Ocean Properties seeks Key Club referendum

Ocean Properties Ltd. hopes to redevelop the Longboat Key Club Islandside property — and is asking the town to hold a referendum in a special election as soon as possible.

Sarasota attorney John Patterson — whose firm, Shutts & Bowen LLP, represents New Hampshire-based Ocean Properties affiliate NAECO LLC — wrote in a Nov. 9 letter to the Longboat Key Town Commission that his client “wishes to redevelop a portion of its property in Islandside including residential and tourism (a hotel, a meeting center, and related facilities, including restaurants).”

Ocean Properties is not seeking an increase in the property’s allowable density, according to Patterson’s letter.

The Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties has not filed an application, according to Longboat Key Planning Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray.

Patterson referred questions about specific plans for the Key Club to Mark Walsh, vice president of Ocean Properties, who was traveling and could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday.

According to Patterson, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Lee Haworth’s 2012 ruling in favor of the Islandside Property Owners Coalition (IPOC) in its lawsuit against the town required the town to hold a referendum before allowing any use other than residential within three zoning districts, including the one in which the Islandside property is located.

“Right now, that density can’t be used for anything other than residential,” Patterson said. “That density can’t be used for tourism.”

In a memo earlier this year, the town’s legal counsel determined that the Islandside district has 2,350 maximum allowable units, of which 1,251 have been built.

Asked if Ocean Properties wants to build a hotel on the property, Patterson said, “We wouldn’t be doing this except for to place a first-class hotel there.”

IPOC President Bob White could not immediately be reached for comment.

Patterson said Ocean Properties would most likely need referendum approval before it submits its application to the town.

“From my perspective, the town can’t process an application until you hold a referendum,” he said. “Where it stands right now, we don’t have the right to ask for this.”

According to Ray, the commission will need to approve an ordinance before it goes to voters.

“Typically, there’s at least a four- to five-month lead time,” she said.

Former Key Club owner Loeb Partners Realty filed an application for a $500 million Islandside redevelopment project in 2008 that it subsequently downsized to a $400 million plan.

The commission approved the project after approximately 25 hearings that were held at Temple Beth Israel to accommodate a large volume of members of the public who attended. However, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Charles Roberts sided with IPOC’s challenge of the project and quashed the ordinance through which the commission approved the development order. The Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld the ruling, essentially killing the application.

IPOC also challenged changes the town made to its codes and Comprehensive Plan to clarify the project, leading to Haworth’s ruling requiring the town to hold a referendum vote.

Commissioner Irwin Pastor, a former IPOC member who lives in L’Ambiance behind the Islandside gates, said that before Ocean Properties purchased the Key Club in 2012, its officials met with IPOC representatives to determine what would be acceptable to Islandside residents.

“We sat down with Ocean Properties and talked in generalities as far as what would be acceptable so they would have a consideration as far as valuation about what they could build,” he said.

Pastor, who was not on the commission at the time, was part of those discussions. Although he has not seen current plans, he said he is optimistic.

“What they were going to present would be something not massive that would be acceptable to all the property owners,” Pastor said. “They wanted to be part of the community.”

Local presence
Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd. owns the following local hotels:
• Gulfside Beach Resort (former Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort)
• Lido Beach Holiday Inn
• Lido Beach Resort
• Resort at Longboat Key Club
• Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach