Our View: The cusp of revitalization

At long last, Publix Super Markets Inc. has unveiled its plans to redevelop and revitalize the Avenue of the Flowers shopping center.

This is more fabulous news for the future health and welfare of Longboat Key.

Think about it: The Key is on the cusp of six major economic projects that, if completed, will enhance the long-term value of real estate here; boost the economic and social vitality of the Key; and insure that Longboat Key will remain one of the most-desired resort-residential destinationa in Florida. The six projects are:

• The $400 million renovation and expansion of the Longboat Key Club and Resort;
• The redevelopment of Avenue of the Flowers and the Publix supermarket;
• The redevelopment of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort;
• The redevelopment of Whitney Beach Plaza;
• The addition of rooms to the Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort;
• The addition of second-floor dining to the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub.

Think of the new capital to be invested; the jobs that would come from the construction and future operations; the economic spending that would follow; and the tax revenues that would fill the town of Longboat Key’s treasury. Longboat Key would emerge again as one of the leading economic drivers in the two-county region.

Luckily, the Town Commission and planning board members are such that they recognize the importance of these projects, and, we hope, will do whatever they can legally to help these projects’ sponsors make it successfully through Longboat Key’s byzantine approval processes.

To that end, get the message to the town planning staff: Your job is to be helpful. Rather than start with “no,” look first for ways to say “yes,” for ways to help developers obtain their approvals and expedite the process.

As the owners of these projects step forward to risk millions upon millions of dollars in private capital — their own and private investors’ money, neither they nor the taxpayers of Longboat Key can afford a recalcitrant town government putting up unnecessary obstacles that delay or keep these projects from moving forward.

The six aforementioned projects mark an extraordinary turning point for Longboat Key’s future. Seize the day.

+ IPOC should concede
It would surprise no one if we endorsed the final paragraph of last week’s letter from Michael Welly, general manager of the Longboat Key Club and Resort, to supporters of the club’s proposed expansion project.

Addressing the continuing legal fights sponsored by the Islandside Property Owners Coalition and its president, Bob White, Welly wrote: “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.”

Indeed.

The tide continues to rise on and against IPOC. Redevelopment and expansion is coming to Longboat Key no matter what.

So the members of IPOC have a choice.

They can be immortalized in the history of Longboat Key and Greater Sarasota as the cranky condo residents who spent millions of their own money in legal fees and cost the Key Club more than a $1 million in legal fees, as well as cost Longboat Key taxpayers thousands in legal fees to kill a $400 million redevelopment project.

And they can be immortalized for doing this when Greater Sarasota’s unemployment rate was more than 11% and the regional economy was desperate for jobs and growth in the worst recession in more than 30 years. All to protect their views and avoid an increase in traffic at the Islandside entrance to Longboat Club Road.

Or, they can come forward and say: We don’t agree with the project, but for the larger good of the community and the regional economy, we withdraw our opposition.

The legacy is theirs.

+ Higher tax rate for LBK
It’s not an easy decision, to be sure — choosing between more and deeper spending cuts or raising the tax rate to eliminate the gap between income and spending.

For Longboat Key town commissioners, the choice is not near as dire as it for the big spenders in Washington.

Still, the commissioners gave themselves the ability to maneuver Monday night, setting the town’s maximum tax rate at 1.946 mills, up 3.1% from the current level. On a home valued at $1 million, that would mean an extra $59 in taxes. Not much at all. Nevertheless, it’s the principle. Would cutting $265,000 more really be that catastrophic?