Longboat Key 60th Anniversary

NOVEMBER 12, 2015

LONGBOAT

KEY

60TH ANNIVERSARY

“Where else can you walk your dog while looking at peacocks and Sarasota Bay at the same time?”

“I lived on this Key when Gulf of Mexico Drive was a two-lane road with pine trees on all sides.”

David Miller

Longboat Key pictured in 1945

Bill Carman

“The people of Longboat Key are what make this island unique because our residents come from all over the globe.”

Virginia Sanders

LONGBOAT 60TH ANNIVERSARY

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

Celebrate 60 years this Saturday by the bay

I

n 1955, the year Longboat Key was incorporated, two-thirds of the island wasn’t developed, and there wasn’t even a bridge at the north end.

Although much has changed in the past 60 years, Gail Loefgren, Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce president, doesn’t see many changes happening in the next 60 years.

“I’m guessing we’ll look pretty much like we do,” Loefgren said.

“I’m guessing power lines will be underground, we’ll have stateof-the-art technology, and many of our resorts will be upgraded.

Other than that, I see us looking pretty much the same.”

Longboat Key will turn 60 on Nov. 14, and residents are invited to celebrate at Bayfront Park at an anniversary party organized by the chamber.

The event will include picnicstyle seating. Guests can bring their own food and drinks or buy food from two food trucks: Croz’s Surf Shack, with gourmet hot dogs, or Flying Sliders, with sandwiches. B’s Cool Treats will also serve ice cream.

The Sarasota Jazz Project will perform throughout the night with vocalist Judy Edward. At 7:30 p.m., there will be a fireworks show over the bay.

Reserved table seating was available but is now sold out.

“Our VIP tables are no longer available, but we encourage everybody to bring their picnic

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Celebrate the people

IF YOU GO

When: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 Where: Bayfront Park, 4052 Gulf of Mexico Drive Cost: Free.

Visit longboatkeychamber. com, or call 383-2466.

Matt Walsh

essentials and enjoy a wonderful night,” Loefgren said.

Including the 25 reserved tables, Loefgren expects 500 people at the celebration.

“We’ve built a really wonderful community since 1955 that we’re really proud of,” Loefgren said. “It’s really important so we can look back and celebrate that history and that we’re still here and going strong.”

When you think about Longboat Key celebrating its 60th anniversary as an incorporated town, here’s a funny juxtaposition: Plymouth, Mass., incorporated 305 years before Longboat Key. Here’s another one that’s remarkable to fathom: Even after 300 years of development across the vast stretches of the United States, by 1955, 60 years ago, only one-third of this skinny, 11-mile-long, beautiful spit of sand was developed.

And then … it took almost another 30 years for Longboat Key to become what it is today: a lush, tropical paradise for its 7,000 year-round residents and nearly 10,000 property owners.

Hey, 60 years old? As most Longboaters know, that is young!

Young, small and beautiful.

Paradise. You hear that again and again. Or, as Murf Klauber so aptly describes Longboat Key on page 10: “Longboat Key is the

most magnificent little island in the entire world. When you walk down that beach, your problems fade away, and a calm peace washes over you.” Amen, bro.

Here’s another funny and great thing about Longboat Key: Its peace and quiet can make this seem like a boring place, but if you go back through the pages of the Longboat Observer, Longboat Key, in journalism parlance, is a great little news town.

Read the account of the town founding, especially the last part about the fisticuffs that occurred between town founder Guy Paschal and Charles Flanagan, an opponent to incorporating.

Classic Longboat.

Longboat Observer founder Ralph Hunter often told hilarious stories about Town Commission meetings frequently reaching the brink of all-out brawls and shouting matches in the early 1980s over development.

When we assign young reporters to cover Longboat Key as their first jobs, they often look deflated, thinking how could that beat possibly be interesting.

Two months later, those young reporters are always gushing.

They can’t believe the funny stories and the town politics. But most of all, they can’t believe the amazing, extraordinary people they meet on Longboat Key. Celebrate 60. Yes. Happy birthday. But the cheers really go to those who make Longboat Longboat.

File photo

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File photo

Eight of the 11 founders of the town: Herb Field, Joe Zwick, Gordon Whitney, Howard Ridyard, Wilford LePage (first mayor), Cecil Schofield, E.C. Snyder and John Ashcraft

The birth of a town Nov. 14, 1955: The night Longboat residents made history.

I

t is Nov. 14, 1955.

A crowd of more than 200 squeezes into the fire station on the north end of the island.

At about 7:55 p.m., voices suddenly lower, and a tense lull fills the room. Guy Paschal walks to the podium. Paschal, a short, lean, middle-aged man known in the community as a leader and fun-loving jokester, looks out into the crowd and smiles.

The time has come for us to decide if we want to become a town, Paschal thinks to himself as he raises his voice and calls the meeting to order.

He realizes the night may become the most historical moment of the century for the island. How history will be written depends on what unfolds over the next three hours and 10 minutes.

NOT WITHOUT A DEBATE

Fourteen hours earlier, Paschal drank a cup of coffee in his kitchen, overlooking Sarasota Bay. Three of his bullmastiffs sit under the table while Paschal is deep in thought. Since the retired inventor began pushing for the island to incorporate three years ago, he often wonders why some residents oppose it. He is baffled that some people want to continue to pay taxes to both counties and have no say in what happens on the island.

He reflects: What are they thinking? Islanders paid $17,268 in road taxes alone this year to the two counties — and the counties spent only $610 of that

tax money on Longboat roads.

