Longboat Key News and Sarasota City News encourages Letters to the Editor on timely issues. Please email to: letters@lbknews.com or mail to PO Box 8001, Longboat Key, FL 34228. We also print letters sent to Town Hall that address Longboat Key issues. We reserve the right to edit.
Code
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
Thanks Allen. Do violations include the ongoing lighting problem or is it building construction only?
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
Thanks BJ. The violations referred to with the TCO are building or life/safety code violations that would cause unsafe building conditions. Lighting violations are covered under the Town’s Marine Turtle Protection ordinance, which is separate and ongoingly enforceable.
Allen Parsons
Director Planning, Zoning & Building Department
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
The turtles would say it is a life/safety issue- but they don’t get a vote. Thanks Allen.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
Apologies for any lack of clarity in what I conveyed to you earlier. And while turtles may not get a vote on the safety of buildings for occupancy by people, they do get a vote on violations of the Town’s turtle ordinance. We take those violations very seriously.
Allen Parsons
Planning and Zoning Director
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
I know Allen. Thanks. Had a long talk with Maggie. I understand the need for the temporary c.o.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
Please give me the specific part of the code (158) that allows temporary co.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
Thanks BJ. C.O.’s and T.C.O.’s are issued under the authority of the Florida Building Code. The specific language is found in the Florida Building Code Sec. 111.3, copied below:
111.3 Temporary occupancy.
The building official is authorized to issue a temporary certificate of occupancy before the completion of the entire work covered by the permit, provided that such portion or portions shall be occupied safely. The building official shall set a time period during which the temporary certificate of occupancy is valid.
Allen Parsons
Director Planning, Zoning & Building Department
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
It states the building official set the time. You gave them six months?
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
Thanks BJ. The Hotel TCO was issued on July 19th. The timing of the TCO is:
This TCO is initially granted for a period not to exceed 90 days from the date of issuance, during which time this TCO shall be reviewed by the Town at 30-day intervals until all remaining conditions have been met and a CO has been issued for the building. A limited number of future TCO extensions may be considered due to extenuating circumstances; notwithstanding the foregoing, no extensions shall be granted beyond December 31, 2024. TCOs may be revoked by the Building Official at any time should the space become unsafe or if any code violation(s) affecting the proper occupancy of the area is evident.
Allen Parsons
Planning and Zoning Director
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
Thanks Allen. Do violations include the ongoing lighting problem or is it building construction only?
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Code
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
The violations referred to with the TCO are building or life/safety code violations that would cause unsafe building conditions. Lighting violations are covered under the Town’s Marine Turtle Protection ordinance, which is separate & ongoingly enforceable.
Allen Parsons
Planning and Zoning Director
Town of Longboat Key
Follow-up to Weather Activity
To: Longboat Key Commission
I neglected to let you know that we have Stephanie and Savannah answering the phones remotely. Glad we did because they’re busy with many calls inquiring about the roads, bridges, etc. Thank you!
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Follow-up to Weather Activity
To: Longboat Key Commission
I’d like to provide you a quick update on pour progress working through the weather activity:
This morning, Manatee County decided to close the landfill operation. This is different from late yesterday afternoon where it was going to be open. In saying this, there will be no trash pick-up today. This has been updated on the website.
Currently, we have two teams out assessing damage to Longboat Key. You will see our high-water vehicle going down flooded streets to assist this team as well as assist residents, as needed.
Please refer to the website bold font for the most up-to-date information.
We will continue to have some rain continue to come through Longboat Key. The winds have almost completely diminished but we have a high-tide beginning (1:24 pm) that will most likely cause some street flooding. We will continue to monitor the flood prone areas during and post high-tide.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Lighting
To: Longboat Key Commission
The new valances are much better, however, still shinning into our homes. The pictures attached are post tropical storm Debby. We are asking you to reach out and mandate that the plaza fix the problem of his parking lot lights are again annoying and non-compliant to our existing ordinances. “Disturbing and Annoying” to adjacent residential properties. The top two pictures are from our dining room and the bottom two are from the home office. Both sets are from the inside of our homes.
We “Thank you” in advance for your timely and anticipated fix to this ongoing disturbance.
Please keep us posted on the timeliness of this being in compliance.
