Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/332945
another, was in October 2007, when the lots sold for $500,000 apiece. Even more puzzling was the county's appraised value for the two lots. When they sold in 2007 for $500,000 apiece, the tax value of each lot was less than $47,000. In May 2009, when the Allens bought the property, the tax value had dropped to less than $40,000 per parcel. So, in essence, they paid more than 136 times what the county tax appraiser said the two lots were worth. Why did the county value the lots so cheaply? Because they were part of the so-called "storm beach" … land that had been underwater in the past and was subject to frequent submer- sions as a result of storms. It is for that reason both lots sit entirely seaward of the Sarasota County Gulf Beach Setback Line (GBSL), a demarcation adopted in 1978 that prohibits anything other than very minor construction between it and the water's edge. Moreover, a previous owner of the lots in ques- tion had petitioned the County Commission for a variance in the early 1990s and was denied. The position of the county was clear: These lots were not appropri- ate for construction. S o t h a t n a t u r a l l y causes us to wonder why the Allens would spend more than $10 million on two tiny parcels of frequently s u b m e r g e d b e a c h when the likelihood of that land ever being developed was remote at best. Just the document stamps for their new deeds — $37,800 for each lot — exceeded the county's tax value for the land at the time. Undeterred, the Allens had an architect develop plans for houses on the lots and even- tually hired a high-powered local attorney to represent them in their quest to obtain a variance from the GBSL, something that had never been granted by the county for those lots in the quarter-century the GBSL had been in place. Their first request came before the County Commission in January 2013. The board was unanimous in denying the variance. Then the Allens focused only on the lot at 162 Beach Road, submitting a new application for a variance a few months later. They revised the scope of their plans to make the dwelling smaller and eliminated the swimming pool. However, that did not change the fundamen- tal concern that the property was completely seaward of the GBSL and submerged in decades past. On April 23, the County Commission once again unanimously denied the Allen's request … the third time a variance petition for that property had been turned down since the GBSL was established. W i l l i a m M e r r i l l , t h e A l l e n s ' a t t o r- n e y, w a r n e d t h e commissioners that their denial was an ille- gal "taking" and that legal action was likely. Certainly, a reasonable person examining the Allens' history with this land would be far more shocked by their blithe indifference to the many hurdles that typically accompany building structures on a beach than the fact that the Allens have found their land has no practical use for them. OPINION Sarasota News Leader June 20, 2014 Page 93