South Siesta resident pursuing new effort to prevent construction of Siesta Promenade

Wallace’s attorney sends County Commission ‘Notice of Dangerous Condition’

South Siesta Key resident James P. Wallace III has launched a new initiative to try to prevent the construction of the mixed-use Siesta Promenade development at the intersection of Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.

Once again, the effort focuses on a traffic signal at the Avenue B and C intersection on Stickney Point Road.

On Feb. 20, an attorney for Wallace sent a formal Notice of Dangerous Condition to the Sarasota County Commission and copied County Attorney Joshua Moye on it.

“Sarasota County now knows, and should have previously known, of this dangerous condition and intersection based on … prior letters from FDOT [the Florida Department of Transportation] and Dr. James P. Wallace III and now is put on ‘actual notice’ that:

“The all-new intersection and all-new signal at [Avenue] B&C and Stickney Point Road will result in drastic increases in EMV [emergency medical vehicle] Time to Care thereby creating a ‘dangerous operational condition,’ ” attorney Ralf Brookes of Longboat Key and Cape Coral wrote, with emphasis.

In a Feb. 21 email to The Sarasota News Leader, Brookes explained, “This is a personal injury law warning letter putting the county on notice of dangers that could lead to loss of life as a result of increased time to [travel] to and from Siesta Key, particularly southern portions of Siesta Key,” served by the Stickney Point Road drawbridge and Midnight Pass Road.

In the Notice, Brookes pointed out, “What has now been approved as part of the Siesta Promenade development conditions is an all-new intersection and all-new signal at Ave B&C — which is located between the two most important and most congested intersections involving by far Siesta Key’s most important South Bridge access road. The new Siesta Promenade-driven traffic requires an all-new intersection and all-new signal with two left turn lanes and two pedestrian crossing buttons  — all of which would stop [east-west] traffic dead in its tracks roughly every 3 minutes for at least one minute.”

As approved by the Sarasota County Commission in December 2018, Siesta Promenade will include 414 apartments/condominiums, a 130-room hotel, 133,000 square feet of retail space and 7,000 square feet of office space. The property, which encompasses nearly 24 acres, stands in the northwest quadrant of the intersection of U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road.

“Therefore,” Brookes continued in the Notice, “this [County Commission] decision will be the direct cause of even longer Emergency Medical Vehicle travel times where even a minute or so can be the difference between life and death of a Siesta Key resident or visitor.”

He added that he had attached an affidavit from Wallace’s brother,  Raymond M. Wallace, an emergency medical responder in Tennessee.

Moreover, the Notice says, “In the event the operation of this all-new intersection and all-new traffic signal causes personal injury or damages, we hereby also give notice of liability and notice of the ability and intent to sue for any personal injuries and actual and punitive damages in the event of death, injury or other damages that are caused or aggravated by operation of the all-new intersection and all-new traffic signal at Stickney Point Road and Ave B&C.”

A May 2023 blog provided by Alan Sackrin of the the Sackrin & Tolchinsky law firm in Hallandale Beach explains, “Simply put, a dangerous situation is something that exists at a business location that might cause someone to get hurt.” The blog refers to Florida Statute 768.0755.

In the Feb. 20 Notice, Brookes pointed out, “An act of negligence can include a local government’s operation of a traffic intersection and signal of which it had knowledge.” He cited the ruling in a 1987 Florida Supreme Court case, Palm Beach County Bd. of County Comm’rs v. Salas, in which the county argued “that a driver’s alleged negligence, in asserted violation of a traffic ordinance, relieved the county of liability.”

Casetext.com provides this summary of the ruling: “Palm Beach County had failed to properly separate motorists negotiating a hazardous work site.”

Further, Brookes wrote, “Sovereign immunity does not apply to shield local governments from liability from open and obvious and dangerous operational conditions.”

The Florida Law Group explains, “Sovereign immunity is a type of legal protection that prevents the United States’ federal or state governments and their departments from being sued for money damages in the case of tort claims (injury claims as a result of negligence) without their consent.”

Brookes cited several judicial precedents for his statement above, including the 1993 Florida Third District Court of Appeal decision in Seguine v. City of Miami, as well as the 1967 Florida Supreme Court ruling in Modlin v. City of Miami Beach.

