Longboat Key Letters to the Editor

Although we are Anna Maria Island residents and have absolutely no vote in the upcoming referendum, we are shocked at this proposal. Have the powers that be looked at the current traffic problems in the north Longboat area and the fact that Longboat has no bridge to the mainland? Has there been a traffic study for projected impact, and have there been plans for accommodating this change? Traffic congestion is just one of the myriad problems that will be created by this project.

Although this is a Longboat project, Anna Maria residents will be greatly impacted, and we are spreading the word. The communication regarding this project, according to responses that we are receiving from Anna Maria residents, has been fairly elusive, and the timing and wording of the referendum appear to be calculated. (Longboat’s town clerk states that there has never been a referendum in August.)

Upon passage, the zoning will be changed to tourism, which allows 15 units on this land. What the referendum does NOT say is that after that, the project will apply for and, in all probability, receive a green light for 120 units on 2.62 acres. Yes, this would be allowed according to the tourism unit pool that was approved in 2008. However, our coastal regions have changed dramatically in eight years.

We hope that Longboat residents will vote “No” on this referendum for more than one reason, with one of them being consideration for their neighbors to the north on Anna Maria Island.

Floridays hotel would bring life to north end

Congratulations on a fine editorial recognizing all the years that have passed that have left the north end of Longboat Key baron of rebirth. As you state, many ideas have been entertained, but no one has stepped up to the plate with a vision, a plan to create something out of a dying swath of real estate. The struggling Whitney Plaza is testament to good intentions gone unfulfilled — as with the current and prior owners’ multimillion-dollar attempts at revitalization.

No one knows what Floridays’ ultimate development will be or look like, but I encourage its bold attempt at revitalizing a part of Longboat Key long devoid of commercial prosperity. I’ve long thought that a condominium project with retail shopping at ground level would be the optimal mix that would revitalize that part of town. Floridays’ proposal for a hotel would bring vibrancy and more people to support shops and restaurants. It’s the best chance we’ve got to make something from nothing.

The myopic comments against your editorial and, for that matter, for any growth on the island — witness the fight against the Key Club’s expansion plans a few years back — continue to amaze me. Traffic on Longboat Key is not Longboat Key’s problem to solve because it’s powerless to make any changes itself other than to prohibit new construction, which is self-defeating. That we have traffic gridlock at the north and south ends of the island is the failure of both Sarasota and Manatee counties, the city of Sarasota and the Florida Department of Transportation. It shows that no forethought has been given to population growth, road construction, traffic-light control and timing, use of traffic police during peak season and peak time of day, and more. The op-ed piece in the Observer a few months ago by a professional traffic consultant showed that there are solutions to gridlock if only the municipalities responsible would work together to overcome them.

Growth and change will always happen. No growth equals stagnation and ultimately death to a vibrant town.

Vote “YES” on Aug. 30.

Milan Adrian

Longboat Key