Paschal and others feel the town is being imprisoned by the county governments. With only about 250 total voters, the island has little say in big issues.

It is no wonder that the governments feel free to push the town around, Paschal thinks.

But there is another side to the debate. J.B. Holt, a retired U.S. Army major, along with Charles Flanagan, vehemently opposes the push to incorporate.

Holt and Flanagan spent the last months canvassing the town, telling people that property taxes will go up if the island becomes incorporated. More government, more cost, they figure.

Holt and Flanagan even go so far as to tell property owners that Paschal and others want to incorporate so they can raise taxes and buy property from people who can’t afford to pay.

They describe the plights of widows and elderly people who cannot afford to live on the Key if it is incorporated.

CASTING VOTES

Because of the intense debate before the meeting, some residents think the crowd at the fire station might get unruly, and perhaps even a fight might break out before votes are cast. But the reason they are here is to vote, and Paschal assures everyone a fair vote will be cast.

Under Florida law, at least two-thirds of freeholders (or registered voters) have to attend the meeting, and it is clear that at least that many are in the room. Before a town can be born, a majority must approve incorporation.

Paschal announces the number of registered voters living on the Key totals 252.

At this point, five additional residents walk up to the front of the meeting to show they should be added to the list of voters.

A total of 199 voters are now present at the meeting.

Paschal describes how an election committee will be formed to make sure an accurate count of votes is taken. Paschal appoints Arch Wedebrock, Gen. L.J. Harris and G.W. Herringshaw to the committee.

Paschal asks if there are any objections or suggestions for additions. Because there are none, the committee, ready to proceed, walks to a table at the front of the room.

Members hand out 199 ballots, each marked with a number from 1 to 199 on the top and bottom of the stub of paper. One by one, each person goes into a private voting booth and marks a check on his or her ballot — either for or against incorporation — and drops the ballot into a sealed container outside the booth.

The committee counts the ballots: 186 for incorporation and 13 against incorporation. All 199 ballots are accounted for.

SETTING UP A TOWN

The next order of business is to adopt a town seal. Noted artist Ruskin Williams, an instructor at the Longboat Key Art Center, is selected to design the seal.

Then, voters select the first mayor and a board of eight aldermen. Voters elect Wilford LePage as the town’s first mayor.

After being elected, LePage walks to the front of the room.

LePage, wearing a black sports jacket and bow tie, towers over Paschal as the two shake hands.

The following persons are declared elected aldermen of Longboat Key: Herbert Field, Joe Zwick, S.F. Scrivener Sr., E.C. Snyder, Gordon Whitney, J.B. Strong, Howard A. Ridyard, Jim Taylor and David Zimmerman.

Cecil Scholfield is declared town clerk of Longboat Key. Voters select William Eggers, a retired Detroit police detective, as town marshal.

At the next meeting, Nov. 16, 1955, aldermen agree to designate the fire station as Town

Hall. They decide to hold meetings at 8 p.m. every Monday.

BAR ROOM SHOWDOWN

Flanagan, the most outspoken opponent, takes it hard. One night at the Mar Vista bar, one of the island’s popular hangouts, Flanagan confronts Paschal.

Paschal told the following story: He is in the bar talking to patrons about what steps the town needs to take to get a charter approved and the government started. Flanagan is there, “well in his cups.” Flanagan is bragging that he is a champion light heavyweight and looking for a fight. Paschal says he would fight Flanagan with gloves on when Flanagan is sober. Flanagan starts calling Paschal a coward. Paschal leaves, followed

by Flanagan, who threatens to shoot him on sight and bomb his home.

As Paschal recalls, Flanagan goes to his car, as someone yells that is where he keeps his gun. Not finding one, Flanagan approaches Paschal with a tire iron. Paschal pulls Flanagan away, and after a short fight, Flanagan is carried back into the bar.

Other accounts have Flanagan hitting Paschal over the head with a potted palm, with the fight taking place inside the bar.

Some presume Paschal may have made up the heavyweight champion part of his story to make his opponent look fierce.

Either way, Paschal showed up at the next town council meeting with a black eye.

This account, compiled 20 years ago, was based on interviews with Longboat Observer founder Ralph Hunter and former columnist Kent Chetlain, records from the Longboat Key Historical Society and Longboat Observer archives. Former Longboat Observer Senior Editor Dora Walters contributed to this story.

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MOMENTS IN HISTORY Ten stories from the past 60 years that helped make Longboat, Longboat.

ARVIDA LANDS 1,100 ACRES OF LONGBOAT Without the vision of a 91-yearold aluminum tycoon named Arthur Vining Davis, Longboat Key would look a lot different today.

Davis was a few weeks shy of his 92nd birthday in 1959, when his newly formed Arvida Corp. (named using the first two letters of his first, middle and last names) purchased 2,000 acres of undeveloped land on Sarasota’s outer keys, including 1,100 acres on south Longboat Key, from the estate of circus magnate John Ringling.

The $13.5 million deal was the largest sale recorded in Sarasota County history at the time.

“This is my last step,” he said at a press conference shortly after the sale. “It is the best one.

This is the best district I know of in the world.”

Davis died a few years later, and Arvida’s leaders would go on to carry out his vision.

Arvida developed some of the Key’s largest condos and singlefamily home communities and negotiated to bring Publix to the island. But some components of its master plan for the south end — including a town center for the Bay Isles area — have yet to become a reality.

NORTH-END BRIDGE IS KEY TO LONGBOAT From 1932 to 1958, all roads to Longboat Key led through Sarasota.

