Sprinklers
To: Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier
I mentioned sprinklers shooting onto Gulf of Mexico Drive today. About ten puddles and as always, the Diplomat was shooting a gusher onto the southbound lane. With my top down I tried to go around it and almost caused an accident. At a minimum someone should call Diplomat management, it’s a daily thing.
Paul Karon
Longboat Key
Sprinklers
To: Longboat Key Police Chief Russ Mager
This constituent has mentioned to me several times a problem with condos on the north end spraying irrigation water well into GMD at all hours, in and onto cars, and asking if you could contact the owners to re-direct the water. Diplomat seems to be the prime offender. Thanks.
Ken Schneier
Mayor
Town of Longboat Key
Sprinklers
To: Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton
We made contact with the manager of the Diplomat who said she will have maintenance address the sprinkler heads accordingly.
Russ Mager
Police Chief
Longboat Key Police Department
Sprinklers
To: Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton
Thanks guys. a simple fix i think is of patrols radio the town when they drive by.
i swerved in my convertible and really freaked out a driver going opposite direction.
Paul Karon
Longboat Key
801 Longboat Club Drive
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
Thank you for taking the time to speak with my builder, Patrick Dipinto. I truly appreciate how informative and clear you were in walking through the details — it was very helpful and reassuring for us as we sort through the specifics. Thank you again for your guidance and availability.
Andrew Charabin
President
ADJ Industries Inc
801 Longboat Club Drive
To: Andrew Charabin
I recommend you reach out to us here to go over the specifics. The information regarding the height lowering sounds wrong in a number of respects. It may have been misunderstood. Please feel free to reach out to Plans Examiner, Neal Mazzei (Cc’d) at 941-316-1966 & we’ll make sure we get all the facts straight. Thanks.
Allen Parsons
Director Planning, Zoning & Building Department
Town of Longboat Key
801 Longboat Club Drive
To: Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Director Allen Parsons
I am forwarding correspondence from Andrew Charabin, who is a Longboat resident and owns several homes here. His dilemma is the apparent need to reduce the height of his home on Longboat Club Road if he rebuilds, which would reduce his space and make his home much lower than his neighbors’. It seems anomalous that multi-family properties can re-build to their prior “box” and single-family residences cannot; or maybe there’s a variance or other procedure that could be employed? Thanks for looking into this.
Ken Schneier
Mayor
Town of Longboat Key
801 Longboat Club Dr
To: Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier
Further to our discussion, I’m forwarding the note I received from the building consultant following their meeting with the building officials.
Given the scope of the proposed alterations, the project would be classified as a Level 3 alteration. As a result, the entire home would need to be brought up to current code. The most significant issue is that the house would be required to be lowered approximately 12–13 feet to meet today’s requirements.
My concern is that lowering the house by 12–13 feet would result in a structure that is materially out of scale with the surrounding Gulf-front properties, particularly along this stretch of the 7th beachfront lot line.
I’ve attached several photos I took today showing the immediate neighboring homes from both the street and the beach. As you can see, the existing and recently built homes in this area are all elevated and carry substantial vertical presence. A significantly lowered house would appear visually disconnected from the established streetscape and beach frontage.
Given this context, I’m struggling to see how a lowered structure would be compatible with the character of the surrounding properties, and I’d like to explore whether there are alternative approaches that avoid triggering a Level 3 alteration or otherwise address this issue. Looking forward to your thoughts.
Andrew Charabin
President
ADJ Industries Inc
Manatee Property Appraiser Meeting
To: Longboat Key Commission
Yesterday, Isaac, Sue, Allen, and I met with the Manatee Property Appraiser’s Office. The Property Appraiser (Charlie Hackney) and his leadership team were at the table.
The goals of the meeting were two-fold. First to understand better what happened with the mass devaluations. Second, to work together to keep this from ever happening again. You’ll recall that last week staff met with the Sarasota Property Appraiser’s Office to understand their processes and to ensure that we were all on the same page in the event of another emergency situation.
We began the meeting with Mr. Hackney by sharing the attached memorandum which we believe showed the degree of error in the valuation process. Mr. Hackney and his team readily acknowledged the miscalculation that was made and discussed how they would work with their software system to keep it from happening again. While this is a lost year and at this point there’s nothing to be done about it, our team was able to convey the hardship it caused and to Mr. Hackney’s credit he owned up to it and apologized for the impacts caused to Longboat Key.
The more important part of the discussion centered around improving communications and how we could work together in a future storm event. The Property Appraiser agreed to seek read only access to our permitting system, to ask for the Town’s damage assessment information (both preliminary and the more detailed information), and to share their initial damage assessments with Town staff so that we can verify and discuss any differences that we see. All of these efforts are best practices and we look forward to seeing these improvements move forward (although we all agreed to never having another hurricane like Helene).
