Bay Isles Parkway could be transferred to town

One of the busiest roads on Longboat Key could soon become town property.

The Bay Isles Association, which owns, insures and maintains the road, is in talks with the town of Longboat Key to transfer ownership of Bay Isles Parkway to the town.

The short road, which is less than a half mile in length, connects Gulf of Mexico Drive to Harbourside Drive and is the main entrance way to the Longboat Key Club and the hundreds of homes past the gatehouse. It also provides access to the most popular commercial center on the island: Shoppes of Bay Isles, which is home to Publix, CVS and a handful of small businesses.

According to a Stantec engineering study commissioned by the association, 5.3 million cars travel on the road each year — and a majority, 53%, of the vehicles are not going through the gates that grant access to the 26 communities the Bay Isles Association represents.

“Quite frankly, we’re maintaining something that is for public use, it’s in the public domain, and it’s not solely for the benefit of our owners,” said Philip Deming, Bay Isles Association vice president. 

Deming said that when landscaping, insurance, and routine maintenance are all considered, the association spends roughly $50,000 to $100,000 per year on the road.

The potential transfer of the road is the latest example of Bay Isles Association President H. Joseph Reiser’s platform to reduce the association's insurance liabilities. Earlier this summer, paperwork was signed to transfer ownership of the pedestrian tunnel under Gulf of Mexico Drive to the town of Longboat Key.

With the tunnel out of the association’s portfolio, talks accelerated for a transfer of Bay Isles Parkway, another costly piece of property to underwrite. The association does not want the potential for a costly lawsuit, and the town is better positioned to insure the road because Florida law caps insurance payouts by local governments at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.

The association inherited Bay Isles Parkway from Arvida, the development company that built the road in the 70s. It has remained a private road since.

The town is willing to change that.

“The town has no obligation to take this road, but the town is considering it and is interested because it is definitely serving a public purpose,” Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman said.

Because the road will always be an entryway to the association’s communities, its aesthetics are important to the association. Deming expressed the organization’s willingness to continue to fund landscape work on the road after the potential transfer.

“There would be absolutely no difference from a visual standpoint,” Deming said. “The town understands that we are going to continue to maintain the property so there would be no change to that. That’s very important for us because it’s very important to our owners to have a property that’s our doorstep, if you will, that looks good.”

It’s a doorstep to Bay Isles Association residents, but the road is also highly relevant to the town. The Parkway closes a loop around the Town Center Green where the town’s largest events are held. If the town were to take over ownership, it would also mean the police department could perform traffic enforcement on the road without entering into a memorandum of understanding with the association.

Brownman said before the town accepts ownership of the road, it needs to be repaired. Last October, repair costs were estimated at about $700,000 for items including road resurfacing, some curb replacement and foundation repair work on a few parts of the road.

The association would fund those repairs, and that number may be different now gas prices have risen since the initial estimation. The price the association would need to pay to divest of the road is not negotiated, but Deming and Brownman said the price could be in the $700,000 to $900,000 range.

Whether repair work is done before or after the transfer is to be determined.

“All this needs to be vetted out with our commission and attorney. One idea is that as long as the payment terms can be worked out, and we’re looking at a two to three year event horizon for the improvement, there is a thought that the donation could happen before the actual improvements,” Brownman said, adding he does not expect any agreement to come before the commission before the end of the year.

The change in ownership of the road would not be noticed for homeowners behind the gate on Bay Isles Parkway, Deming said, including in the pocketbook.

“The current Board of Directors’ objective is to address any costs associated with this initiative through the Association’s established budgeting procedures and long-term financial planning, without the need to impose a special assessment upon the membership,” Deming wrote in an email. “Additionally, the ongoing maintenance, repair, and eventual replacement of the Bay Isles Parkway are already recognized as reserve components within the Association’s Reserve Study, which is specifically intended to provide for the orderly funding of major capital expenditures over time.”