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Chamber endorses new hotels, with limitations
Sisters in the surf From left, Gianna and Stella Tatone, ages 8 and 7, hold onto each other as soft breakers arrive on the Crescent Beach shore during a mid-June afternoon. Their family was visiting from Dayton, Ohio. For more beach fun, see our Siesta Snapshots on page 25. (photo by John Morton)
By Jane Bartnett The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce has announced its support for “boutique hotels of no more than 52 rooms per acre, with a maximum of 75 rooms regardless of total acreage, and height restrictions which are in conformity with the surrounding RMF (residential multi-family) properties.” The chamber issued its statement in response to four proposed hotel developments on the Key that have been submitted to the Sarasota County Planning Department during the past year. Like the hotel applicants, the chamber is suggesting changes in local code that would allow for exceptions to what is now in place. However, in the chamber’s case, more limitations are being sought in comparison to what some of the hoteliers have requested. In a May 25 letter addressed to Sarasota County Zoning Administrator Donna Thompson, the chamber submitted its proposal to amend the Sarasota County Unified Development Code (as it applies to lands zoned Commercial General in the Siesta Key Overlay District). Cavanaugh The chamber proposed that the number of rooms per hotel be decreased and that parking, building height and traffic also be limited. Citing “a need for transient accommodations on the Key in the form of boutique hotels that will benefit the businesses on and around the Key,” the statement read that any such places, “must be in line with and maintain the character of the Key.” Steve Cavanaugh, president of the chamber, told the Siesta Sand “The chamber remains committed to the business community. In issuing this letter, we were doing what we thought was right for Siesta Key. This is a compromise. A meeting in the middle.”
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Latest hotelier front and center Anti-hotel leader praises Balot for facing scrutiny, but objections remain By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com During the June 9, county-mandated neighborhood workshop on plans for the fourth Siesta hotel, one comment distinguished the proceeding from the sessions conducted on the other three projects. Mark Spiegel, president of the nonprofit coalition organized last year to oppose hotel plans that exceed current island zoning regulations, complimented Dave Balot, owner of the former Wells Fargo bank site at 5810 Midnight Pass Rd., for leading the discussion. During the earlier workshops, Spiegel noted, land-use attorneys representing the developers were “front and center.” Nonetheless, like the teams proposing those other hotels, Balot faced numerous questions. At the outset, Balot explained that he moved to Florida in 1997. He and his family lived on the Key about 20 years ago, he added, before relocating to the mainland so it would be easier for him and his wife to get their four children to
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Siesta scenes for Beach Road kids in the works ruling is made • Village Map/business listings PAGES 22-23 • Crescent Beach Map/ business listings PAGE 24 • Gulf Gate Shops PAGE 35 • Music Calendar PAGE 36 • Accommodations Map/ Listings PAGE 43
school and sporting activities on time, without having to contend with traffic — and drawbridge openings. They are building a new home on the island that they plan to move into full-time in the future, he said. “I have a great respect for Siesta Key,” Balot emphasized to the workshop attendees, who participated via Zoom. “I understand what I propose may have a lasting effect on the Key.” He and his team had no renderings, but they presented conceptual plans for the hotel, which would stand about 54 feet above grade, at the roofline. Their formal request to the county would be for a special exception to allow the structure to be 50 feet tall, instead of 35, as allowed in the zoning regulations. The team also is proposing an amendment to the county’s Unified Development Code (UDC), which contains all of the land-use and zoning regulations. That would double the density for “transient accommodations” units — what county staff calls hotel and
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