Arts organization declines county's damage restoration ultimatum

It’s back to square one with A Squared (A2) for hurricane damage restoration at Hermitage Artist Retreat in the middle of Manasota Key. 

With little discussion among Sarasota County commissioners at their Oct. 21 meeting, the county accepted the Hermitage Board of Trustees decision to not exercise the “Option 3” offer extended at its Oct. 8 meeting to the lessee of county property. Commissioners had offered the organization a lump sum of $172,258 toward the repairs, providing it never returns to the county for future maintenance or mitigation.

At its Oct. 21 meeting, the commissioners learned of the Hermitage board’s rejection, which returned the lengthy issue to its original state: waiting at least a year for campus restoration.

That’s how long it will take for A2, the county’s retained contractor, to design, engineer and execute the restorations. Included in that time frame is adherence to both county and FEMA protocols required to qualify for federal reimbursement.

No representatives of Hermitage spoke on Tuesday, but did notify commissioners via email in advance of the meeting with the acknowledgment that declining the third option automatically reverts the Option 1, which is the status quo.

Excerpted from the email after being contacted by the Observer for comment, Hermitage President Carole Crosby wrote, “After a thoughtful discussion, the Hermitage board unanimously agreed that we could not accept Option 3. This new proposal came with the stipulation that included a liability we, as a tenant, could not reasonably agree to accept, asking us to essentially waive a key aspect of your landlord responsibility and our tenant rights. 

"The requirement that the Hermitage would be fully responsible going forward for all repairs of the county's property is not a reasonable financial risk for our donors to assume. Without property ownership and the ability to have our own hazard insurance, this option simply is not viable for our organization.”

An offer by the Hermitage to purchase the 6.1-acre portion of Blind Pass Beach Park it leases from the county, which includes a reverter clause should it cease operations there, remained on the table although commissioners previously expressed their disinterest. Hermitage had offered $600,000 and assumption of all liabilities.

“We do feel that we had offered two alternative solutions — between our proposal for repairs at our own expense and the land conveyance proposal with a reverter clause — that would have saved the taxpayers considerable dollars and expedited the repair process,” Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg told the Observer.