There was no bridge connecting the north end to Anna Maria Island, after a high tide in 1932 destroyed the existing 6-yearold structure.

Children who lived on the north end endured a lengthy commute to Sarasota each day for school, and mail was delivered from Cortez by boat to a dock at the end of Broadway.

Completion of the bridge changed life on Longboat, making the mainland more accessible for residents — and also opening up the north end to mainlanders.

PUBLIX: A STORE IS BORN Opponents said it was too big.

That it would jam traffic. That it would forever change the character of the island. It was the late 1970s, and the controversial project was a Longboat Key Publix and Eckerd Drugs.

Many residents believed the additions were sorely needed, but others worried the stores’ presence would draw shoppers from the mainland, jamming traffic on Gulf of Mexico Drive and requiring the town to add to

File photo

Publix opened in June 1980 in the Avenue of the Flowers shopping center.

its police and fire departments.

The project received approval in 1979 and broke ground that year; both stores opened in 1980.

Longboaters got a taste of what life would have been like had Publix never arrived on the Key 31 years later, when Publix closed for eight months to demolish its existing store and build a new 49,533-square-foot store in the new Shoppes of Bay Isles shopping center. When the new store opened in December 2012, a crowd was gathered outside by 7:30 a.m. to celebrate.

THE COLONY: THE RISE AND FALL It was known as the “Ellis Island of Longboat Key” — the place where many Longboaters took in their first glimpse of what would become their new home.

But today, you’re more likely to hear people describe it as an eyesore. More than five years have passed since the last guests checked out of the shuttered property.

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort flourished in the three-

and-a-half decades after Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber purchased it from developer Herb Field in 1969. By the mid-1970s, the 237-unit resort was managed and operated by a Klaubercontrolled partnership with unit owners, who had access to their units 30 days a year and allowed the partnership to rent them out for the other 335 days.

The resort became a worldrenowned tennis destination for guests, ranging from families on vacation to celebrities and star tennis players.

But trouble surfaced in 2004, when Klauber and owners disagreed over who was responsible for $14.1 million in repairs. In 2007, Klauber sued unit owners.

The dispute led to a series of bankruptcy filings, culminating with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge K. Rodney May’s 2010 decision that closed the resort and gave possession of units to owners.

Although U.S. District Judge William Merryday overturned key rulings that led to the closing in 2011, the Colony remains ensnared in litigation.

Still, many remain hopeful that, someday, greatness could rise again at 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

SEE MORE MOMENTS ON PAGE 6A

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CONGRATULATIONS L O N G B O AT K E Y

Y E A R S & F O RWA R D With deep family roots, fond childhood memories and an inspiring company legacy on Longboat Key, Michael Saunders and Drayton Saunders are delighted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the town of Longboat Key. Congratulations on reaching this special milestone.

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MOMENTS IN HISTORY KEY CLUB: A DREAM FULFILLED In the 1920s, John Ringling nearly completed his RitzCarlton hotel nearby on the southern tip of the Key. But when Florida’s land boom burst, Ringling abandoned the project and his dream. Residents called the abandoned Ritz-Carlton the “Ghost Hotel” for the threeand-a-half decades it sat empty before Arvida officials demolished it in 1962.

The opening of the Longboat Key Club’s Inn on the Beach hotel in 1982 made Ringling’s dream of a luxury resort on the south end a reality.

There are still big dreams for the Key Club. Although in 2011 and 2012, courts struck down a $400 million Islandside project proposed by former owners Loeb Realty Group, voters approved a referendum earlier this year granting current owners Ocean Properties Ltd. up to 300 tourism units that could be used for a new Islandside hotel.

DENSITY DECISIONS Imagine Longboat Key with 65,000 or 75,000 people.

That’s what was envisioned for the town in the 1960s and 1970s.

The 1984 Comprehensive Plan cemented the Key’s identity as a low-density residential island, prohibiting any density increase without a public vote. It also increased setbacks, making the majority of the Key nonconforming.

FROM PAGE 4A

More than 30 years later, the town is grappling with the plan’s regulations that now make it difficult for many property owners to redevelop. As a result, the town is in the middle of the laborious process of rewriting its codes and comprehensive plan.

Most believe that the 1984 document was mostly a success, though, and credit it with preserving the island’s exclusive, residential character.

LONGBOAT KEY TOPS TURTLE EFFORTS

File photo

Back in 1969, when sea-turtle fishing was still legal in Florida, Longboaters set the pace for turtle conservation. A group of four residents began informally walking the beach each morning, searching for turtle nests. The group would expand to become Longboat Key Turtle Watch, one of the state’s first turtle-patrol groups. (Its permit was No. 11.)

Turtle Watch members were instrumental in persuading the town to pass one of the state’s first turtle-lighting ordinances in the 1990s. The practices Turtle Watch members pioneered are now common in Florida beachfront communities.

SISTER KEYS PURCHASE: PRICELESS

In 1989, Rusty Chinnis saw a newspaper advertisement listing Sister Keys for sale. Price: $1.5 million.

It wasn’t the first attempt at

President George W. Bush, center, with Katie Moulton and Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber during Bush’s stay at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort the night of Sept. 10, 2001.

developing Sister Keys. Previously, developers sought to build the Shangri Isle Club on the mangrove islands with a golf course and landing strip for airplanes.

But it was the impetus for Chinnis and other Key residents to organize and fight to preserve Sister Keys as undeveloped mangrove wetland.