Michael & Amy Drake
Charlie & Betsey Byrd
David & Lori Price
Longboat Key
Fire
To: Longboat Key Commission
Last night around 8:30 p.m. your fire department responded to the Longboat Key Moorings for a reported boat fire. Upon arrival crews found a 65’ yacht that had heavy smoke coming from the lower deck. It was determined the fire appeared to be in the engine compartment.
We requested assistance from Sarasota County, SRQ Airport, Southern Manatee, West Manatee, and the Coast Guard as we wanted to use foam and personnel which they assisted in providing.
After speaking with the owner who was out of the area he informed us the boat is powered by several large lithium batteries which may have contributed to thwarting fire not being able to be extinguished.
I left the scene just before 2am but the fire department stayed on scene throughout the morning and still there today with all of our assets including our fire boat.
The state fire marshal will be here today to conduct an investigation and assist in these determining a cause. There were no injuries reported.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Fire
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
I’m sure the Feds will be investigating this thoroughly due to the lithium battery power source. Chief is this the first lithium vehicle/ vessel fire we’ve had on the island?
Gary Coffin
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Fire
To: Longboat Key Commissioner Gary Coffin
The fire marshal is indicating that the batteries were a factor to the fire but has not completed his investigation fully.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Info line during storms?
To: Longboat Key Town Clerk Trish Shinkle
In lieu of checking Facebook/online media for traffic and road closures (especially when driving), where can LBK and Sarasota residents find out about road closures, traffic etc., during storms and inclement weather? I had to drive yesterday and tried every AM and FM station with no luck.
I appreciate the Town of Longboat Key calls, but those are more advisory in nature and I’m looking for more specific information like road closures since there seemed to be so many after Debby hit this weekend. For example, in New York there is an AM station called 1010 WINS that does “Weather on the 1s and Traffic on the 10s”. Does Longboat or Sarasota have something like that? A 311 feature? A local news app?
Thank you in advance for the information. It will help a lot of residents and assuredly, decrease the number of calls to your office too.
Evelyn Pate
Longboat Key
Info line during storms
To: Longboat Key Commissioner Gary Coffin
Trish forwarded to me yesterday for a response to this resident.
I did respond to her and she has the information she needs for Longboat Key & Sarasota County. Thanks for forwarding.
Susan M Phillips
Town Manager Assistant
Town of Longboat Key
Rain flooding
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
Thank you Commissioner, yes, part of Kimley-Horn’s solution for Longview is to pitch the road from south to north to fully drain off the roadway in the canal. Looking forward to getting that project going, hopefully, in the near future. Glad to hear about Buttonwood!
Isaac Brownman
Public Works Director
Town of Longboat Key
Rain flooding
To: Longboat Key Public Works Director Isaac Brownman
Nowhere for water to go after it flows from Bayou Canal across Longview. Buttonwood has a few drains and is fairly dry now.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Town Operations Closed
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
Just got a call that the toilet outside dog park at Bayfront is spewing water.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Town Operations Closed
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
We just drove down there to assess the Causeway for our damage assessment team and the road does have water but is open for traffic. Our employees on the team will be driving out here to complete the assigned mission. Hope this helps.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Town Operations Closed
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
Just had an emergency call from SRQ County saying stay off roads, numerous road closures throughout county with power lines down.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Town Operations Closed
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
Our team was there about an hour ago and it was open…let me check with the City.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Town Operations Closed
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
ABC just reported causeway from St. Armands closed. Dave is flying in from Cleveland (in air now) so have to decide if he needs a hotel room by airport or if I can navigate truck thru water.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Town Operations Closed
To: Longboat Key Commissioner BJ Bishop
St. Armand’s is clear however there is some water on John Ringling but it is open.
GMD is clear from the 4400 block south but there is standing water in several pockets between 4500 to 6100…hope this helps.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Commission
We have been monitoring the weather throughout the night and into this morning and have determined for the safety of our employees, it is best to close the town today.
Access to the town from the mainland is very difficult due to so many streets being flooded and I am concerned having employees drive into Longboat.
We will have public works and PZB employees available, as needed to begin post storm activity but the weather will be evaluated later this morning.
