Don’t forsake Manatee County’s last great place: the Bay

Are we all asleep and going to let a new high-rise, 3,000-home gated community take over the only and the last untouched shoreline and the last one left on Sarasota Bay? Its name is Long Bar Point.

The proposal is scheduled before the Bradenton Planning Commission on Aug. 10, and the County Commissioners on Aug. 16 at the County Administration Building in Bradenton. The property development is called “AQUA BY THE BAY.

The shoreline is home to a vast number of seabirds, and the mangroves provide an essential protection to the shoreline and the nursery fishery in the shallows, which serves the local fishing community of Cortez Village. Many boaters and visitors appreciate seeing nature at work, not another huge housing development.

The site is the longest untouched shoreline on Sarasota Bay. It supports the bay’s finest mangrove and sea grass ecosystem, essential to its best fishery and largest shorebird habitat. The developer has already excavated a large lake area on the property that may not be ecologically viable.

The most egregious plan is the proposal to build multiple seven-story buildings 95 feet high, and 13-story buildings 145 feet high, four times the legal limit, where for 15 miles no building is taller than the tallest tree. Also, Carlos Beruff plans to build a number of high sea walls in front of the lagoon, which will destroy waterfront vistas on this low-rise shore and will not save the mangroves.

I urge the commissioners to scale down this proposal to what would be less destructive to the land and the Bay.

This story was originally published August 4, 2017 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Don’t forsake Manatee County’s last great place: the Bay."