Chinnis, Virginia Sanders and Anna Miller formed the Sister Keys Conservancy and raised approximately $50,000.

But in the end, the conservancy persuaded the town to purchase the islands for approximately $1 million in 1992, ensuring their preservation as wetlands.

Had the group not taken action, several single-family homes would most likely stand on the island today. Instead, they’re now the largest set of

undeveloped islands from Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor.

9/11: THE DAY THE WORLD CHANGED

A flag-waving crowd greeted President George W. Bush’s motorcade as it traveled Gulf of Mexico Drive. Later that night, Bush and his entourage feasted on a Tex-Mex dinner at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort prepared by Tommy Klauber.

The date was Sept. 10, 2001.

Bush was in town to promote the No Child Left Behind Act the next day at Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota.

The White House likely selected the Colony for his stay in part because former Vice President Al Gore stayed there the year before while preparing for presidential debates, so the Secret Service

was familiar with the property.

Bush started the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, with a jog down the beach before returning to the Colony. He left the property at 8:23 a.m.

At Booker Elementary, Bush learned of the terrorist attacks.

After making a statement, the president was whisked away to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and departed on Air Force One. Many Secret Service agents and members of the press corps were left behind at the Colony, which remained under heightened security for the next 72 hours.

THE KEY’S NEXT CHAPTER For many long-timers, Longboat history has two chapters: the Holiday Inn era and the postHoliday Inn era.

The 146-unit hotel was a popular family vacation spot, but it also was the site of many conventions year-round. With an average stay of just 3.5 days, it produced a constant turnover of visitors for Key businesses.

The resort’s closing in 2003 was part of a larger trend of replacing tourism units with luxury condos with just a fraction of those units, many of which are used just a few weeks or months each year.

The loss of hotel units has contributed to a lively ongoing debate about the right mix of residents and tourism that will continue to shape the Key.

— ROBIN HARTILL

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY LONGBOAT KEY!

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DO YOU KNOW LONGBOAT?

HOW YOU SCORE 10-12

Almost a native: Are you sure your name isn’t David Miller?

7-9

Longboat laureate: In a few years, you should consider a run for the Longboat Key Town Commission.

4-6

School of snowbirds: Your Longboat lore is rusty after a summer up north.

Catch up with our “Welcome Back” issue.

1-3

ANSWERS 11. B 10. A

Definitely a tourist: It’s OK — most Longboaters started out the same way.

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY $

LONGBOAT KEY! Skip Stanton, John Miller and Chuck Jacobson | Owners

THANK YOU FOR LETTING US BE A PART OF YOUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1974!

OFF

What did Longboat Key police find in 1989 through “Operation Longboat”? a. 1,600 pounds of cocaine and $2 million cash b. 5,000 pounds of marijuana and $320,000 cash c. 17 dogs and one cat on the beach d. 20 stolen yachts

Who won the “Ms. Longboat Key: 50 and Fabulous” contest in 2005? a. Pat Arends b. Virginia Sanders c. Dora Walters d. Kathy Simonds

7. C

10.

12.

4. D

What magazine featured Longboat Island Chapel’s Sunday worship services, held in the home of “Mayor for Life” Guy Paschal, in 1957, five years before the chapel’s building was completed? a. Home Notes b. Ladies Home Journal c. LIFE d. Time

9.

What were the respective salaries of the first two paid town employees, Town Clerk Cecil Schofield and Town Marshal William Eggers, in 1955? a. $1,500 and $2,000 b. $1,200 and $900 c. $5,000 and $4,000 d. $7,200 and $5,300

11.

Which of the following celebrities have not (to our knowledge) stayed at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort? a. Denzel Washington b. Ricky Martin c. Audrey Hepburn d. Dinah Shore

1. C

7.

True or false: Ponce de Leon landed on Longboat Key. a. True b. False c. Unknown

12. D

6.

What animal was an attraction at the former Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant for more than two decades? a. A manatee named Morris b. A pelican named Crabby c. A sea turtle named Nelson d. A dolphin named Jackie

8.

9. B

Where did Thomas Mann, who became the first homesteaded Longboater in the late 1880s, come from originally? a. Shelby County, Ind. b. New Madrid, Mo. c. Boston d. Martins Ferry, Ohio

5.

What was the name of the former Longboat Key restaurant that served as an unofficial town hall as residents met to discuss incorporation? a. Longboat Key Cabana Club b. The Peppermint Stick c. Buccaneer Inn d. Jori’s

8. C

3.

An aerial view of John Ringling’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 1952, approximately a decade before it was demolished.

5. B

Why did the town start requiring pet licenses in 1969? a. The town sought to find the owners of a rogue cat that ate a turtle nest. b. A resident was discovered keeping a pair of peacocks in his backyard, and the town wanted to ban exotic pets. c. Rabid raccoons went on the attack, and the town wanted to verify that pets were up-to-date on their vaccinations. d. The town sought to ban pets altogether but planned to grandfather in existing pets, provided that their owners obtained a license.

File photo

What is currently located at the site of John Ringling’s abandoned Ritz-Carlton property, known as the “Ghost Hotel,” that Arvida Corp. demolished in 1962? a. Longboat Key Club’s Islandside golf course b. The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort c. Tangerine Bay Club d. The Chart House building

6. D

2.

4.

3. A

What was Arvida founder Arthur Vining Davis’ beverage of choice at the start and end of each day? a. Black coffee b. Dark rum c. Bourbon d. Lemonade

2. C

1.

