During April 21 meeting, board members requested more details about staff plans for site
During their regular meeting on April 21, the Sarasota County commissioners agreed to wait until their regular meeting on May 5 to consider whether they should adopt a resolution authorizing staff to issue $20,770,000 in bonds to pay for 2.04 acres of property known as The Boatyard, which is located at 1500 Stickney Point Road, just east of the drawbridge leading to Siesta Key.
The board voted 4-1 on Feb. 10 — with Commissioner Tom Knight dissenting — to buy the land for $18.1 million. The extra bond proceeds would be used for closing costs, staff has reported, along with “a portion of the debt service and start-up activities and improvements.”
The May 5 discussion is item No. 36 on the agenda, following the Reports Section of the meeting. The session will begin at 9 a.m. at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice, which stands at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail.
Even though the bonds would be paid off by revenue accumulated through the county’s Land Acquisition and Management Program, Knight expressed concern during the Feb. 10 meeting about the expense of demolishing the structures on the site.
A Feb. 10 county staff memo pointed out, “Due to significant damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, existing structures will be evaluated for functionality or potential demolition. Once acquired, the property will serve as a water access park with potential amenities,” such as a kayak launch, a fishing pier and docks. Further, the property could “serve as a hub for the Commercial Water-Based Charter Boat and Tour Operator Permit Program” that the county has implemented, the memo added.
Knight also voiced worries on Feb. 10 about the county’s ability to buy other sites if the referendum the board has approved for the November 2026 General Election ballot on extending the county’s Land Acquisition and Management Program does not pass, after the purchase of The Boatyard proceeded.
Knight has been among the more vocal of the board members in noting concerns about paying for county services in coming years, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and members of the Florida Legislature have talked about the potential that a referendum will be placed on the Nov. 4 General Election ballot to ask property owners whether they want to reduce the annual taxes they pay to local governments. The resulting revenue is the primary source of funding for local government operations that do not pay for themselves.
In Sarasota County, for example, property tax revenue covers the expenses of the Sheriff’s Office.
However, during his April 21 remarks regarding the proposed Boatyard purchase, Knight explained that his “No” vote on Feb. 10 was “mainly because we’re putting businesses out of business.”
During the Feb. 10 meeting, three people representing Siesta Key Watersports pleaded with the board members to allow them to stay in business, especially during this summer, which — they stressed — has proven a busy time of year for the company.
As county staff pointed out on Feb. 10, The Boatyard property has 700 feet of frontage on Little Sarasota Bay, along with 390 feet of boat basin access.
Moreover, commissioners have indicated that community questions have arisen about the price of the property. As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, the records maintained by Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst and his staff show that Big Main Street LLC, whose principal is Siesta Key businessman Chris Brown, acquired The Boatyard on Jan. 31, 2024 for $8.9 million.
Brown owns a number of restaurants on the barrier island, along with other properties, including Morton’s Siesta Market in Siesta Village.
County staff notes in a slide that will be part of the May 5 presentation that the two appraisals staff obtained put the value of The Boatyard property at $18.1 million and $14 million. The appraisal documents are included in the May 5 agenda packet.
‘A deeper dive’ merited
The April 21 bond action was listed on the commission’s Consent Agenda of routine business matters. However, both Chair Ron Cutsinger and Knight had pulled it for discussion.
As the board was preparing to act on the April 21 Consent Agenda, Chair Cutsinger explained to the audience in the Commission Chambers of the Anderson Administration Center in Venice that county staff is conducting due diligence on the site, as called for in the contract for the purchase. The due diligence should take approximately another month, until May 20, Cutsinger added.
His preference, Cutsinger continued, would be to ask county staff to come back to the board during its May 5 meeting with “some additional detail [on the parcel], along with some preliminary designs and a potential concept plan for the uses.”
Considering that this would be a “significant purchase” for the county, he noted, it would be helpful for him to try to visualize the options staff has in mind for the site.
Nonetheless, Cutsinger added, “I want to be very clear: I support prioritizing water access. I think this [property] does present a great opportunity, but I think it does merit a little deeper dive.”
Moreover, Cutsinger referenced the remarks that Sarasota attorney John Patterson had made during the Open to the Public comment period that morning regarding the interim use of the property, including the fate of Siesta Key Watersports.
An attorney with the Shutts & Bowen firm in Sarasota — and the husband of the late, three-term county Commissioner Nora Patterson — John Patterson pointed out that Siesta Key Watersports has been in business for 20 years and has more than 20 employees. “It helps thousands of people a year to be able to learn about and enjoy our unique waterfront community and environment,” he continued. “It has a spotless record of safety and service.”
He added that no long-range planning had been undertaken for the county’s use of the Stickney Point Road property. If the commissioners voted that day to proceed with the purchase, Patterson said, the business would have to vacate the site by May 14. “That’s pretty close …”
Then Patterson noted that it was his understanding that county staff has anticipated the closing on the deal to take place in approximately the middle or latter part of June.
Sitting vacant, Patterson pointed out, the property would not generate any revenue, but county staff could expect to have to handle expenses related to its upkeep.
