- March 28, 2024
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Developer Chuck Whittall’s scaled-down proposal for the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort property doesn’t sit well with some stakeholders.
Whittall, president of Unicorp National Developments Inc., submitted the plan for the nearly 18-acre site last week. The proposal includes a 166-room hotel, to be operated by St. Regis, and 102 residential condominiums, for a combined 268 units.
“We’re encouraged by the progress that has been made here,” said David Lapovsky, president of Preserve Longboat. “But it’s still too much on too small a piece of property.”
Earlier this year, Preserve Longboat formed as a political action committee devoted to thwarting a referendum that would have opened the door for Whittall to construct a maximum of 417 units on the property. Members of the PAC led a campaign to vote no on the referendum.
After the referendum lost by 87% of the vote, the group converted to a community organization committed to following development of the Colony property and advocating against any proposal that betrays “the character of the Key.”
Speaking on behalf of Preserve Longboat, Lapovsky said the group is pleased to see a less ambitious plan. Along with the decrease in density, maximum building heights have also been lowered. Whittall’s original plan for the site sought a maximum building height of 12 stories, while the new proposal caps height at five, or 65 feet, above flood elevation, the maximum allowed height for new construction on the Key.
Still, Lapovsky said his group is concerned about the resort’s proposed meeting spaces.
“The most significant accommodation is the ballroom of 10,000 square feet,” Lapovsky said. “It’s patently not true.”
The size of the ballroom, which Lapovsky often refers to as a “conference center,” was a central issue in Preserve Longboat’s campaign against Whittall’s initial proposal, which called for a ballroom of 20,000 square feet. The size has been reduced by half, but Lapovsky noted that the new plan also includes 6,700 square feet of meeting rooms and 2,750 square feet of board room space.
Lapovsky is concerned this additional square footage will be used to augment ballroom space, coming close to the original 20,000 square feet. Crowds and traffic are the group’s key objections.
Whittall said potential uses for the combined 9,450 square feet of space are still being determined. “We’re still in design on that,” Whittall said. “It’s really just conceptual right now.”
Lapovsky said Preserve Longboat members would have liked to see the traffic study that was included in the proposal articulate how much traffic would be created by ballroom events and typical staff for a five-star resort.
Also at issue: the two regulatory paths proposed by Unicorp to move forward with the project require amendments to the town’s zoning code. Both options call for a planned unit development application, which limits density in properties zoned T-6, such as the Colony property, to 4.5 units per acre.
Therefore, both plans require a zoning code amendment to increase the allowed density to six units per acre with a PUD.
Such amendments, if granted, send the wrong message to future developers, Lapovsky said.
“To ask for a change in the zoning code is detrimental to the best interest of Longboat Key,” Lapovsky said.
Contract with neighbors
In April, Unicorp entered into a contract with residents of Aquarius and Tencon, the two condominiums immediately neighboring the former Colony property. The contract extends “membership privileges” for residents of the two properties in exchange for support of a Unicorp project that meets certain criteria.
For Dennis Haley, president of the Tencon Beach Association, Whittall’s new plan falls short.
“I’m just extremely disappointed,” Haley said. “This is just not the agreement we reached.”
The central issue for Haley is that the new plan negates the building setbacks agreed upon in the contract, which specifies no building will be constructed within 185 feet of the erosion control line or 70 feet from the property lines of Tencon or Aquarius.
Unicorp’s new proposal includes building setbacks of 150 feet from the beachfront erosion line and 45 feet from the neighboring properties.
Haley and the Tencon residents he represents are worried buildings in this new plan will obstruct their views.
The contract also specifies that no buildings will be constructed on the site higher than 80 feet. Whittall, along with residents of the Tencon and Aquarius, petitioned the Town Commission in May to adopt an ordinance that would have permitted 80 feet as the maximum building height for new construction on the Key.
The group failed to sway commissioners, and Whittall said that, because he can only build to 65 feet, the agreed-upon setbacks are no longer possible.
“It’s a very tight-fitting jigsaw puzzle,” Whittall said of the Colony property.
Whittall said he plans to meet with Haley in the coming weeks to discuss the new proposal.
“I hope that means that there’s something that can be done,” Haley said. “If this is the final word... We can’t do any worse.”
Frank Morneau, speaking on behalf of Aquarius, said he will wait to comment on Unicorp’s new proposal until after Haley and Whittall meet.
Colony unit owners
Last fall, developer Chuck Whittall agreed to pay Colony unit owners between $130,000 to $200,000 per unit. Despite the failure of the March referendum that would have allowed the development of Whittall’s initial proposal for the site, Whittall affirmed in April that he will keep intact the agreed-upon price for units.
Jay Yablon, president of the Colony Association, said he anticipates a meeting will occur within the next week at which the board will approve the end of all litigation between the Colony Association and Unicorp.
As for Whittall’s new proposal, Yablon said the “association highly supports everything that Unicorp has filed with the town.”
“I would also say that we are anticipating the cooperation and the goodwill of the Town Commission to finally get us over the goal line to a redevelopment at the Colony,” Yablon said. “We’re fully behind it.”