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LIVING LEGENDS

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ongboat Key isn’t just a town, a beach or a 10.8-mile strip of land.

Longboat Key is you — the people.

Here are 10 living Longboat legends who dreamed big for the Key. Their vision, investment and pioneering spirit made Longboat, Longboat. The list is not comprehensive of the Key’s many living legends, but we think you’ll agree: Longboat Key is a better place because of these 10 individuals, in no particular order.

— KURT SCHULTHEIS

CHARLES ‘CHUCK’ COBB BILL CARMAN

SPIRIT OF SERVICE

B DAVID MILLER

THE (ALMOST) NATIVE

I

t’s hard to top David Miller when it comes to residency and history.

Miller, 65, has lived on Longboat Key for 60 years — longer than even the town itself.

Miller moved to the Key in August 1955, when he was 4, and the town didn’t incorporate until November of that year.

It was chance that brought Miller and his father, Paul Miller, to Longboat Key that summer on a fishing daytrip while vacationing nearby on Lido Key. Paul Miller stopped by Cannons Marina, a former fishing camp and bait shop, and wound up purchasing it on a handshake deal and moving the family from the outskirts of Detroit to the Key. Miller got his start in the business at 5, counting shrimp for his father. Today, he lives in the Longbeach Village and now owns and operates Cannons — the oldest family-owned business on the Key and the only Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce member that was part of the group before the chamber received its charter.

Although the marina still sells bait, it’s better known today as a boat dealership.

“While there’s no doubt the Key is changing, even with all this new development, you can still go out on Sarasota Bay every day and enjoy peace and great fishing. There’s not a better place out there to call home.”

ill Carman, 72, is one of those Longboaters whose volunteerism was the engine of the Key in its early years. He was a volunteer firefighter with Longboat Key Volunteer Fire Rescue, serving as captain, and led a Longboat Key Boy Scout troop with 45 scouts for 11 years.

A Longbeach Village resident since 1969, he and his wife, Judy, raised their three sons on the island while owning and operating the former Carman’s Shoes and Handbags on St. Armands Circle for 45 years.

Carman still lives in the Village. Although he and Judy are retired, he’s still active in the St. Armands Circle Association. And he lives up to the name “Carman:” You’ll often find him driving Gulf of Mexico Drive in his bright yellow 1927 Grand Prix Bugatti type 35B or custom blue 1966 AC Cobra Replica.

“Longboat Key is a great community that’s so wellkept. Where else can you walk your dog while looking at peacocks and Sarasota Bay at the same time?

A priority for my family was always living in a safe community, and this is the safest community you can live in. Whenever you leave the Key and drive over the bridge again, it always feels like I’m driving back to paradise.”

THE MAN WITH THE PLAN

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ormer Arvida Corp. chairman and CEO Charles “Chuck” Cobb is the man who developed much of the southern half of Longboat Key. A Coral Gables resident who is now senior managing director and CEO of Cobb Partners Ltd., an investment company, Cobb served as Arvida’s CEO from 1972 until 1987, leaving to become President Ronald Reagan’s undersecretary of commerce. His lasting footprint on the Key includes the Longboat Key Club; some of its largest condos, such as Seaplace, Longboat Key Towers and Beachplace; and hundreds of single-family homes in Bay Isles. Arvida also negotiated to bring Publix to the island during Cobb’s tenure.

Cobb, 79, says he’s “mostly pleased” with the way Longboat Key has since developed.

“My only disappointment is the community and government hasn’t encouraged the Key to be a great resort area for out-oftowners and visitors,” Cobb said.

He says governmental development restrictions at the time of the south end’s development prohibited his ability to construct property that could be used for rentals and timeshares on an annual basis.

Cobb said that other communities have found that embracing families and destination tourists makes for a “more dynamic” community.

But Cobb is pleased to hear the current Town Commission is more receptive to concepts such as a town center and a new Islandside Key Club hotel.

“I hoped for more hotels, more restaurants, boat marinas and a true year-round environment like we have done in Boca Raton,” Cobb said. “Traffic might be worse for residents at certain times, but it makes life better for those who live there.”

“Longboat Key’s beauty is pretty difficult to match. If I had to rank the Key’s top qualities, I would rank its beauty and environment in first place, its percentage of green space in the form of golf courses, open space and medium density buildout as second and the dedicated people who live there as the island’s third-best quality. Longboat Key was a great plan.”

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

LIVING LEGENDS

DR. MURRAY ‘MURF’ KLAUBER COLONY KING

DICK SCHLORF AND JOHN MRACHEK THE TENNIS TEAM

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J

ust how important were the contributions of Dick Schlorf and John Mrachek to the Key? Important enough that in February 2011, the town dedicated the new Longboat Key Public Tennis Center building to the two men and their families, in recognition of the fact that without their vision, public tennis on Longboat Key might never have come to fruition.

In 1992, the Town Commission approved a plan from Arvida Corp. to build a public tennis facility. The plan fizzled, first due to public opposition and later because of high bids.

But in May 1996, Schlorf and Mrachek submitted a proposal to the town to build a public tennis center using private funds.

They formed the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center Inc. and raised approximately half of the $500,000 needed to build the facility, which reignited the publc tennis debate.

Eventually, the town agreed to build and run the facility, using town money and staff.

In November 1998, the Tennis Center opened its courts with Mrachek as manager.

Schlorf is still a Longboat Key resident who is active at the Tennis Center.

Mrachek now lives in The Villages, where he runs a weekly tennis event from his home, and he still visits the Public Tennis Center frequently.