We are expecting more rain and a surge which will bring more water onto the streets.
Thank you for your understanding and I will provide updates as deemed appropriate.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Commission
Early this morning, we chose to close town operations because of the amount of flood water found both on and off Longboat Key. We did have fire, police, and public works employees working on the Key while others were working from home. We plan on normal operating hours tomorrow as we continue to work on our recovery.
PZB employees conducted a thorough damage assessment where they have determined several structures have experienced damage due to water intrusion. This assessment is not complete as data is still being collected.
The City of Sarasota and Sarasota County will be closed tomorrow concentrating on their recovery efforts.
Tomorrow we will have more rain with a possibility of 3-5” of rain. Flash flood warnings will continue until approximately 8pm tomorrow evening.
I do not plan to provide further updates unless we experience unforeseen circumstances.
Thank you for your support of this operation.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
Thank you so much for all of the steady updates and excellent storm response, Chief. Hope you and your team can feel the community’s gratitude for all of your efforts.
Sarah Karon
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Transformer installation
To: Longboat Key Commission
Talk about dodging a bullet! This pix of the transformer across from our house on Norton Street, with its new 24” pedestal, which was installed just last week, tells the tale.
Thanks and congratulations to the folks who did the work, which involved using a crane to remove the old 6” pedestal and drop in the new one.
There was also a lot of work done replacing damaged parts inside the boxes. Unhappily, a few boxes at the end of our street didn’t get raised in time; hope folks there are all right.
Jim Haft
Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Commission
I wanted to give you all a final update before it got too late. We have been monitoring the storm activity speaking with both counties as well as the National Weather Service.
We should continue to see coastal flooding in some areas. Currently, we have some streets that are flooded mainly in the Village area with much less in the south end.
Manatee County has closed government tomorrow which they indicated to me included the landfill. I ASKED Susan to issue an Alert Longboat Key stating no trash pick-up based off the information we received only to receive a call fro m a Deputy County Administrator (DCA) indicating that Manatee government would be closed but the landfill including recycling will stay operational . This is why we sent a second message out indicating such.
As I stated, some streets do have flooding, currently while others do not. The decision was to keep the trash pick-up as planned since the vendor had no intention of not servicing Longboat Key. We will continue to assess storm activity make adjustments to our operation as deemed appropriate. Just for your information, Sarasota County and the City of Sarasota will remain open for business tomorrow. Make it a good evening and if you have any concerns please let me know.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
For reference at the house we have received 7.1 inches of rain since the event began.
Gary Coffin
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Commissioner Gary Coffin
Thank you. The streets south are mainly clear despite the amount of rain. My concern is tomorrow when the winds die down and the surge develops…..need to monitor for employee return to work safely. Thanks for sharing.
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi
Closer to my front door than I have experienced before coming from Weston Point Basin.
BJ Bishop
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Weather update
To: Longboat Key Commission
Just a quick update:
We have not had any residents call for assistance nor have we needed to offer sheltering.
We do however have flooded roads as reported and we are still having rain coming in from the Gulf.
Tomorrow once we are in a low tide status, we have the probability of a storm surge around the same time that we anticipate will cause continued flooding. Let’s hope we continue the course we are on. Thanks again!
Paul B. Dezzi
Fire Chief
Town of Longboat Key
Concerns about Comp Plan Amendment for Mall
To: Sarasota City Planning and Zoning Director Steve Cover
As you know from our meeting last Tuesday, I have serious concerns about the proposal. As I reviewed it more closely in preparation for our rescheduled CC meeting, more items that I couldn’t make sense of jumped out at me.
It’s very possible that I don’t understand certain provisions and/or didn’t read that portion of the 306 pages where the issue was covered. I will be in the office tomorrow if you and/or staff have time to address my concerns before Thursday morning — or we can try to address most of it via email.
Page 10 of 306: Many of my concerns are on this page.
1. Is the number of buildable residential units really based on the size of the entire parcel regardless of what else is built on the parcel? With 25 units/acre density, can 750 residential units be built on a 30 acre parcel AND offices and commercial be built on the same parcel? I would have expected the number of units would be based on the portion of the site used for residential — if half (i.e., 15 acres), it would be 375 units.