Lastly, we confirmed again with Mr. Hackney that it is his intent to restore values to all properties that were deemed uninhabitable (as long as the repairs or rebuild has been completed by 12/31/2025). This move will greatly restore the values on the Manatee side of the island. We also agreed to assist their office in communicating this valuation information if they needed the help as it will be confusing to some of our residents and we’ll end up getting many of the calls anyway.
Overall, we appreciated the time with Mr. Hackney and his team. Emergency situations create opportunities for improvement, and we believe going forward that the relationship and communication between our two offices has been strengthened. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Howard N. Tipton
Town Manager
Town of Longboat Key
Beach Access: Ohana
To: Longboat Key Town Commission
The Ohana property has come up in conversation on several occasions in recent weeks regarding interest in gaining owner approval for the public to cross their property. I was not here when this was discussed back in 2021 and have found the attached information very helpful in trying to understand the options that have been previously explored and vetted. From the public record it appears that there has been extensive research and discussion on this subject. We’ve also shared this with our new Police Chief as the prior issues with trespassing on private property were/are a concern.
For Commissioners Karon, Coffin, Branham, and Commissioner-elect Gladding, this information may also be helpful in understanding the background to this discussion as it will likely surface again with the new ownership. Isaac has also attached the Gulfside Road update on from June 2024 that shows some of the structural (groin) stabilization we’re planning to install in late 2027/early 2028. One of the groins will be very close to the Ohana seawall structure and we’ll likely need the owner’s cooperation as we look to move this project forward.
Maggie and Isaac are the best ones to reach out to if you have any questions as they have the history with this subject that I do not.
Howard N. Tipton
Town Manager
Town of Longboat Key
Beach Access: Ohana
To: Longboat Key Town Manager Howard tipton
Attached from December 2021 is a very good summary presentation to the Town Commission of the work done previously regarding beach access and the Ohana house (and others). The presentation includes images from the former property owner as well. Myself, Blake Gaylord (our Eminent Domain attorney), Maggie, and Tom were all involved in delivering parts of the presentation, so if you have any question on slide content, please let me know. Also attached is our Gulfside Road update on June 2024 which shows some details of the future structural stabilization. Even though not showing it specifically, the new structures should hold some level of sand in front of the Ohana seawall by our northern-most groin structure to be built as well.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Isaac Brownman
Assistant Town Manager
Town of Longboat Key
Beach Access: Ohana
To: Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton
Sounds like a cooperative and great move on our part to get ahead of this before next year. Cooperation, compromise and communication are so important in what we do. It’s a little discouraging that they are not able to offset some of our lost revenues this year in some fashion. Gary Coffin
Commissioner
Town of Longboat Key
Beach Access: Ohana
To: Longboat Key Commission
Yesterday, Isaac, Sue, Allen, and I met with the Manatee Property Appraiser’s Office. The Property Appraiser (Charlie Hackney) and his leadership team were at the table.
The goals of the meeting were two-fold. First to understand better what happened with the mass devaluations. Second, to work together to keep this from ever happening again. You’ll recall that last week staff met with the Sarasota Property Appraiser’s Office to understand their processes and to ensure that we were all on the same page in the event of another emergency situation.
We began the meeting with Mr. Hackney by sharing the attached memorandum which we believe showed the degree of error in the valuation process. Mr. Hackney and his team readily acknowledged the miscalculation that was made and discussed how they would work with their software system to keep it from happening again. While this is a lost year and at this point there’s nothing to be done about it, our team was able to convey the hardship it caused and to Mr. Hackney’s credit he owned up to it and apologized for the impacts caused to Longboat Key.
The more important part of the discussion centered around improving communications and how we could work together in a future storm event. The Property Appraiser agreed to seek read only access to our permitting system, to ask for the Town’s damage assessment information (both preliminary and the more detailed information), and to share their initial damage assessments with Town staff so that we can verify and discuss any differences that we see. All of these efforts are best practices and we look forward to seeing these improvements move forward (although we all agreed to never having another hurricane like Helene).
Lastly, we confirmed again with Mr. Hackney that it is his intent to restore values to all properties that were deemed uninhabitable (as long as the repairs or rebuild has been completed by 12/31/2025). This move will greatly restore the values on the Manatee side of the island. We also agreed to assist their office in communicating this valuation information if they needed the help as it will be confusing to some of our residents and we’ll end up getting many of the calls anyway.