Dick Schlorf and John Mrachek

“Longboat Key was already a tennis destination mecca. People don’t realize we were never trying to make the Public Tennis Center a viable competitor with places like the Colony. The goal was always to bring organized tennis to the Key, and we succeeded. The facility, by far, is the most successful in the area and provides more leagues, private or public, than any place in the three-county area. We’re very proud of what’s been accomplished at the Tennis Center.”

— John Mrachek

n 1968, Buffalo orthodontist Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber sat on the shore outside of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort and wondered, “What am I doing in Buffalo?”

Weeks later, he and his thenwife, Joanna Brown, moved their three children, Michael, Katie and Tommy to Longboat Key to buy the Colony.

“I was so entrenched in Buffalo, and my entire life was a part of that community,” said Klauber, 88. “But the first time I walked on that sand, I could feel a rewarding, exciting future, and I knew it was home.”

During his first seven years at the Colony, Klauber commuted between Longboat Key and Buffalo, where he continued to practice three days a week as an orthodontist.

Klauber went on to create the first condominium-resort, rental-partnership agreement formed in Florida in 1972. The resort was known both as a tennis destination and a family business. Each of Klauber’s children got their starts there: Katie Klauber Moulton, who became president and general manager of the Colony, started at age 11, serving coffee in the resort’s dining room; Michael Klauber, owner of Michael’s On East, scored his first job at the resort’s front desk; and Pattigeorges and Polo Grill and Bar owner Tommy Klauber was 9 when he began working the buffet.

Although the Colony closed in 2010, amid myriad lawsuits, Klauber still works on sketches

“Longboat Key is the most magnificent little island in the entire world. When you walk down that beach, your problems fade away, and a calm peace washes over you. It’s comfortable, and it’s home. I love Longboat Key.” for a future resort at the Colony.

Klauber and his wife, Susie, stay at The Players Club each season, not far from the resort he made famous in the 1970s.

“This will always be home,” Klauber said.

ANNETTE GORTZ

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LIVING LEGENDS MICHAEL SAUNDERS REAL ESTATE ROYALTY

M RALPH HUNTER: MAKING NEWS AND HISTORY

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hen the Longboat Observer hit stands July 28, 1978 with four pages, founder Ralph Hunter didn’t know it would become the newspaper of record for the Key. Hunter and his late wife, Claire, owned and operated the Longboat Observer for 17 years, until current owners Matt and Lisa Walsh and David and Ruth Beliles, purchased it in 1995.

The Longboat Key community was so important to the Hunters that when they married Nov. 1, 1978, they honeymooned that night at Town Hall, covering a Town Commission meeting.

Hunter, 95, now of Bradenton, wrote all of the historical markers throughout the Key. He also published the unofficial bible of Longboat Key, “From Calusas to Condominiums: A Pictorial History of Longboat Key,” in 2002.

ichael Saunders, the woman whose local real estate empire surpassed $2 billion in sales last year, grew up barefoot on the north end of Longboat Key, catching fish and cracking stone crab claws before the Longboat Pass Bridge was built.

“We didn’t have a television or even a radio,” she said. “We learned to swim before we could walk.”

Saunders, 73, grew up in a Lands End cottage along Longboat Pass constructed in the 1920s that her family still owns today.

Frank and Frances Saunders bought the Lands End parcel for $500 in back taxes in 1937 from an uncle who, years earlier, saw the island’s potential.

“I grew up with sand in my toes and in my shoes,” Saunders said. “We were raised to have a reverence for Longboat Key’s nature and the environment.”

After a brief stint as a Manatee High School teacher and a decade as a Sarasota probation and parole officer, Saunders obtained her real estate license in 1972.

The real estate market wasn’t booming at the time. But Saunders had an epiphany when she saw that every real estate office in town had what she describes as a hodgepodge of mismatched furniture and grumpy agents

smoking behind the desks.

“I began looking at the industry and determined it could be done differently,” Saunders said.

“We were helping people make the most important decision in their lives, and I knew I could help make it a great experience for them.”

Armed with a $5,000 bank loan she could only get with a male friend co-signing, Saunders leased a 1,000-squarefoot St. Armands Circle office, decorated it with some of her mother’s Longboat cottage furniture, and Michael Saunders & Co. was born.

Saunders’ company did $12 million in sales in her first year of business in 1976.

Forty years later, Saunders credits the company’s success, in part, to her knowledge of Longboat Key and the barrier islands.

“I knew Longboat like the palm of my hand, and it all started with waterfront real estate out there,” she said.

VIRGINIA SANDERS: GRASSROOTS LEADER

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ince she moved to Longboat Key in 1976, Virginia Sanders has been instrumental in many environmental initiatives in the area over the years, including heading the Sister Keys Conservancy, Longboat Key Turtle Watch volunteering, serving as president of the Longboat Key Garden Club and volunteering at Mote Marine Aquarium.

Sanders also helped develop the Key’s recycling program.

Last year, her efforts earned her the title of member emeritus of the Longboat Key Garden Club. Earlier this year, she was grand marshal of the Longboat Key Fourth of July Freedom Fest parade.

At 93, Sanders is still involved with the Garden Club’s annual Arbor Day tree donation and volunteers every month at Mote.

“The people of Longboat Key are what make this island unique because our residents come from all over the globe. We know all about civic duty. People want to do meaningful things here.

Although we like to socialize and party, and this island is good at that, what makes this island’s residents special is we have a certain unity about our community. We’re always willing to take that extra step to make our island even better.”

