Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/102968
Sarasota News Leader January 11, 2013 Page 36 the commission were to deny all use of the of those pools were approved beyond the Gulf property, "it could be a compensable taking." Beach Setback Line. However, DeMarsh pointed out, if the com- Merrill said he had not intended to be misleading. mission denied the requests before it that "It's been quite a few day, the Allens would This isn't a typical neighborhood years since we've apnot be prevented from dispute. … This, to me, is about the proved a pool seaward making another peti- principle of building big expensive things of [a] building" on that tion for some type of that your owners will want to protect … stretch of the island, construction on the on two small lots … in an area that I Patterson told him. property. know has been awash with seawater not once but over … a period of years [and] When Merrill replied DeMarsh also noted I think there's a fairly good likelihood that the commission that "the history here had done so just with[it] will be again. may support the conin the past year, Patcept that [the lots] Nora Patterson terson and Robinson Commissioner should be treated as both pointed out that Sarasota County one parcel." a judge overturned the decision. Merrill pointed out that the lots were platted in 1926 as part of the Miramar Beach subdivision. Other than the Allens' lots and two others — both vacant and both bought to allow residents of condominium complexes across Beach Road from the beach to have a Gulf view — every other lot, from Beach Access 3 to the Siesta Public Beach seaward of the Gulf Beach Setback Line and fronting on Beach Road, "has at least one or more residential structures on it." Patterson added that she had opposed granting that variance in the first place. Moreover, Patterson said, "Where a pool has been allowed, they've not been huge pools," and they have not been seaward of the homes." She added, "It's a tricky thing when you say you want what the neighbors got." Merrill also showed the board a graphic illustration with white blocks representing the "We're asking for the same thing the neighbors two proposed houses, to compare them with got," he said. neighboring buildings. He said the structures would be "consistent in this area." Additionally, Merrill noted, 70 percent of the homes constructed on Beach Road since 1999 Patterson told Merrill the houses on his illushave pools. tration "look awfully big next to the homes that go further in the other direction." Commissioner Charles Hines replied that the statement was misleading, because the com- When he replied, "I think part of that is the missioners had no way of knowing how many coloration," because the blocks representing