Mar Vista hearing stalled again

Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub owner Ed Chiles is having trouble getting a restaurant renovation-and-expansion application for an additional 11 seats to be heard at Town Hall. On Tuesday morning, those troubles continued.

At the recommendation of town attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale, a hearing for an amended special exception to allow Chiles to move forward with building a second-story tree house and adding 11 seats to his restaurant was postponed as soon as the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board’s Tuesday meeting began.

That’s because Longbeach Village resident Corinne Ragheb submitted an objection to the plan around 4 p.m. Monday that town officials want more time to review.

The objection states that a special exception that the Planning and Zoning Board recommended and the Longboat Key Town Commission approved in 2010 that previously allowed for the additional 11 seats at Mar Vista expired Nov. 16, 2011.

The objection states that neither Mar Vista nor the commission sought an extension of the original site-plan exception. Therefore, the objection states, the planning board can’t amend the plan or recommend its approval to the commission.

Staff and the town attorney believe that because work on the Mar Vista application has been ongoing for years (this is Chiles’ fourth attempt at getting a version of his project approved), there wasn’t a need to extend the special exception. But Portale wants more time to review the objection, and the board agreed to postpone the hearing until further notice.

“We need to go back through our records and put together a chronology of this project,” Portale told board members Tuesday. “Staff needs to determine whether an issue exists.”

Although the project could be back before the planning board in October, board members agreed to postpone it until staff is comfortable with proceeding. A new public hearing will be advertised to give the public notice to attend.

Chiles is seeking to increase his restaurant’s seating from 169 seats to 180 seats. The original site-plan exception that Ragheb claims expired had the second story in a slightly different location. Staff worked with Chiles to make minor changes to the application over the last couple of years.

Chiles also took time to submit a revised application earlier this year that asked the planning board to review an application with the historic Rufus P. Jordan house being used as a meeting place. The commission eventually approved that project on first reading, but Chiles rescinded that application before second reading in June after receiving complaints from residents who were away for the summer and couldn’t attend the public hearing.

Residents of the Village who complained about noise and parking problems when Chiles sought to add meeting space to the Jordan House are still concerned about the revised plan. In May, residents packed Town Hall to oppose a plan that called for adding a meeting room and a small deck in the Jordan house that could be used for private parties.

Thirty-three residents signed a June 10 letter to the commission, planning board and town officials opposing the expansion for the 11 seats.

Chiles, meanwhile, isn’t having the same problem renovating his other two restaurants, which are located on Anna Maria Island.

In the city of Anna Maria, the Sandbar Restaurant recently completed a major renovation project that lasted for more than a year..

And, just last week, Chiles announced a complete renovation of the BeachHouse restaurant in Bradenton Beach that will occur in two phases. Those plans include a second-story, open-air bar and a new waterfront seating area to the outdoor seating area. The BeachHouse’s renovations, though, will not increase the restaurant’s seating.