John Ringling once had a vision for Longboat Key...

The Resort at Longboat Key Club transformed that vision into reality.

Congratulations to The Town of Longboat Key as They Celebrate 60 Years of Growth and Prosperity.

E X P E R I E N C E T H E O PA L D I F F E R E N C E

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

LIVING LEGENDS JIM BROWN THE MAN EVERYONE CALLS MAYOR

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ven though Jim Brown stepped down in March after six years of commission service, people still call him by his former title wherever he goes: “Mayor.”

Brown, 69, could hold the record as having the most eventful tenure as mayor over his four years in the role.

He’s the only mayor in town history to have worked with four town managers in the span of just more than a month.

Several months into his first year as mayor in 2011, Brown began to sense tension between commissioners and Town Manager Bruce St. Denis, whom Brown perceived as unresponsive.

St. Denis resigned after Brown directed Town Attorney Dave Persson to poll other commissioners and found dissatisfaction with the 14-year town manager among other commissioners.

The commission appointed Longboat Key Police Chief Al Hogle to the interim role but then removed him from the manager position after disagreeing with his handling of allegations that the Planning Zoning and Building director, who later resigned, was creating a hostile work environment. Assistant to the Town Manager Susan Phillips took on the interim position until current Town Manager Dave Bullock assumed the role.

In 2012, during Brown’s second year as mayor, Hogle died in a motorcycle crash.

Brown led the town through other hurdles, including lawsuits that reversed the commission’s approval of a $400 million Longboat Key Club plan, approval of a new Publix and Persson’s resignation.

He considers the lead-up to St. Denis’ resignation and the decision to freeze the town’s pension plans as his toughest moments as mayor.

After he reached his term’s limit in March, Brown was appointed to the Planning and Zoning Board in April and unanimously elected chairman.

“I continue to have a need to want to serve my community like so many others,” Brown said.

“We have such a great group of people who came from all over the world, and they get involved and they care and they participate.

It helps make Longboat the special place it is.”

Happy 60th Anniversary, Longboat Key!

Cheryl Loeffler MBA, Realtor®

941.302.9674

Living and Selling on Longboat Key for over 28 years.

Premier Sotheby’s International Realty | The Plaza at Five Points 50 Central Avenue, Suite 110 | Sarasota, Florida 34236 941.308.6554 | premiersothebysrealty.com Sotheby’s International Realty and the Sotheby’s International logo are registered service marks used with permission.

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LONGBOAT 60TH ANNIVERSARY

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

The Big 6-0

Congratulations to the town of Longboat Key on its diamond anniversary.

Longboat Lookout

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Chronicling the life & history of Longboat Key has been a privilege & honor.

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

ONLY ON LONGBOAT

S

ome moments in town history are best summed up with a shake of the head and the words, “Only on Longboat.”

Here are a few favorites.

in 1996, one Village resident pleaded no contest to criminal charges that he killed a peacock with a pellet gun and ran it over with his car.

RESIDENTS DEBATE MAIL NUDITY

File photos

TIKI HUT

In 1988, more than 300 Colony Beach & Tennis Resort employees held hands and formed a circle in protest. The perceived injustice: The Longboat Key Code Enforcement Board ruled that a tiki hut over the Colony’s deck was not permitted and needed to be removed, so employees formed a circle around the structure in solidarity.

HOLIDAY INN SIGN One distinction of the Longboat Key Holiday Inn: Its sign was said to be the smallest in the world due to the town’s stringent sign code.

LYNCHES’ LUCK A leprechaun statue ran afoul of the town’s Code Enforcement in the late 1990s.

Technically, it was the Lynches Landing leprechaun’s ice cream that made him an outlaw.

Because the town considered the cone an advertisement of a business (the restaurant had recently started selling ice cream), it treated the cone as a sign separate from the leprechaun, and the restaurant was only allowed to have one sign. Owners Chris and Ethna Lynch complied by replacing the cone with a shovel — not a violation because the restaurant didn’t sell shovels.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

A group of Longbeach Village residents, including Ginny Pier, who went on to become a Longboat Key commissioner, are believed to have brought six peacocks to the Village as pets in the late 1970s, according to Frank Cunningham’s “The Key to Longboat.” During the late 1970s, some peacocks escaped during a storm and began roaming the Village. And, of course, they were fruitful and multiplied. Today, the flock is up to more than 150.

Some love the peacocks, and some really hate them. In fact,

Debate heated up in February 1996 at the Town Commission when residents at 580 Russell St. dressed up their mailbox with a nude mannequin.

The statue was a response to the controversy about mailbox size that arose when Riviera Beach Motel owner Bernie Weiss put up an 8-foot, fish-bedecked mailbox in front of the motel.

When the 580 Russell St. residents learned that their mailbox was in violation of the town’s sign code prohibition on obscenity, in addition to the proposed mailbox size limits, they clad the mannequin in a bathing suit.

Still, the town no doubt gave the mannequin body issues by passing new standards that meant she would have to slim down to no more than 5 feet high, 2 feet wide and 2.5 feet long.

‘BIENVENIDOS’ A LONGBOAT Just after 5 a.m. Dec. 18, 2006, shrimp delivery driver Dennis Holder called 911 after spotting a group of people in the road near the New Pass Bridge.

The group consisted of 18 men and seven women, all refugees from Cuba, who paid smugglers $2,000 each to take them from Cuba to Miami. The combination of rough waters and increased border enforcement in South Florida made it difficult to reach the planned destination.