2. What limitations are placed on office/commercial buildings on the site? I assume Floor-Area-Ratio will apply. Would it apply to the entire site — including the residential buildings? What F-A-R number would be used? (Could you give me an example of an existing development with that F-A-R so I can put it into perspective?) If it doesn’t apply to the entire parcel — and the residential density allowance does — why the difference?
3. Is there any requirement for a certain percentage of green space (not counting paved parking areas as green space)?
Looking at the specific proffer of 10% attainable:
If you look at the percentages in paragraph C, only 5% of the first 400 units are attainable; with the Planning Board change, 60% of the next 50 units are attainable, potentially becoming a low-income enclave (without the Planning Board change, it would have been 30% — still significantly different from the 5% section of the development, but not a majority). (And these differences seem to ignore the Commission requirement that attainable be evenly distributed throughout the project.)
As I mentioned on Tuesday, there didn’t appear to be any remedies to require additional attainable units if the developer stopped building residential before reaching 400 units. I suggest a time limit for providing the required attainable units. For example, 3 years after occupancy of the initial residential units, the developer would be required reach the 10% attainable percentage, even it that required converting market rate units to attainable units. (What would be the penalty for failing to comply?)
Also note that Paragraph 3 of the proffer (page 34 of 306) actually rescinds the 10% proffer if they build fewer than the maximum number of units. (This is unacceptable; it even sounds like “bait and switch” with the developer having no real intention to build the maximum number of units — nor to include attainable housing.)
I would appreciate any clarification you can provide before Thursday’s CC meeting. As I currently interpret the document, it is not ready for passage.
Debbie Trice
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Concerns about Comp Plan Amendment for Mall
To: Sarasota City Commission
FYI, I had a very productive meeting with Philip DiMaria this afternoon. My concerns about residential density were put to rest. However, I expect a few changes to be made regarding the attainable housing proffer at Thursday’s meeting.
Debbie Trice
Commissioner
City of Sarasota
Harbor Drive
To: Sarasota City Mayor Liz Alpert
Hi Commissioner Alpert. Over the last 45 days we have experienced significant flooding on Harbor Drive. We have lived here through three hurricanes and have not experienced the type of flooding we are now seeing. I’m not sure if it’s all because of the new construction contributing to this, failed storm water systems, or just the perfect storm conditions. We need help from the City to fix this issue. I have spoken to 10 concerned property owners on Harbor Drive (there will be more) and we are hopeful you can lead the charge to fix the issue.
Jamie Ebling
Sarasota
Harbor Drive
To: Jamie Ebling
Thanks for contacting me about the issue with Harbor Drive. I think we have recently experienced “the perfect storm” on two separate occasions which caused unusual flooding. The first was the almost foot of rain that fell in a couple of hours and this time almost a foot of rain that fell non-stop over a two day period. There is not a practical stormwater system for such occurrences.
That being said, if you have been getting flooding at other times, then we need to see what’s going on and if there is something that needs to be done. I am copying the city manager and deputy city manager, so we can check out the situation for you and the other residents on Harbor Drive. Since, we are dealing with the aftermath of T.S. Debby, we may not be able to respond as quickly as normal. But, be assured, we will.
Liz Alpert
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Sandbags
To: Sarasota City Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch
I was very disturbed to find that Sarasota did not have a single sandbag distribution center during Tropical Storm Debby.
Is this a City or County responsibility?
Either way it is reprehensible that this crucial service was not provided.
I would welcome an explanation.
Ruth Firth
Sarasota
Sandbags
To: Ruth Firth
Thanks for the email. I did double check and as far as I know, Sarasota did not have a sandbag distribution. As you may know, Sarasota County is responsible for stormwater and emergency services (in coordination with the City).
I have copied our District 2 Commissioner Mr. Smith on this email so he is aware of your input. Also, the City and the County are holding an inter-local meeting and I do believe that will be an opportunity to give input as well, although I am not positive as this is the first City/County inter-local meeting we have had since I was elected seven years ago!
I have copied the City’s Auditor and Clerk, Ms. Griggs, on this email to respond to the process and procedure question. Thank you again for your email and I am confident we will receive a response to your question.
Jen Ahearn-Koch
Vice Mayor
City of Sarasota