Overall, we appreciated the time with Mr. Hackney and his team. Emergency situations create opportunities for improvement, and we believe going forward that the relationship and communication between our two offices has been strengthened. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Howard N. Tipton
Town Manager
Town of Longboat Key
Beach Access: Ohana
To: Longboat Key Commission
The Ohana property has come up in conversation on several occasions in recent weeks regarding interest in gaining owner approval for the public to cross their property. I was not here when this was discussed back in 2021 and have found the attached information very helpful in trying to understand the options that have been previously explored and vetted. From the public record it appears that there has been extensive research and discussion on this subject. We’ve also shared this with our new Police Chief as the prior issues with trespassing on private property were/are a concern.
For Commissioners Karon, Coffin, Branham, and Commissioner-elect Gladding, this information may also be helpful in understanding the background to this discussion as it will likely surface again with the new ownership. Isaac has also attached the Gulfside Road update on from June 2024 that shows some of the structural (groin) stabilization we’re planning to install in late 2027/early 2028. One of the groins will be very close to the Ohana seawall structure and we’ll likely need the owner’s cooperation as we look to move this project forward.
Maggie and Isaac are the best ones to reach out to if you have any questions as they have the history with this subject that I do not.
Howard N. Tipton
Town Manager
Town of Longboat Key
Suncoast Waterkeeper Sampling Results for Dec. 15
To: Longboat Key Commission, Sarasota City Commission
On December 15, Monday, the enterococci survey was carried out during an incoming high tide. The tide ranged from 1 to 1.25 feet, and high tide was recorded at 1.25 feet. There was no rainfall in the 24 hours prior to sampling.
The water was calm and clear at Caples Bayfront, Indian Beach, Palma Sola Bay, and Terra Ceia Bay. There was 1 dog on the shore at both Indian Beach and at The Bay Park. It was a windy day, with 10 to 15 miles per hour (mph) winds, which caused choppy surface waters and suspended solids in the water column in the following sites – Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Longboat Key Bayfront Park, Braden River, and Palmetto Bridge. There was wrack at Herb Dolan Park and Emerson Point Preserve. Horses were observed in the northeast corner at Palma Sola Bay, around 350 meters away from the sampling location. It was very windy (15 mph) at Braden River, causing the water to be very murky and brown in color with suspended solids. There were contractors at Longboat Key Boat Ramp who appeared to be removing an old boat from the water, so that site was inaccessible this week.
The results for sites sampled in the northern region (across Manatee & Sarasota Counties) are as follows:
Caples: 10/100 mL
Indian Beach: 10/100 mL
The Bay Park, Boulevard of the Arts: Undetected
Sarasota Sailing Squadron: 10/100 mL
Longboat Key Bayfront Park (bay side): 122/100 mL
Herb Dolan Park: 20/100 mL
Palma Sola Causeway North: 20/100 mL
Braden River: 2359/100 mL
Palmetto Bridge: 30/100 mL
Emerson Point: 10/100 mL
Terra Ceia Bay: Undetected
Any count exceeding 71 is considered unsafe for swimming, indicating a potential health concern. The standard for enterococci in Class II and Class III Marine waters is “MPN or MF counts shall not exceed a monthly geometric mean of 35 nor exceed the Ten Percent Threshold Value (TPTV) of 130 in 10% or more of the samples during any 30-day period. Monthly geometric means shall be based on a minimum of 10 samples taken over a 30-day period,” (62-302.500 F.A.C.). The two Longboat Key sites are located in Class II waters (https://geodata.dep.state.fl.us/datasets/FDEP::surface-water-class-boundaries-areas/explore?location=27.336358%2C-82.433979%2C10.00)
We are committed to bringing these critical issues to your attention and believe your active involvement is crucial. The official reports for this week’s sampling activities, courtesy of Benchmark Enviroanalytical, are attached to this email. We want to encourage you to direct all questions, suggestions for additional analysis, and feedback to Dr. Abbey Tyrna at Executivedirector@suncoastwaterkeeper.org and Pia Ronquillo-See at waterquality@suncoastwaterkeeper.org. Your input is invaluable in our collective efforts to address these water quality issues.
We are happy to report safe to swim conditions along most of our sites along the suncoast! I will continue with our enterococci survey during the next two weeks, but only in the northern region. The southern region sites will resume in the new year.
At this time, we are also compiling our year-end report from the 2025 enterococci results, analyzing our data with the Florida Department of Health Healthy Beaches Program criteria for swimmability and the Florida Administrative Code 62-302 regulatory standards for class II and class III waterbodies. We will be happy to share this with all of you in a couple of weeks, once we have completed the December 2025 sampling.
Pia Ronquillo-See
Suncoast Waterkeeper
Archival material and maybe dinner
To: Lisa Shapiro
All good. Trish is our wonderful Town Clerk and can help in any way necessary. She is always working at Town Hall whereas I am not.
