Thursday could be decision day for big shoreline development

A heavily protested development — Aqua by the Bay — will be considered for approval by Manatee County Commission on Thursday.

At 1:30 p.m., the commission will hear developer Carlos Beruff’s latest proposal to develop 529 acres between El Conquistador Parkway and Sarasota Bay, just at the south of 53rd Avenue West. The county planning commission and staff have recommended approval of plans to build 2,894 homes at Aqua by the Bay.

“The Long Bar Pointe land is a well-known and beautiful property in West Bradenton, fronting on Sarasota Bay and Coon Key,” project documents state. “The site is surrounded by water and magnificent mangroves, and these natural features will become one of the biggest assets of the future Aqua development.”

Aqua by the Bay will include multi-family buildings — one proposed at five stories and the other at 10 stories over parking.

If approved, Aqua by the Bay would be the second major development built in this area, as Lake Flores was approved by the county commission in 2015.

But local residents and environmentalists say that the last untouched shoreline in the area is at risk if Aqua by the Bay is approved.

“You won’t be able to come here and see the Old Florida,” Kathe Fannon, a fourth generation Cortez resident, said last month. “I think we should stand up as a people and as a community and say, ‘We have something that no other shoreline has. No other county has this but Manatee County.’”

In April, Ed Vogler, the attorney representing Beruff, said there would be no impacts on the shoreline.

“There is no mangrove trimming allowed,” Vogler said. “The water quality would be enhanced.”

A “STOP Aqua by the Bay” Facebook page has been created in opposition to the proposal.

“We just want to preserve our shoreline and the millions of creatures in it,” Katie Tupin, a Cortez resident who created the Facebook page, said last month. “We are just tired of building, more and more building. The birds are running out of room.”

The proposed Aqua by the Bay development is the second proposal for this property for which the development team has sought approval from Manatee County.

A subject of legal challenge, Long Bar Pointe was once planned to include up to 3,600 homes, 192,000 square feet of commercial space, a hotel, a conference center and a marina and navigation channel.

After Manatee County Commission in 2013 denied amendments to the county’s Comprehensive Plan, Long Bar Pointe developers Beruff and Larry Lieberman filed an $18 million suit against the county over their claimed right to develop shore lands at the property.

But both then-Circuit Judge John Lakin and the Second District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the county on all issues in the case.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Thursday could be decision day for big shoreline development."