Contested Villages of Riverwalk Project Approved by Bradenton City Council

BRADENTON – A contested proposal to replace Glazier Gates Park with a 521-unit residential complex was approved 4-0 at Wednesday night's Bradenton City Council meeting, with Bemis Smith being unable to attend. Opponents said immediately after the vote that they plan to challenge the project's legality in court.

NDC Construction and Atlanta-based Hatfield Development Co., the applicants for the project, and an organized group of community members were again present to argue for and against the proposal to council members, who said that they understood residents' concerns about Villages of Riverwalk but felt approval was in the best interest of the city.

The vote was originally scheduled for the council's September 23 meeting, but three council members– Smith, Pat Roff, and Harold Byrd–voted to delay the decision, which Smith had said needed to wait until more time for public discussion could be had on the proposal.

Attorney Ed Vogler, representing NDC and Hatfield, asked that the City add what he called a "very fine package of commitments" that the applicants would be bound to if the project was approved.

Those new stipulations include the applicants organizing a planning session with citizens on a new park, and agreeing to advance $650,000 to build it, the second of which was pushed by councilman Smith. The new park's size would be 5.66 acres, which Vogler noted would be 0.81 acres larger than the current Glazier Gates that it wants to replace with Villages.

Vogler later added that the project was considered re-development, and noted that city planning staff recommended it for approval. "It is consistent with your comp plan and vision you have created (for the city)," he said.

But former Bradenton City Beach Attorney Ralf Brookes, who was there to represent the Stone Soup Community Unity group that opposed the proposal, advised as he had in the September 23 council meeting that removing a public park was forbidden by city policy unless there is an "overriding public interest," and argued that "no such overriding public interest is here."

Brookes also called the issue an environmental justice one, which some community members had echoed by arguing against effectively removing the habitat of Glazier Gates' current wildlife, which would be done through the removal of the park. "It is an overriding public interest? No. Is it a private interest? Yes," he said.

Those comments were echoed by Manatee County Commissioner Charles Smith, who also commented against the project during the meeting. After the vote, Smith said, "This is public interest versus private interest and private profit." During the meeting, Smith said that opponents were not against development but what he called lack of information, and urged the council to "slow the process" of approval down.

The process has been criticized since the project's first presentation at a November meeting, which came 24 hours after that presentation was put on the meeting agenda.

Gene Gallo said he had mixed emotions about the decision. "I think it's going to serve the need of millennials" and other community members desiring a closer connection to the downtown area, he said. "Is it the best project? I don't know. But it's the best one that's been presented to us as of today."

Speaking after the meeting, Brookes said he felt confident in being able to challenge the legal nature of the project. "We have 30 days to review our legal rights, and my clients will be assessing that. We're probably going to court in 30 days," he said.