Ken Schneier
Mayor
Town of Longboat Key
Archival material and maybe dinner
To: Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier
That’s excellent news and very appropriate groups to receive the documents. My mom would have been pleased that her hard work might find a home. I’ll reach out just after the new year to plan a time to get together. Just an FY: before I emailed you, I emailed Trish Shinkle, who expressed interest. I’ll follow up with her to let her know I’ll go through you on this.
Lisa Shapiro
Longboat Key
Archival material and maybe dinner
Lisa: Good to hear from you! I would be happy to take the Longboat Key materials you have and get them in the right hands. We have a historical society that needs a reason to re-activate and a Green Team very involved in all things environmental on the island. We will be around the first week in January and can plan a meal whenever you are free.
Ken Schneier
Mayor
Town of Longboat Key
Archival material and maybe dinner
To: Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier
Hi, Ken. I hope you and Cindy are well. She may remember me from camp days (either Eagle Island or Lenoloc) and I knew you from Livingston, most recently at the LHS reunion.
The reason I’m writing is that I have a box of original material including notes of meetings, research, and two manuals from that time, pertaining to the health and dynamics (erosion, development effects, etc.) of the beaches. The group was intensively interacting with Arvida at the time. Please let me know if the city or beach ecologists might have any interest in some or all of these archival materials.
We are coming to the area in early January and I’d be glad to bring at least the manuals for someone to look at.
Of course, if you and Cindy happen to be free for dinner some time between Jan 4 and Jan 9, do let me know…it’d be great to see you. We do just love the area. Again, Happy Holidays.
Lisa Shapiro
Longboat Key
Fact Checking Hurricanes and The St. Regis Groin Sign
To: Longboat Key Commission
I just want to clarify a point that was raised at your December 8 Regular Meeting regarding the sign on the St. Regis Groin.
As you know, the sign on the St. Regis groin was erected in August 2025; hurricanes Helene and Milton were 2024 events. At that meeting Commissioner Gold asked about the statement in Brenda Patten’s letter of October 17 regarding the groin sign having withstood two hurricanes. The response at that meeting was that the letter was referring to the groin, not to the sign.
In fact, the actual text of the letter reads: “For your information, the existing groin sign has been through 2 hurricanes without moving or creating any damage.”
As the sign has not, in fact, withstood two hurricanes there is no basis to believe that there would be no movement or damage in a hurricane. So both the letter, and the response to Commissioner Gold’s question, are incorrect.
David Lapovsky
Longboat Key
Fact Checking Hurricanes and The St. Regis Groin Sign
To: David Lapovsky
One of the reasons the number of parking spaces is inadequate Downtown and in Rosemary District is that developers of multi-family dwellings don’t provide adequate parking for residents’ guests and service workers. Many of the structures are like CitySide, where I live: there’s more than enough parking for residents behind restricted-access gates, but all but a handful of visitors must avail themselves of street parking.
The requirement for the developers to provide parking is likely designed to shield the City from the expense of meeting the parking needs of a private development. But, under the current scheme, the City still has the burden of providing parking for guests and service workers. This also places a burden on local businesses whose patrons have to compete for limited public parking. (We see greater pressure during the holiday season when residents are entertaining friends in their homes and restaurants are serving holiday meals.)
I propose that the formula be adjusted so that a percentage of the total number of spaces must be accessible to the residents’ guests. Perhaps you could direct Planning to look into this. If this needs to be an Agenda Item, please consider this a request.
Debbie Trice
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Urgent Assistance Requested, North Tamiami Construction Site Impacting Local Businesses
To: Sarasota City Commissioner Liz Alpert
My name is Andrea Ronchini, I had your contact information from Vanessa Bough, I am the owner of RONC (Ronchini Food Inc.), a small, locally owned food business located on North Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.
I am writing to bring to your attention the severe economic impact that the ongoing construction on North Tamiami Trail is having on my business. Since the construction began, customer access, visibility, and traffic to my location have been dramatically reduced. Despite my best efforts to adapt, sales have dropped to a level that is no longer sustainable.
RONC employs local workers and serves the surrounding community with freshly made food and coffee. Like many small businesses, we operate on tight margins, and this prolonged disruption is putting us at serious risk of closure. Without some form of assistance or intervention, I may be forced to shut down, which would mean job losses and the disappearance of another local small business.
I fully understand that infrastructure improvements are necessary, but I respectfully ask for the City’s help in mitigating the damage being caused to businesses like mine. This could include:
Improved signage directing customers to open businesses
Temporary financial or tax relief
Rent or utility assistance programs
Any other support the City can offer to help us survive this period
I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you or a member of your team to discuss possible solutions. My goal is simple: to stay open, keep my employees working, and continue serving the Sarasota community.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope the City will stand with its small businesses during this difficult time.
Andrea Ronchini
Sarasota
