Amid Profound Confusion, Aqua by the Bay Hearing Continued

Posted Sunday, August 20, 2017 12:00 am

Dennis Maley

BRADENTON – In what may have been one of the most convoluted and utterly confusing meetings in Manatee County land use hearing history, developer Carlos Beruff’s controversial Aqua by the Bay project stalled yet again when it went in front of the BOCC on Wednesday.

After the planning commission recommended denial of the application at last Thursday’s meeting, county staff changed their recommendation to denial the next day. Staff then shocked everyone by changing it back again before Wednesday’s meeting, which opened with commissioners still unclear as to what exactly staff was recommending. It didn’t end with much more clarity.

The applicant presentation began with attorney Ed Vogler saying that his client understood the county’s interpretation that the variable width buffer he’d been seeking was not in compliance with its comprehensive land use plan, and that–for now–he’d concede to the 50-foot buffer that is required. "I want to say clearly, and I want you to hear me clearly,“ said Vogler, "we do not challenge this interpretation."

During the staff presentation, more confusion spread and commissioners mostly directed questions to the applicant (who shoulders the burden of proof) on building height, the buffer, the sea wall and the artificial waterway Beruff plans to dredge adjacent to the mangrove shoreline.

Vogler then said that the applicant would for now jettison the four high-rise buildings that would have height up to 145 feet and agree to come back before the board for specific approvals on those buildings. This left the other two types of buildings that exceeded the county’s height limit for coastal development: buildings up to 95 feet, of which he said there would be no more than 12, and those that were less than that, but over 35 feet, the number of which was unspecified.

When asked whether he could tell commissioners how many of the latter there would ultimately be, Vogler responded with a flat and firm, "No."

The height was not only a sticking point with commissioners but with the public as well.

"We moved here from the east coast for the exact things that this development would take away,“ Mary Anne Faulkner, a resident at Pointe West near Blake Hospital on 75th Street, told me during a break. "We're gonna put up 48 high rise buildings?“ she asked rhetorically. "The coastal limit is 35 feet, and that’s why many of the people bought here. They liked the low-rise buildings, that it was not Miami. These commissioners are actually being paid by taxpayers of this county. We want our commissioners to represent us. That's why we are here. That's why we bought here, and that's why we live here. We just want them to comply with our rules.“

"The county is only concerned with tax money," Barbara Renk added. "They're not thinking about the environmental impact and quality of living. What people come for is the old buildings and the environment, not giant towers.“

During public comment, many more citizens expressed that sentiment, lamenting a "wall of buildings" that would be created. Commissioner Carol Whitmore, who fought against such high-rise towers at Perico Bay, told Vogler that she was having a lot of trouble with reversing herself on this project, though she seemed to almost lead the applicant's attorney toward answers on several issues, causing commission chair Betsy Benac to intervene on multiple occasions to remind the board's longest-serving member that it was a quasi-judicial hearing and that only questions were allowed, while comments and deliberations would have to wait. Whitmore is being watched closely by opponents of the project, after initially recusing herself because her son-in-law is working for the applicant as an attorney on the project, before securing an opinion that she could still vote.

Vogler, Beruff and company argued that the height was nothing exceptional and similar to what their neighbors at Lake Flores and IMG had gotten approved, and comparable to other Manatee County buildings like 146-foot Bradenton Financial Center and the 110-foot county administration building in which the meeting was being held (both are in downtown Bradenton, however, and not on the coast).

Stephanie Moreland, a decidedly pro-development member of the county’s staff, again argued that compatibility includes survivability, as she did at last Thursday’s planning commission meeting, while Beruff’s consultant Misty Servia said that, "Compatibility does not mean homogeny. It means harmony." Neither explained how such concepts would be measured.

Commissioner Robin DiSabatino wanted to know why she wasn’t hearing more about the traffic and what would be done to mitigate the impact on already overburdened roadways in a coastal high hazard area. Beruff’s team explained that improvements would be limited to some additional right turn lanes. DiSabatino asked them to clarify that the long stretch of El Conquistador Parkway from Bayshore Gardens to the roundabout at 53rd Ave–the major artery to an from the development–would remain just one lane in each direction. They conceded that this would be the case.

Experts from among the public attacked the canal that Beruff is calling an "estuary enhancement area" as a dangerous disruption to the natural habitats of the bay, though his team claimed it would actually improve the wetlands, better protect the mangroves and enhance the water quality. Jack Merriam, Larry Grossman and Randy Edwards, three retired citizens with an enormous amount of experience and expertise on such matters, once again gave detailed and informed comment that contradicted the presentations of both the applicant and staff.

Bobby Billie, a Native American representing the Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nat'l Aboriginal Peoples, criticized the board for allowing fill to take place on ancient burial grounds and chastised them for the environmental destruction that went along with the project. "We're losing the space," said Billie. "We're losing God's creation."

In just 10 minutes, former Manatee County Commissioner and TBT publisher Joe McClash eviscerated the applicant’s arguments.

"The wetlands are to be dredged; that's against your policy," said McClash, adding that there is no overriding public benefit that would be required to even consider it. McClash said that the estuary enhancement area is clearly a canal, which meets the county definition of an artificial waterway, arguing that the the real plan is to use the waterway for boats.

McClash said that the original 2004 approval given to Larry Lieberman for the project should be the standard today.

"If you just use Larry's approval from 2004, everybody would be happy. That was a good project," said McClash, who served on the BOCC at that time.

McClash, who was representing Suncoast Waterkeeper, closed by again asking for a denial.

"You're Manatee County Commissioners. You're trustees for what you inherited. We left you a pretty good county, and we'd like you to keep it that way."

The board asked a few more questions after public comment, though it was clear that the meeting would need to be continued by that point. Benac, herself a former county planner who'd worked for Beruff in the private sector before he became the chief sponsor of her political run, seemed troubled by staff's questionable performance, as well as many aspects of the application. Far and away the most knowledgeable commissioner on land use and development issues, Benac's wary tone didn't seem to bode well for the application's chances, especially with other commissioners seeming to lean away from approval.

With all of the changes to the application that had been discussed, county attorney Sarah Schenk advised that a new plan would have to be submitted prior to the next meeting and that public comment would have to be reopened once that was made available. Vogler and Benac agreed that it would be rendered by close of business the next day.

Wednesday’s meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. in county commission chambers. Click here to email board members and let them know how you feel about this project.