SIESTA KEY
Observer Formerly the Pelican Press
RIVERVIEW REVS UP.
PAGE 12
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
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VOLUME 48, NO. 3
YOUR TOWN
Siesta Key: It’s not just a TV show anymore Siesta Key, popular with beach-lovers, winter residents and, suddenly, a national TV audience, ranked 18th in a statewide list of the most expensive ZIP codes, based on 2016 median home-sale prices ($550,857, according to real estate blog Property Shark). Right behind, in 19th spot, is the ZIP code that includes Lido Key, St. Armands Key and Bird Key ($535,000). There are nearly 1,500 ZIP codes in Florida. Tops in Florida was Miami Beach ($3.4 million). Longboat Key came in 11th ($672,500). If you were sleeping in statistics class, the median is the point at which half the sales are higher and half are lower.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017
HELP WANTED
A labor shortage is making building downtown harder. PAGE 3
Siesta hotel hits roadblock Kompothecras seeks a legislative solution with the county to proceed with plans for project. CASSIDY ALEXANDER
TURTLE TRACKS
STAFF WRITER
AS OF JULY 29 TOTAL NESTS: 2017 2016 Lido Beach 174 157 Siesta Key 619 410 Casey Key 1,811 1,939 TOTAL FALSE CRAWLS: 2017 2016 Lido Beach 204 171 Siesta Key 635 1,279 Casey Key 2,062 3,149 Source: Mote Marine Laboratory
A+E
Anna Brugmann
Zachary Kurnov poses with a flower picked from Hershorin Schiff Community Day School’s garden. Zachary joined his classmates over the summer in tending to their school’s greenery.
Familiar problems in a new world. INSIDE
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How do their gardens go? At schools around the county, kids either give their green thumbs a break or keep right on growing. SEE PAGE 15
Gary Kompothecras’ proposed hotel on Siesta Key has hit another snag, but land-use attorney Charlie Bailey is hopeful the issue can be resolved legislatively, rather than through litigation. The problem revolves around a line in the provisions of the Siesta Key Overlay Zoning District, or SKOD, which sets development regulations for the Key. Bailey and his client, founder of referral service 1-800-ASKGARY, are challenging a ruling by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals that upheld an interpretation by a county zoning administrator in July. It was determined that buildings under 35 feet tall must be set back from the street by at least 2 feet. Anything higher requires a setback of at least 25 feet or half the building’s height, whichever is greater. The rule will determine the footprint of the proposed project, likely on Kompothecras’ property at the end of Old Stickney Point Road. Bailey said without a clear way forward on the setback rule, not even basic details of a proposal can come together. “There really is no plan,” Bailey said. “There is no site plan for a hotel, no rendering…. My client would much like to bring a boutique hotel — a well-designed, compatible, boutique hotel — to SEE SIESTA HOTEL, PAGE 4