St. Regis, town could square off in hearing

More than a year after St. Regis Resort opened to visitors, a permanent certificate of occupancy is yet to be issued by the town. And time is ticking.

“Not much longer. We have let them know that they need to be winding this down and wrapping this up,” Town Manager Howard Tipton said.

According to a memo published by town attorney Maggie Mooney, some conditions of approval for a certificate of occupancy laid out in an ordinance and resolution were not met.

“One of the outstanding items includes demonstrating structural compliance with the town’s locally adopted flood control ordinance,” Mooney’s memo reads, which clarifies that St. Regis’ variance application would only address the town’s local flood control standards and not FEMA or Florida Building Code requirements.

Tipton said the crux of the hearing would be about whether St. Regis is required to perform waterproofing on some of its structures or whether a proposed water dam satisfies those requirements.

“To say that it’s just some painting of some lower structures is an oversimplification of what they are required to do. But you’ve got to be able to seal and take equipment down off the walls. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but it’s part of the permit requirement,” Tipton said. “They did not want to do that and said the flood dam would satisfy that.”

The variance application will be heard by the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, though no date for that to appear on the committee’s agenda has been set. At that “quasi-judicial hearing,” the town plans to bring in outside counsel to represent staff and the town’s flood consultant.

For a fee of $325 per hour, the town will retain Jennifer Cowan of the firm Bryant Miller Olive for the hearing, if needed. Cowan has extensive land use and flood regulation experience, according to Mooney’s memo, and is town attorney for the city of Dunedin in Pinellas County. Tipton said outside counsel is necessary because Mooney is hired to represent the Town Commission.

“If staff needed a representative, Maggie (Mooney) could not represent them as well,” Tipton said.

If the resort performs the waterproofing measures, they could avoid the hearing, Tipton said, meaning the certificate of occupancy could be issued without a quasi-judicial hearing. Representatives from St. Regis did not immediately return calls for comment.

“I’ve just heard late last week that they may be approaching it differently. They may be going back to plan A and actually do it the way it was originally proposed,” Tipton said. “If that’s the case, then we won’t be needing the special counsel. But we moved forward (with the engagement agreement) just in case.”