Environmental Groups to Join County in Long Bar Pointe Case

BRADENTON – Suncoast Waterkeeper and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (F.I.S.H.) filed a Motion to Intervene in Carlos Beruff’s "constitutional takings“ challenge against Manatee County in regards to his Long Bar Pointe development on Sarasota Bay in SW Manatee County.

In October of 2014, Long Bar Pointe LLLP, an instrument of the development's partners, Beruff (Medallion Homes) and Larry Lieberman, sued the county over their refusal to amend the County Comprehensive Plan to allow for intensive waterfront development at Long Bar Pointe, in which protected mangroves would have been replaced by a stone promenade, a marina, a navigational channel, and other intensive shoreline development along the bay, just south of the historic Cortez fishing village.

In his latest legal action against the county, Beruff is asserting numerous property rights claims over the years and claims that the longstanding Coastal Elements of the Comprehensive Plan render his property "economically unusable“ and that his property interests have been taken from him without compensation, in violation of the State and Federal Constitution.

Beruff is hoping to force the county to let him develop the environmentally sensitive waterfront or pay him for the protected lands with taxpayer money. The Comprehensive Plan and specifically its Conservation and Coastal Elements, however, were mandated by State Law and adopted in 1989, 23 years before Beruff and Lieberman purchased the 463 acres along Sarasota Bay.

The groups argue that Beruff and Lieberman made the investment knowing full well that numerous restrictions to its development were in place.

The mangroves and seagrasses at Long Bar protect the uplands from flooding and provide habitat for wildlife and fish that are of great importance to the community at large and specifically Cortez fishing village, which has deep and longstanding ties and economic reliance on the environmental integrity of the northeastern reaches of Sarasota Bay, also known as "the Kitchen.“

Sarasota Bay has been recognized by Congress as an estuary of national significance, giving rise to the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, which recently issued a report estimating the Bay’s economic impact at nearly $2 billion, sustaining nearly 22,000 jobs.

Florida designated Sarasota Bay as an "Outstanding Florida Water“ for its natural attributes, worthy of special protections. Manatee County, with considerable public support, has sought to guide development on the shores of Sarasota Bay with specific limitations.

"Notwithstanding their limitations on waterfront development, the county has permitted extensive development of the site," said Justin Bloom, Executive Director of Suncoast Waterkeeper, "but that is not enough for Beruff, who seeks to wring every potential profit from the site. If Beruff gets his way here, not only will Long Bar Pointe be lost to excessive development, other natural waterfront sites in Manatee County will lose their protections and throughout the state Comprehensive Plans with similar conservation elements will be at grave risk to similar challenges.“

Former Manatee County Commissioner Jane von Hahmann, who sits on the Board of Directors of Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (F.I.S.H.), added "More than anything, for Cortez and the commercial fishing industry which is Cortez, protecting this estuarine environment is about economics. Without these systems to produce the resources of our industry, the fish, the stone crabs, the bait we sell in our fish houses, we could lose everything we have been for over 125 years."