- June 15, 2025
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Light and noise leaking into the surrounding neighborhood were the primary concerns expressed by residents of Bird Key during a May 14 Planning Board hearing on applications by Bird Key Yacht Club to rebuild its clubhouse facilities.
Satisfied the club, staff and architecture firm DSDG Architects, the Planning Board unanimously endorsed the plan to the Sarasota City Commission, as recommended by staff who has adequately addressed those concerns.
The project is more than a renovation or expansion. The plan is to demolish the existing 22,300-square-foot clubhouse and replace it with a 21,500-square-foot structure plus 3,500 square feet of covered outside decks, replace the pool, relocate two bocce ball courts and add a fourth tennis court with new, modern lighting.
The 4.99-acre site, positioned in the middle of the Bird Key residences, is zoned Residential Single Family-1 and both the site plan and major conditional use permit require City Commission approval.
Bird Key Yacht Club Vice Commodore Tony Britt said the tropical weather events of recent years drove the club’s decision to rebuild rather than to renovate and, while at it, make improvements to the site plan.
“This process has been in place for about four years,” Britt told the Planning Board. “It started as a renovation, and then after more consideration and thought we realized that to make it FEMA-compliant, which is critical for the long term — given the club has been on the island for 65 years and we certainly intend to have it last another 65 years — that a renovation really didn't make any sense. We're literally putting a Band-Aid on an issue that was never going to go away.”
Anna Keitel of DSDG Architects told the Planning Board the new single-story clubhouse will be located in the exact footprint of the current facility, but elevated to meet FEMA standards. The addition of underground vaults to mitigate stormwater runoff and a new driveway on East Royal Flamingo Drive will provide for egress only from the parking lot.
That curb cut concerned some residents about possibly adding traffic to East Royal Flamingo Drive and the additional tennis court and lighting bringing noise and light pollution to nearby residents.
Keitel explained the Sarasota County Fire Department requested the new driveway.
“It was easier for them turning out of the site from that route versus coming up our new three-foot incline ramp and exiting out of the existing entrance and exit that currently exists,” Keitel said.
As for light and noise emanating from the tennis courts — three of which will remain in place — the club has proffered lights-out at 9 p.m. A photometric plan has not yet been submitted to the city but will be subject to code at the building permit stage.
Keitel and landscape architect Phil Smith assured the Planning Board the combination of modern, targeted LED lighting and the landscape buffer plan will contain light and even sound within the court area.
“The foot candles where it reaches the property line are required to be in the neighborhood of 0.2,” Smith said. “The beauty of the fixtures that are LED now is that they're so accurate they can cut the light off at the property line. That's the intent. That’s what's expected by the city.”
Lining the perimeter of the tennis courts will be two layers of landscaping material, Smith added, including brushy Areca Palms planted at 16 feet in height, maturing to as tall as 30 feet with a spread of 10 to 20 feet. A layer of Saw Palmetto, the fan-shaped frond plant, will augment those that can spread 4 to 6 feet.
Britt, who will assume the title of commodore in just more than a month, said the club intends to continue to be a good neighbor.
“We see that as critical to our long-term success,” Britt said. “We all live there. We all love our little Bird Key, and we love ensuring that everything we do is really that of a good neighbor and what you'd expect from any neighbor who lives next door to you.”