Beach project fight cost taxpayers $150,000

Legal challenges levied against an application for sand-saving structures on the north end cost taxpayers $150,000 at a time when the town is facing a budget deficit.

Challenges by former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash, Longbeach Village resident Gene Jaleski and the Manatee-Sarasota Sierra Club led to a $150,000 budget transfer to pay for legal fees associated with the challenge.

The Longboat Key Town Commission expressed frustration at its Feb. 18 regular workshop when Town Manager Dave Bullock asked commissioners to forward a budget allocation ordinance to their March 3 regular meeting.

The balance transfer of $150,000 covers litigation costs directly related to the north end groin project.
As part of a settlement brokered last month with McClash and the Sierra Club, the town agreed not to build a long terminal groin made out of rocks that would have attached to Beer Can Island and jutted into Longboat Pass.

In return, McClash and the Sierra Club won’t object to the town’s plan to permit two permeable adjustable groins made out of concrete near Longbeach and 360 North condominiums.

In a memo to commissioners, Bullock announced the town was billed $100,000 for litigation-related services through Feb. 6 in regards to the north end structure permit.

“The town estimates an additional $50,000 may be necessary for future costs associated with the litigation,” wrote Bullock in his memo.

Commissioner Jack Duncan asked if the challenges from all of the parties, including Jaleski’s dismissed challenge, led to the $150,000 cost.

While Bullock noted that Jaleski’s challenge was deemed untimely and dismissed, he said the town still incurred costs when it filed motions to dismiss it.

“There were legal fees associated with the Jaleski challenge and another separate challenge that was deemed untimely,” Bullock said.

Commissioner Phill Younger questioned the bill from the Washington, D.C., law firm the town hired to respond to the challenge.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Younger said. “The bill seems excessive.”

Younger plans to review the attorney bill before the commission discusses the ordinance on first reading and public hearing in March.

Bullock also asked commissioners for $100,000 for anticipated consulting and legal services to prepare revisions to 1992 beach ordinances, which authorize the levy of millage dedicated to beach nourishment and maintenance projects in the future.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]