," Bishop said. 

Among dozens of conditions of approval:

• The developer agreed with town staff to limit the number of attendees in the ballroom, meeting rooms and board rooms to 425; and
• The developer agreed to reduce the size of the resort's ballroom from 10,000 square feet to 7,650 square feet. 

Those conditions were worked out overnight between the Feb. 20 and Feb. 21 public meetings then discussed and voted on when the Board reconvened Wednesday morning.

Bishop said in an interview with the Longboat Observer that the language in the draft ordinance related to those conditions recommended for Commission approval doesn't reconcile with her recollection of the specifics discussed.

Planning, Zoning and Building Director Allen Parsons said this confusion  has no impact on the recommendation the Planning and Zoning Board made to Town Commission. It will, however, be added to the testimony to be heard and seen by the Commission before it makes its decision to adopt, modify or deny the Planning and Zoning Board recommendation. 

In an email to Town Commissioners, Bishop wrote Wednesday, Feb. 28:

"The motion to reduce the ballroom size to 7,650 square feet, I believed would reduce the total square footage of the commercial space allowed on site.  The applicant had requested 27,000 square feet and I believed the 2,350 square foot reduction would also be eliminated from the total square footage of commercial space on site.  I now see in the minutes there is no specific language to reduce the total square footage of commercial space.  Staff and Legal Counsel may state that there is an imposed statement here, but I believe the motion, if you wish to reduce commercial space, must be clear in the total square footage."

[Longboat P&Z board approves St. Regis hotel with smaller ballroom]

In an interview with the Longboat Observer on Thursday, she said: “I should have said we are going to go into recess, we will schedule a future meeting when we can see all of this in writing.... I did feel that expectation that we would have a decision that day, and that was my own error.”  

Whittall said Thursday he plans to use the square footage cut from the ballroom as back-of-house, non-traffic-generating space. He is requesting about three times the accessory commercial space allowed by town code. 

Bishop, in her email to the Town, also wrote that she understood at the time of approval that the 425-person limit for organized events would apply to all meeting spaces, not just indoor space. 

“It was my desire that no more than 425 attendees would be allowed on any given day for organized events on the site — including the boardroom, ballroom, meeting rooms, event lawn and beach events,” Bishop wrote in her email. 

Whittall said that if he is having a sold-out charity event in the ballroom on a Friday night, there should be no reason he can’t also have a luau for hotel guests on the event lawn, too. 

[Unicorp responds to written questions from Longboat P&Z]

“I think it’s absurd and unprecedented to regulate our outdoor space,” Whittall said. 

Bishop, in her email, expressed regret for not taking more time as chair of the board to review the application for complete comprehension.

“I can say, I am distressed by my lack of attention to detail, but two days of public hearing and a desire to find workable solutions, did not afford me the time and consideration of the motion to make a thorough analysis of the motion,” Bishop wrote.

Whittall responded to the message with a series of questions and assertions that restricting space outside the hotel is “unfounded and unprecedented.” 

“It seems like there’s resistance just for the sake of creating resistance,” Whittall said in an interview. 

Plans to develop 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive are scheduled to come before the town commission at 9 a.m. Monday, March 5, with a potential rollover into Tuesday, March 6, in the John Ringling Room at the Resort at Longboat Key Club Islandside Hotel.