Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/301152
Barbetta added, "The lawyer part of me says that there are other uses for this property. … I've been here 31 years. I've seen that prop- erty underwater." Barbetta seconded Patterson's motion. Because two earlier petitions were denied for the same site, County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh told the board, "I think it important to give direction as to what the commission might think is a more appropriate petition," unless the board felt no construction should be allowed on the site. "It'd be hard for me to approve anything here," Patterson responded, adding that she felt his suggestion was unfair. The Allens' proposal did not meet the criteria for approval under the county's comprehensive plan, she said. "I just have a hard time believing that there is an obligation on our part to approve some- thing that's several thousand square feet," Patterson added. "To deny this variance would put an unreason- able hardship on the land, because without this variance, there is not reasonable or eco- nomically viable use available for the property at all," Merrill asserted, adding that it would be "a categorical taking." Merrill referred the commissioners to a sec- tion of the county's code of ordinances, which says, "Nothing in this article or the Comprehensive Plan shall be construed to result in a temporary or permanent taking of private property without due process of law." If the board denied a variance petition for the property for a third time — especially as this was a request for a smaller structure than the one proposed in 2013 — "I submit to you that this would be a temporary or permanent tak- ing of private property without due process of law," Merrill stressed. Since the Allens purchased the property, the ad valorem tax on it has risen dramatically, he said, "despite [Ronald Allen's] protests" to property tax officials. According to the Sarasota County Property Appraiser's Office, the assessment was $41,140 in 2009. A year later it jumped to $665,100. In 2013, the assessment was $816,629, records show. When Hines asked if he had any idea why the appraised value had continued to rise, Merrill replied that staff members in the Property Appraiser's Office had indicated to Ronald Allen that they felt the figures reflected the Howard Berna, environmental supervisor in the county's Natural Resources Department, prepared the staff review of the variance petition. Photo by Rachel Hackney Sarasota News Leader April 25, 2014 Page 52