Planning Board rejects One Park amendment request

By the end of a special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5, the developer of One Park will know if it can build its 123-unit condominium tower as proposed in The Quay.

After hearing arguments from both sides over the definition of adjacency and established precedent, the Sarasota Planning Board voted 3-1, with Chairman Daniel Clermont dissenting, to recommend denial of an amendment to the general development plan of The Quay to allow One Park to be built on blocks 1 and 9 over Quay Commons. 

Only four board members were in attendance at the hearing, with Daniel Deleo and alternate member Douglas Christy recused because of conflicts of interest.

The vote came at the conclusion of a twice-continued quasi-judicial hearing that began in March over the matter. In the interim, developer Property Markets Group and One Park opponents sparred in 12th Judicial Circuit Court over whether the air rights above Quay Commons — the street serving the luxury residential development — could legally be conveyed by Quay master developer GreenePoint to PMG. 

A decision in that case by Judge Hunter Carroll could, pending appeal by either party, render the Dec. 5 City Commission action moot.

During Wednesday’s hearing, attorneys representing PMG resurfaced the argument over adjacent versus abutting lots, citing that not only have most buildings completed or under construction in The Quay resulted in combining blocks, but that some of those buildings cross over public right-of-way. 

Courtesy image

In none of those instances, specifically Bayso and Cordelia by Lennar, were the developers required to seek an amendment to the general development plan to build over public right-of-way, as they were not considered major revisions to the plan. Bayso stands at the southern end of Quay Commons on blocks 4 and 5, spanning over the terminus of Quay Commons. Cordelia fronts U.S. 41 and is built over what was originally shown in the plan as an access street into The Quay. 

Attorneys further argued that the general development plan anticipated possible construction over air rights, which extend to 17 feet, without requiring an amendment. 

“There are no uncombined lots at this stage other than blocks 1 and 9,” said attorney Bill Merrill. “All the blocks have been combined with another block or a portion of another block, and again, each one of these four projects were combinations of blocks, approved administratively as minor revisions to the GDP.”

One Park’s proposed breezeway over Quay Commons is 78 feet wide and 165 feet long. Merrill said the developer is prepared to proffer a height of 24 feet and plans to activate the breezeway with street-level retail and dining.

Lucia Panica, the city’s director of development services, denied administrative approval of One Park in October 2022, setting off at the yearlong battle between PMG and condo owners in Ritz-Carlton Residences, collectively known as Block 6. They, along with buyers in the soon-to-open Bayso, have opposed One Park because it would block the view along Quay Commons among other reasons.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Attorneys for PMG countered that the massing of separate buildings on blocks 1 and 9 from most angles, will appear as one large building. 

Representing Block 6, attorney Robert Lincoln argued the plan to build a breezeway over Quay Commons violates the residents’ rights to the sky over the street, that the air rights over it are common property to be conveyed to the master association, and is contradictory to the general development plan’s promise of open space, rather than a building, above the street. 

“The question before the board is are you going to give them a right to construct that they don't have, that they never had, in terms of what they could build over the roadway,” Lincoln said. “And by that mean the entire street — not just the pavement, but the parking and the landscaping and the sidewalks, everything that comprises Quay Commons on that street that’s between the blocks.”

Advised by Assistant City Attorney Michael Connelly that the adjacency argument is not relevant in the matter as determined by staff, and with little questioning from fellow Planning Board members Michael Halflants and Terrill Salem, Shane Lamay led the argument against recommending approval of One Park’s amendment request.

“If we're not able to use the adjacency argument at all, then it really just comes down to whether or not we think this is a good policy,” Lamay said. “Given the fact that (blocks) 2 and 3 were explicitly allowed to combine as long as they were able to give something back, and seeing as how (PMG) never even proffered to reduce the height or give anything back in terms of setback other than to reduce density, it’s just not enough in my mind to be able to build over the public easement.”

“I just can't imagine that we'd be better off as an enclosed space versus open to the sky with trees and kind of a gateway to the bay.”

Clermont, sensing he was going to be on the short end of the decision, offered a counter argument before the vote was taken. He dismissed Quay residents’ concerns about blocked views along Quay Commons, opining that the proximity of Bayso and Ritz-Carlton Residences buildings when approached from Fruitville Road also appears as one large building, And, hey added, that blocks bay views for everyone.

“These buildings all getting put together have created this kind of large-scale building area, and while those in Bayso are concerned about their view down this corridor, the rest of the city that comes down Tamiami or Fruitville, we've lost our view of the area completely. I don't know that it resonates that much for me because I like the building so much.”