The Mote vote: Yes

Ah, it’s the classic cliché: Timing is everything.

For roughly 25 years, the trust and later the foundation for the late Bill Mote, founder of Mote Marine Laboratory, has been trying to sell 1.82 acres of undeveloped commercial property at 5630 Gulf of Mexico Drive, just north of the Longboat Observer building.

Tire kickers have come and gone. Booms and busts have come and gone. Until finally, a Connecticut-transplant homebuilder, Mark Ursini and his Sarasota-based Brista Homes Inc., put the property under contract to buy for $1.35 million.

At last, a buyer. 

But there’s a catch. Brista would like to convert the property’s zoning from commercial to residential use. And months ago, Brista obtained permission from the Longboat Key Town Commission to place on the town’s March 14 ballot a question to convert the property’s use to a maximum of six residential units per acre. Or, in the case of this parcel, up to 10 residential units.

Alas, Brista’s timing probably couldn’t be worse. Its referendum question will be on the March 14 ballot at the same time as Unicorp Development’s Colony density question.

Having watched how Longboat voters have rejected the last three referenda questions to increase residential density, Brista’s attorney, John Patterson, last month asked if Brista’s density request could be removed from the March 14 ballot. 

The town attorney said it was too late. So now, the outcome hinges on the wishes (and wisdom) of Longboat Key voters.

Here’s where we stand: We support the change.

Take a look at the commercial property just to the south of the Mote property, at 5620 Gulf of Mexico Drive. The three commercial buildings there were built in the early 1950s. None of those buildings has been redeveloped. And they show it.

Or look at the abandoned service station and abandoned bank building on the north end of the Key. Or Whitney Beach Plaza. Or the struggling retail strip in the Buttonwood section of the Key. In fact, let’s also include the Centre Shops buildings. Or for that matter, all the commercial properties on Longboat Key, except for the Shoppes of Bay Isles, which houses Publix.

Every one of these buildings is physically in decline, several beyond their useful lives. Their owners are hesitant to upgrade because they know the economics are not favorable. Reinvestment would require higher rental rates and consumer prices. 

And given Longboat Key’s seasonality, higher rental rates would make the cost of space prohibitive — uneconomical for a small business owner to make a decent return on his efforts.

Here’s the reality: Longboat Key has a serious glut of commercially zoned property. And this glut has trapped commercial property owners. Just ask the Bill Saba family, which owns the wooded property to the north of Whitney Beach, the parcels where Floridays wanted to develop a boutique hotel. That property is zoned commercial. The Sabas have been trying for two decades to sell it. No one wants it for commercial use.

Such is the case with the Mote property. No one will ever want it for commercial use. 

We can hear many Longboaters’ response: “Too bad. It’s the owners’ own fault for buying commercial property. That’s not our problem.”

But the glut of commercial properties is every Longboaters’ problem. Those properties are detracting from the value of all properties and the quality of life on Longboat Key. Do you want to live by that deteriorating service station or bank building? Surely the residents of Buttonwood know the aging retail center fronting their neighborhood is not enhancing their properties. The same is true all over the Key.

While many Longboaters would prefer the Mote property remain vacant, they are losing sight of  residential use of the property. 

Who knows if Brista Homes wants to develop a maximum of 10 units. That increase in density would have hardly any effect on traffic. But for sure, $1 million or $2 million residential units would add to the value of the Key far more than a vacant lot with a perpetual for sale sign. 

We recommend: Vote Yes on Referendum 5630. 

(Next week: The Colony vote)