So, the smugglers headed 300 miles north and landed on Beer Can Island.

“I was quite shocked when I was awakened at 5:05 a.m. and told 25 Cubans swam onto the island. At first I thought it was a joke,” Deputy Chief Martin Sharkey told the Longboat Observer.

The refugees received a friendly welcome: Police bought them food and water from Publix, and firefighter/paramedics treated them for hypothermia and dehydration.

They were then transported to Tampa for processing and later released in Miami.

POLICE BEAT Longboat Key Police Chief Wayne McCammon wrote the Longboat Observer’s “Cops Corner” column from 1979 to 1996.

Although Observer staffers took over the feature after McCammon’s retirement, we’ve never been able to top McCammon’s dry wit. Here’s a sampling: 1/1/79 — 2:29 p.m. Woman reports someone walking in her attic. House has no attic. Frequent caller.

5/3/80 — 5:42 p.m. Officer reports finding unoccupied bathing suits, one male and one female bikini. Gentleman located later who was diligently looking for the same. Case closed.

4/20/81 — 1:20 a.m. Alarm company reports noise at St. Mary Church. Intoxicated woman trying to get in to pray.

4/6/85 — 6:10 p.m. Assisted man with handcuff on left wrist, placed there by his lady friend; reason unknown.

11/9/93 — 11:08 p.m. Woman reports knocking at back door, Ketch Lane. Forgot she ordered pizza.

HIT THIS BABY ONE MORE TIME Police got a crack in their case when a 48-year-old Bradenton driver refused to stop for police Aug. 22, 2001.

After they caught up with him, the man held a crack pipe out of the window of his car and asked police for permission to take one more hit before they arrested him. He admitted to snorting cocaine and smoking crack since the afternoon prior.

Police didn’t arrest his passenger, who had jumped out of the moving vehicle. He told police he had already shot up all his heroin and wasn’t a crack user.

TEE TIME Among Longboat Key’s infamous squabbles: The “Tee Time” lawsuits stemming from a complaint that the Longboat Key Club’s then-owner, the Shannon Hotel Group, gave preference to hotel guests over members for tee times at its golf facilities despite a previous agreement that members would be given preference.

The agreement said the parties allowed the Key Club to solicit membership off the island, as long as it could prove that it wasn’t operating at capacity and to allow hotel guests to use the Harbourside course with a oneday advance booking between Jan. 1 and April 30, while disallowing group bookings.

MAN GOT TRASHED ON KEY When the Aquarius Club manager opened the lid of the recyclable trash can outside the condominium during the second week of October in 1997, he got a big surprise: A 22-year-old Sarasota man was there, curled up in a ball.

The man appeared dead to the manager. But in reality, he was sleeping off what was no doubt a night to remember — even though the man had no memory of it at all. He told police he was drinking beer at a party Sunday night in Sarasota and had no idea how he got into the trash bin.

Fire Rescue Lt. Jason Berzowski measures the Casa Del Mar cotton plant in 2011.

COTTON TALES Casa Del Mar resort was once truly in high cotton.

Former General Manager D.M. Williams’ cotton plants earned him six Guinness World Records for tallest cotton plant between 2004 and 2011.

Williams’ third and final cotton plant, which died as the result of Tropical Storm Debby in 2012, earned three Guinness World Records, the last of which was in July 2011, when the plant reached 32 feet.

Williams’ records were never challenged — but he was prepared for the event that, someday, they could be. So he recruited Longboat Key firefighter/paramedics to measure the plant from a crane for each record.

— ROBIN HARTILL

LONGBOAT 60TH ANNIVERSARY

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

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Luxury Service • Strategic Marketing • Benchmark Results

#1 LONGBOAT KEY REAL ESTATE TEAM

The Addy Wittig Team Congratulates Longboat Key on its 60th Anniversary!

Both Ian and Gail are lifelong residents of the area and have made Longboat Key their business hub and focus for the past 15+ years. Gail started her Real Estate career on Longboat Key with Key Club Realty back in 1991 and eventually worked on-site sales for Arvida at Promenade, Sanctuary, L’Ambiance, Marina Bay and Sabal Cove among others. Ian, Gail’s son, decided to join forces with Gail 8 years ago after earning his MBA and producing top results in new home sales for Smith & Associates out of Tampa. Together, along with a full time business manager and marketing manager, they continue to produce top results as the #1 Real Estate Team on Longboat

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Visit us at www.longboatlife.com for more info on our properties.

Michael Saunders & Company

440 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, FL 34228 PH 941.387.0100

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015

YOU’RE INVITED TO A FREE CONCERT IN THE PARK WITH FIREWORKS Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce and Town of Longboat Key Present

Town of Longboat Key 60th Anniversary Celebration Longboat Key

1955 - 2015

Saturday, November 14th 5 - 8 p.m.

Come “Savor the Sounds” of JAZZ at Bayfront Park on Longboat Key with a grand fireworks finale! Enjoy an evening by the bay with the jazzy tunes of The Sarasota Jazz Project and an elegant, yet casual picnic setting. BYOPB (picnic basket) and BYOB or enjoy offerings from a variety of local food and beverage trucks. Lawn chairs & coolers welcome. To top off the evening, a fireworks display presented by Sky King will light up the sky in celebration!

Event is open to the public, free of charge.

VIP Tickets for VIP tables can be purchased for $20 per person, $160 for a table of eight.

For more information please call the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce

941-383-2466 Sponsors:

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