Turning to the dockage on-site — which Patterson characterized as “really unique” — he said that about 426 feet of the space is usable. Before Hurricanes Helene and Milton wrought damage on the site in the fall of 2024, Patterson noted, the usable dockage area comprised about 600 feet.
“There’s plenty of room here,” he continued, if county leaders decided to allow charter boat operators and others to use the location, along with Siesta Key Watersports.
The county could allow that company to stay in business after the purchase of the property, Patterson continued, by giving it a revokable license “until long-term plans are developed.”
Siesta Key Watersports “is willing to pay the county what it’s been paying [property owner Chris Brown],” he added: $18,400 a month.
His official request that day, Patterson told the board members, was for them to authorize the county attorney and the county administrator “to formalize a short-term license” that would take effect upon the closing of the purchase, plus authorization for the staff to amend the contract for the purchase to enable Siesta Key Watersports to keep operating during the period before plans have been concluded for county use of the property.
A second speaker that morning, Shawn Fontana, who oversees the operations of Siesta Key Watersports, also asked for the board’s consideration of the future of that business.
“We serve one in every 60 visitors to Sarasota County,” Fontana stressed. About 220 feet of dock space is available for other businesses at the site, he noted. Even when The Boatyard had “full tenancy,” Fontana added, “The [parking lot] was not at capacity.”
He further noted that Siesta Key Watersports could secure off-site parking and operate a shuttle service to take customers to and from the property, and it is willing to work with county staff on reconfiguring the dock space that it has been using.
“Our hope is that you will give your team the green light today to work with us,” Fontana said.
The procurement law and the personal considerations
“I do understand our procedure in procurement,” Chair Cutsinger pointed out during the board discussion, referring to the state law that requires competitive bids on business opportunities involving local governments.
Yet, “I do wonder if there’s any options or opportunities there,” Cutsinger noted of the situation with Siesta Key Watersports.
“Certainly, I appreciate those comments,” Commissioner Knight said.
“There was no presentation from staff [on Feb. 10] about what would be done with [Siesta Key Watersports],” Knight added.
Further, Knight indicated that he had spoken with a number of charter boat captains who pay for dock space for their businesses. “So I think that when the staff comes back,” one of the topics that needs to be addressed is how much of the marina on the property is being considered for use by charter boat companies. He noted that his concern is fairness.
Moreover, Knight asked that staff provide the board members information about the potential “to build in exclusive rights for [Siesta Key Watersports] on the site.”
Then Commissioner Joe Neunder told his colleagues, “I think it is prudent to … pause a little bit [and] come back with a little further discussion on the matter.”
He added that he had talked with members of the Office of the County Attorney about the issues regarding Siesta Key Watersports. He also had spoken with staff members of the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources (PRNR) Department, Neunder noted.
“I … have inquired,” he continued, whether “there could be a win-win situation.”
Addressing Siesta Key Watersports representatives in the audience, Neunder said, “My understanding of your business [is] that you all operate through the summer months,” offer parasailing and jet ski rentals.
If an occasion exists when a local government body can assist someone in the private sector, Neunder pointed out, “We should be obligated to try and do [that].”
Neunder ended up making the formal motion to delay a vote on the issuance of the bonds until the board’s May 5 meeting, with direction to staff to schedule the item for discussion on that agenda. Commissioner Teresa Mast seconded it.
“I think it’s a very important conversation” that the board members should have, Mast told her colleagues. She, too, indicated a desire to learn more about the options regarding Siesta Key Watersports and other businesses in The Boatyard.
Commissioner Mark Smith added, “I think it would be a good opportunity to have Parks and Rec bring back” to the board members with recommendations from a task force that the commissioners had appointed to review factors related to “the commercial use of our parks, as part of that [May 5] discussion.”
At County Attorney Joshua Moye’s direction, the board members first voted unanimously to direct staff to move the bond issuance item to the May 5 agenda.
A second motion, Moye continued, should focus on the matters they would like to discuss that day, along with the bonds.
Cutsinger then clarified that the second motion was to direct staff to provide an update on potential designs and concept plans for use of the site, plus the possibilities that the commissioners could consider in regard to the existing businesses on the property. “Again, we’re dealing with proper procedures,” Cutsinger said, but he wanted to be sure staff provides the board information about the options.
Commissioner Neunder seconded that motion.
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis told the commissioners, “The second part’s easy, in terms of what the law allows on procurement and what it doesn’t …”
However, Lewis continued, “I just want to be clear on the expectations [in regard to any preliminary designs], as those have not been prepared yet.”
Cutsinger reiterated his desire to see preliminary designs, with potential uses of the site, but no binding development concept plan.
“It’s even going to be preliminary for a preliminary plan,” Lewis told him.
“A preliminary, preliminary plan,” Cutsinger restated what Lewis had indicated.
Commissioner Smith, an architect, pointed out, “In defense of staff … ordinarily, folks don’t do a preliminary plan until they own the property, and we don’t own the property yet.”
The second motion also passed 5-0.