Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/223368
Sarasota News Leader December 6, 2013 Development Services Department, Barbetta requested that Polk or another staff member "provide us a detailed report" about the efforts to deal with those ongoing complaints. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? On the website for Bob's Boathouse, the "About Us" story says the establishment originally opened on Stickney Point Road, near Siesta Key, in 1997. It is named for the father of owner Tom LeFevre. After several years, the story continues, Tom LeFevre "dumped all his hard earned living and borrowed above his means to build condos on the old Bob's Boathouse site. Unfortunately, the market began to crumble and he lost everything!" Recently, the website adds, "with a few old boats, a few old friends, a worn out workshop and a dream, [LeFevre] went to beg & borrow to reopen Bob's boathouse and 'go back to what he knows best!'" Page 18 The Florida Secretary of State website says papers for the corporation papers were reactivated on July 12, 2012, with Richard Walkowiak of Fort Myers listed as the manager. According to the Bob's Boathouse website, it had 4,362 Facebook friends as of midday on Dec. 4. It is open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The December calendar has a variety of entertainment listings — from "KARAOKE" to "LATIN Tiki Night" to "LIVE music." But a perusal of County Commission email since late October shows a number of the neighbors of Bob's Boathouse feel the furthest thing from affection for it. Jim McWhorter, vice president of the River Forest Civic Association, was among the first to contact commissioners. In his Oct. 30 email, he wrote, "The main concern has been [the restaurant's] outdoor music and potential for high decibel noise levels infringing upon our Houses on Montclair Drive are just across Phillippi Creek from the restaurant. Photo by Rachel Hackney