Sands Point residents challenge contributions

Richard Crawford said he didn’t know that the Islandside Property Owners Coalition (IPOC) existed when he and his wife, Marsha, purchased their Sands Point unit and became members of the Longboat Key Club Resort on the same day in November 2007. At the time, the Key Club hadn’t made its Islandside expansion plan public but was promoting it to new members, Crawford said; he and his wife made their purchase on the belief that the project would happen. IPOC had formed in 2003 as a group of condominium associations that opposed the Key Club’s Ca d’Cuore plan, which was eventually abandoned.

Crawford gave a timeline of the Key Club projects and IPOC’s actions at the Nov. 15 Sands Point Condominium Association annual meeting, because he believes that the Sands Point Condominium Association did not have the right to use association funds for IPOC contributions. The Crawfords filed a complaint in August with the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes. According to Crawford, the complaint was filed as individuals and not as representatives of Positive Change for Longboat Key, a group that the Crawfords formed to support the Key Club’s plan.

“The Key Club was trying to carry out the promises it made to us, which makes it all the more heinous to us that this was being done with complete mischaracterization and no merit,” Crawford said.

An Aug. 17 email from the division states that the case has been assigned to a financial examiner/analyst for investigation.

The Sands Point association contributed $28,360 to IPOC between April 2008 and December 2009.
Crawford said that the money came from the association’s building-and-grounds special projects fund.

“I don’t want any future moneys going to future attacks,” he said. “There were not proper disclosures.”

But Julian Hansen, board president, denied that the funds were used improperly.

“Our board acted properly on the advice of council,” Hansen said. “Every contribution was discussed in open board meetings.

Sands Point remains a member of IPOC but has not contributed financially to the group since December 2009, Hansen said.

Hansen said that he believes the contributions could be considered a common expense.

“We think the Longboat Key Club application was erroneous,” he said. “It was overbearing, it was too huge, and it didn’t comply with the codes of Longboat Key.”