A conversation with Keep Longboat Special

If you’ve been to a recent town meeting, you’ve probably heard of Pete and Carla Rowan. The Longbeach Village residents in 2013 formed resident group Save the Longbeach Village to oppose expansion plans for Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub.

In 2016, the Rowans formed the larger Keep Longboat Special, which the couple colloquially calls “Keep.”

While the organization was formed to oppose a referendum that would have allowed Floridays Development Co. to develop a 120-room hotel on the north end, Keep Longboat Special has since been involved in discussions on a number of Key issues, including redevelopment of the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort property and preserving the town’s 30-foot height limit for single-family homes.

When Keep began, the couple had roughly 250 members on its distribution list. It’s now up to about 1,400.

We caught up with the Rowans to talk about some Longboat issues.

Your group was instrumental in opposing a referendum that would have allowed a 120-room hotel to be built on the north end. Is there anything you would like to see done there now?

Pete: We’d like to see something there. The land is worth a lot more residential, it’s not worth that much (commercially). The rents are minimal. There is too much commercial property, but it has to go to referendum. We would support it being residential, but I can’t see how people are going to vote for that because they go to places like Longbeach Cafe and Bayou Tavern. You’re losing all these things that you’re using.

Carla: Ever since ... Longboat Key voted for having a commercial center where Publix is now ... The year after that happened, (Whitney Plaza) couldn’t survive anymore. It’s dying.

If a few lots, like the gas station, the bank and the wooded area there were made commercial and viable, and the rest of it was made residential, the north end could support a lesser plaza than the one that is there.

You’ve been critical of Longboat Key’s tourism unit pool. Can you tell me about that?

Pete: That was created in 2008, when we were in a recession. I’m sure I voted for that referendum.

Carla: We were all for it. The idea was to allow older properties to redevelop. It wasn’t meant to have (the units) handed out in great big quantities to build some brand-new thing.

Pete: The Colony is after them, and the Zota has got 85 of them, so it’s (acting as an incentive to) these massive developments and hotel complexes. It’s not what I think the residents want on Longboat.

Carla: What happens to the place that’s 50 years old and needs to redevelop to be sustainable? Now you’ve given them all away to only a few big developers. I don’t believe that was the intent (of the referendum).

What other aspects of the way Longboat handles tourism do you think need to be reconsidered?

Carla: Another is the 80/20 residential to tourist guideline (included in the proposed planned-unit development ordinance). We know that the tourist end of that ratio does not take into account 30-day rentals, which we have a lot of in the wintertime for sure, and the new way of renting things online: Airbnb. That’s not in there. So how do we know what makes up that 20%? It could very well already be there.

They need to define what that 20% is before that 20% becomes 50% and then you’ve got 50/50 residential on a residential island.

You’ve been vocal opponents of the town allowing exceptions to the 30-foot-above-elevation height limit for single-family homes. Why?

Pete: Hard codes are good because the builder doesn’t think he can negotiate everything. And once one builder negotiates something as a special exception, the next builder says, “Hey, wait a minute …”

Carla: Knowing what the rules are makes for a peaceful community. Right now there’s a lot of anxiety on this key. People are worried about home and building sizes.

Would you consider any exceptions to the height limit? Like a hearing process among neighboring residents if a property owner wants an add-on?

Carla: That special exception process, I personally think it’s a good one. If you want to do whatever it is you’re proposing to do, you’re required to notify everyone from the perimeter of your property who falls within 500 feet. That’s quite a ways. In The Village, it’s a lot. It involves a lot of people.

Everybody has to be OK with it, and it does mean everybody. If you have one who says, “Oh no, I don’t want to look out my front door and see that.” Even if it’s 500 feet away, then it’s a no-go. No special exception.

Keep has worked side by side with Preserve Longboat in voicing concerns about the development of the Colony property. What does the collaboration represent?

Carla: It’s really exciting that these two units are not a division of Longboat. In the past, it’s been north, it’s been south. Beach against bay. Sarasota County versus Manatee County. One lifestyle versus another lifestyle. With these two groups, you’re finding everyone, and people are grateful for the information they’re getting, which is as complete as we can give it.

Why are you so passionate about keeping Longboat residents informed?

Pete: People just assume that things are going to get taken care of for them and that they don’t have to keep track. They’re here to retire and play golf and enjoy life. They say, “I don’t need to get in on that because somebody else is taking care of it for me.” A lot of times it’s not the case.

Carla: And they came to Longboat, they chose Longboat because Longboat has tight restrictions on builders and developers. That’s why they’re here.

What is important to me is to allow each of these communities to be what they want to be. If you want to be a beach bum and live in The Village, somebody else shouldn’t be saying anything about it. If you want to live in other communities, a golfing community or a tennis community or condos … if you have found your place, then you shouldn’t be feeling threatened that the rules are going to change on you. That’s why we’re so closely watching.