Project would violate numerous county policies, board members agree
Multiple times on Nov. 19, the representative of a Sarasota real estate attorney seeking County Commission approval to construct a two-story, two-unit condominium complex over a grade-level garage, with planned driveway access from Siesta Key Beach Access 10, stressed that the applicant was seeking “the minimum [variance] necessary for the reasonable use of the property.”
The phrase was a reference to state law that protects property rights.
And multiple times, speakers during the approximately 90-minute hearing stressed that the attorney — William Saba — bought the Beach Road property in 2012, “knowing he couldn’t build [on it,” as Cape Coral attorney Ralf Brookes put it.
The lot, which stands southwest of the parcel at 560 Beach Road, is fully seaward of what has been characterized as the county’s “line in the sand” established to protect landward structures from storm surge and other flooding events: the Gulf Beach Setback Line (GBSL).
Brookes described Saba’s situation as “a self-created hardship,” as the GBSL was established in 1979.
Yet, Martin Black, the agent for Saba Sands, told the board members that the county zoned the parcel for residential multi-family construction in 1989, “roughly 10 years after you adopted [the GBSL].”
Further, Black stressed that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) had not designated the property as “critically eroded.”
However, as county Environmental Permitting Division Manager Howard Berna pointed out, the residential structure would stand 229.3 feet seaward of the GBSL.
The building would be “the farthest seaward” of the GBSL in that section of Beach Road, Berna added.
Further, the elevation in that part of the Key, Berna noted, “is predominantly 4.5 feet above the Mean High Water Line.” He added that the site is within a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) velocity zone.
Nonetheless, Black — who pointed out that he had been “qualified in state, local and federal courts in planning and coastal development”— emphasized that the property had been accreting for more than 75 years. He and Berna both showed the commissioners historical slides to illustrate that fact.
The site is slightly larger than 1.13 acres, Black pointed out. “It’s one of the largest beachfront properties in Sarasota County.” Moreover, he added, the property is almost three times larger than neighboring parcels.
The living area of the structure, Black said, would be 749 feet landward of the Mean High Water Line. “It’s a long walk,” he continued, “over two football fields” from the development site to the Mean High Water Line and the public beach.
Altogether, as Environmental Permitting Division Manager Berna pointed out, the structure would have a total of 6,35 square feet of habitable space and a building footprint of 3,400 square feet.
Black also emphasized that the county zoning would allow up to six units per acre, and Saba Sands was asking for just two.
Yet, multiple speakers also testified that the property officially owned by Saba Sands II LLC frequently floods.
Attorney Brookes said that in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricanes Helene and Milton, “This property was inundated for weeks.” Moreover, he pointed out, paving Beach Access 10 for the driveway would create “a direct conduit for stormwater surge in a hurricane.”
Several people talked of the 6-foot to 7-foot storm surge that Hurricane Helene produced in late September, which rolled over the property where attorney Saba wants to build the house, made its way on toward Palm Island to the north.
Harris Williams, who lives at 564 Beach Road, emphasized during the hearing that climate change is producing much more powerful storm surge.
The surge from Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton, on Oct. 9, “rippedthrough my first floor [and] knocked out the walls,” Williams told the commissioners.
Attorney Saba had told him, Williams added, that Saba wanted to build just a cottage for his family on the property that was the focus of the hearing that day. Yet, Williams continued, the design under discussion “is a huge duplex.”
Earlier, Willams asked, “When is enough enough? When are we going to stop ruining Siesta Key?”
David Walter, a Palm Island resident, referenced the plans for the glass breakaway walls on the ground level of the proposed building. Helene’s storm surge, he said, shattered glass breakaway walls in homes in the area “in a thousand pieces,” which were strewn all over the barrier island.
“There’s a part of me that thinks this should be the easiest denial you guys have ever given,” Andrew Bush, a Beach Road resident, told the commissioners.
He had contacted Berna of Environment Permitting, Bush added, to ask whether any Coastal Setback Variance ever had been granted for construction of a home seaward of the platted but undeveloped road called Tenacity Lane, he continued. “[Berna] said, ‘No.’ ”
Bush also talked of having had about four-and-a-half feet of water in his home, located at 548 Beach Road, during Hurricane Helene’s storm surge. With Milton, he added, the shearing of the southern part of the storm resulted in only about 2 feet of water in his residence. “We didn’t get the big one … We all got lucky.”
Referencing Black’s comments about how much beach accretion had taken place on that part of the beach, Bush pointed out, “Take a big storm, and [that] could be gone.”
None of the 11 speakers — including Robert Luckner, who was representing the Siesta Key Association — expressed support for the variance request.
‘Too big of an ask’
Black, the Saba Sands agent, maintained that a 2015 court settlement between Saba Sands II and the county acknowledged the company’s development rights on the site. The board’s denial of a Coastal Setback Variance (CSV) for construction seaward of the GBSL, Black added, would adversely affect [Saba Sands’] constitutional rights.”
Yet, even before making the motion to deny the variance, Commissioner Mark Smith, a long-time Siesta resident, pointed out that the plans for the residential structure were “not in compliance with our [Comprehensive] Plan,” which guides growth in the community. He referenced policies cited in the county staff report to underscore his statement.
Smith also emphasized the fact that “One hundred percent of the building” would be constructed on dune habitat, which one county policy prohibits.
“I live in the area,” Smith continued, “and the dune system does work” to protect landward properties during storms, “although when you have a tidal surge like [Hurricane] Helene,” flooding still occurs.
Smith told his colleagues that granting the variance is “not the thing to do.”
Berna, the Environmental Permitting manager, noted during his presentation, “The beach is a dynamic system.” Although Black had emphasized the amount of accretion seaward of the construction site over the past 75 years, Berna told the board members that staff anticipated that, at some time in the future, if the residential building were allowed, it would end up interacting with Gulf of Mexico waters.
“I’m a real strong property rights person, and I want to do all I can to maintain that, ” Commissioner Ron Cutsinger said after Smith offered his remarks. Yet, Cutsinger continued, “This is a variance, and [the house would be] seaward of the Gulf Beach construction line.”
The request was too much for him, as well, Cutsinger said.
Earlier, Cutsinger had asked County Attorney Joshua Moye whether the Residential Multi-Family-1 zoning for the site would allow a single-family home to be built there. Moye confirmed that it would.
“This is too big of an ask,” Cutsinger added during his final comments after the hearing. “You could put a single-family home there, something less intense. The shock of that building [designed for Saba Sands], right there — [it] would be just incompatible with that area.”
After Smith made his motion to deny the variance, Black returned to the podium, necessitating interim Commission Chair Joe Neunder’s reopening of the hearing.
“Understanding the concerns,” Black said, “we ask for a continuance,” so planning could begin on a single-unit structure.
“I’m not going to vote for continuance,” Smith told his colleagues. “The project’s in the wrong spot,” he continued and then paused before adding, “on Earth.”
“I’m not in favor of a continuance,” new Commissioner Teresa Mast added right away. The project details, she noted were “pretty clear.”
After Mast seconded Smith’s motion for denial, with no other commissioners offering remarks, Neunder called for the vote. The denial was unanimous.