Klauber seeks residency decision

Longtime Colony Beach & Tennis Resort owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber informed the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board Monday, May 13 that he has a contract pending for the penthouse hotel units and the Vagabond beach unit he owns.

There’s only one problem.

The potential buyer will not buy the units at 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive until he or she has a letter from Planning, Zoning and Building Director Monica Simpson stating that the buyer is allowed to stay in the living quarters unit for 365 days a year.

Simpson said she is not willing to issue the letter, because she has insufficient documentation from Klauber that states the penthouse living quarters he has owned for more than 40 years have always been his primary residence.

A frustrated Klauber told the planning board that he needs the letter soon to complete a deal for the three properties: two penthouse units on the sixth floor of the hotel and the Vagabond beach unit.

“I have a purchase in place for my home and my office and the unit (Vagabond) I own on the beach,” Klauber said. “I am going to lose this contract if I don’t get an answer from someone that the buyer can live there for 365 days a year. I am in a real jam here.”

Klauber told the planning board that he has lived at the Colony for 40 years.

“Now I can’t get the town to confirm that I’m legally allowed to do something I have been doing for more than 40 years,” Klauber said. “If I can’t get a simple letter, I will have to come in and sue the town again.”
Town Manager Bruce St. Denis told the planning board there are multiple zoning issues the town is trying to work through to get Klauber what he wants.

“It comes down to what’s allowed by the town’s code,” St. Denis said.

Simpson told the Longboat Observer after the meeting that she needs legal documentation from Klauber that goes back as far as he can provide to prove that the penthouse living quarters inside the hotel have been his primary residence the entire time.

When the town approved the Colony in 1972, Simpson said there was no tourism requirement in place that mandated that tourism units on a resort property must be used solely for tourism use.

“In that regard, Dr. Klauber’s residence became a legal non-conforming use in terms of being a primary residence,” Simpson said.

But Simpson said without chronological documentation in the form of homestead documentations and other documents that show he has always lived in that residence, she cannot produce a letter stating the property is still allowed to be lived in 365 days a year.

“If that property was not lived in full time at any time since 1972, it can no longer be used as a primary residence in the future, and it would revert to a tourism use under current town code,” Simpson said. “It’s a matter of legal interpretation, and we all have the same goal of trying to continue to help Dr. Klauber with this as much as possible.”

Klauber, however, is upset that the letter can’t be produced immediately.

“This just isn’t American,” said Klauber, who is still working with Simpson to provide the necessary documents.

Simpson said a list of codes that have changed over the years must be reviewed and compared with the documentation Klauber can provide before the letter can possibly be issued.

Despite his plans to sell the units, Klauber, who still owns resort parcels on the property, said it’s still his goal to help restore the Colony, and he hopes to submit a renovation proposal to the unit owners, who are in the midst of sifting through a variety of plans presented to get the property performing as a tourism destination again.

Bleu Claire extension denied
The Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board denied a request by the owner of the proposed Bleu Claire Condominium, 4765 Gulf of Mexico Drive, to request its fourth extension for issuance of a building permit for its proposed 11-unit condominium project.

Town planner Ric Hartman told the planning board at its Tuesday, May 17, regular meeting that economic and financial conditions couldn’t be considered under town code as the sole reason for approving an extension.

The planning board voted 8-0 to deny the extension. The Longboat Key Town Commission will have the final say on whether the extension, which would give the owner the right to hold off on obtaining permits until December 2013, will be granted.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].