In concluding his Notice, Brookes told the commissioners, “In the past during tourist season (during normal years prior to the recent hurricanes), there already was stop and go traffic on Midnight Pass [Road] from north and south of Stickney Point Rd over the [Stickney Point Road drawbridge] and out to the [U.S.] 41 intersection and beyond. The operation of this all-new intersection and all-new signal will grind Emergency Medical Vehicle ingress and egress to Siesta Key to a halt as even more traffic must be handled. Obviously, this Dramatic Change can only make what is an already terrible situation even worse and clearly put even more lives at stake.”

County staff told the News Leader in early January that the traffic signal erected at Avenue B and C would be “placed into flash (yellow flash for Stickney Point; red flash on cross street), until development activities at the Siesta Promenade site warrant a return to a fully signalized intersection control.”

The signal was operated for a couple of months to enable storm debris contractors to use the Siesta Promenade site as a staging area for materials removed from Siesta Key in the aftermath of damage inflicted on the island by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Benderson Development Co., whose affiliates own the property, gave county staff permission for use of the site.

The Office of the County Attorney does not comment on pending litigation, county public information officers have told the News Leader on a number of past occasions.

‘An enormous change for the worst’

As the News Leader has reported, Brookes appeared before the County Commission during the Open to the Public comment period of its regular meeting on Jan. 28. That day, Brookes made a number of the points he incorporated into the Feb. 20 Notice.

He sent the board members a letter on the issues on Jan. 28, as well.

Additionally last week, Brookes provided the News Leader a copy of a Feb. 9 letter that he had addressed to the commissioners, warning them that if they had not responded to Wallace’s concerns as of Feb. 17, he and Wallace would prepare a new complaint after withdrawing one filed last year with the 12thJudicial Circuit Court over the plans for routine operation of the stoplight at Avenue B and C.

The Feb. 9 letter to the commissioners explained, “Dr. James P. Wallace III wants to be sure that the information below is fully considered before he reinstates litigation. In making your decision as to whether or not to bring any further information back to the County Commission, my client asked me to remind you of the following:

• “My client wishes to continue to make the point that the South bridge access road to Siesta Key is absolutely critical to emergency vehicle response times; and
• “The current approval of the all-new intersection and all-new signal at Ave B&C on Stickney Point Rd. will, with absolute certainty, cost lives.

Brookes continued, “To make matters worse:

• “The hurricane rebuilding of Siesta Key will result in much higher truck travel over that road for some time to come, making it increasingly difficult for emergency vehicles to travel on and off the Key.
• “The Stickney Point bridge sometime in the next 10 years will have to undergo a complete replacement. During this replacement process, at best, its capacity will be cut in half. Stickney Point Road does not need [an] additional traffic made possible by this all-new intersection and all-new signal.”

Then Brookes pointed to arguments that he and Wallace wanted to make “to help convince Sarasota County to reverse the decision” regarding operation of the traffic signal. Among them was the following:

• “The old T Intersection at Ave B&C had no impact whatsoever” on westbound traffic on Stickney Point Road and very little on the eastbound traffic. “However,” the letter said, “the all-new intersection and new signal allows for traffic in all directions” by having two left-turn lanes, and two pedestrian crossings. “[T]his would clearly be an enormous change for the worst,” Brookes stressed. “There is no need for expert testimony, although we have it,” he added.

Further, Brookes disputed an argument that the Office of the County Attorney has made in the past in fighting Wallace’s litigation over the traffic signal. That is that Wallace does have “legal standing” to contest the County Commission’s 2018 stipulation that the stoplight had to be in place before Siesta Promenade could be completed.

As Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute explains,” Standing, or locus standi, is the capacity of a party to bring a lawsuit in court. To have standing, a party must demonstrate a sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action being challenged.”

The Institute adds, “A state’s statutes will determine what constitutes standing in that particular state’s courts. These typically revolve around the requirement that plaintiffs have sustained or will sustain direct injury or harm and that this harm is redressable.”

Brookes pointed out, “Dr. James P. Wallace III has owned property on Siesta Key since 1977 and has had, as his primary residence since 2007, a Condo located on Midnight Pass Rd. south of Turtle Beach Road. That is, he and his wife have lived for a long time at very nearly the southernmost end of Siesta Key — clearly giving him Standing.”

Brookes added, “For example, having access to both bridges, those Siesta Key residents and visitors who are located north of Stickney Pont Rd. are far better off than Dr. Wallace when it comes to EMV travel times. In other words, these folks’ needs can be met by either of the two bridges, whichever is best at the time. Thus, for many years, the South End of the Key EMV travel times have been his major concern not only for his family but also for all Siesta Key residents and visitors.”