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Porte Royale condo project turned down

Commissioners said the condos would take away from the downtown area's unique character.

By SHEELA RAMAN
Published February 20, 2007

DUNEDIN - It was 1:30 a.m. Friday. City commissioners munched on doughnuts and listened to the last words of testimony with glassy eyes.

After almost six hours of cross-examination and witness testimony, commissioners did not take long to arrive at a unanimous decision to deny the preliminary site plan for the Porte Royale condominium project.

Commissioners ended up agreeing with the staff recommendation to deny the five-story, 75-condo project because it was incompatible with the surrounding area.

"They were very thorough and had good points, but in the end, they were taking a plot that is mixed use in nature and making it into a single-use project," Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski said.

Porte Royale, the brainchild of Pageco Dunedin LLC, aimed to take the place of the Bon Appetit restaurant and Best Western hotel at 150 Marina Plaza. The property is owned by Van L. Phillips Jr. and his two sisters, who are trustees of the Adeline W. Phillips Trust.

Phillips Jr. planned to sell the property to Pageco if the project was approved and was present Thursday night to support Pageco. Now that the project has been denied, he stands to lose the lucrative profit of the sale.

Glenn Smith, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer who represents Pageco, spent about five hours cross-examining city staffers and presenting five witnesses to prove that Porte Royale is compatible with city code. He brought a bevy of legal assistants who carried laptops and about 10 boxes full of file folders.

Smith's main argument was that the city had no right to arbitrarily dictate Pageco's use of the property, as long as the company is adhering to one of the city's permitted uses, which includes both mixed use and residential.

City staffers, who presented their recommendation before Smith, took about an hour to make their case, using a PowerPoint slide show of how the condo project would obstruct the water view, cut off public access to the water and ruin the low-key, charming aesthetic of downtown.

About 10:30 p.m., commissioners had to interrupt Smith's cross-examination to let residents share their opinions about the site plan.

Some had already left the room because it was so late. All of the residents who spoke said they wanted the city to deny the site plan, primarily because it would turn downtown Dunedin into a cookie-cutter Florida town instead of preserving its unique character.

Commissioners expressed similar sentiments when they decided to vote against the plan.

"The property is so unique," Commissioner Dave Eggers said. "It's a peninsula, and it has a lot of history behind it. It's important to preserve public access to it."

On Friday, Mayor Bob Hackworth said he thought Smith presented such a detailed case, with copious references to city code, so all of that information would be on record in the event that Pageco decides to sue the city.

John Loder, managing member of Pageco, said he was disappointed with the outcome and planned to consult further with Smith.

"We want to preserve our rights. It is very likely we will take legal action," he said.

[Last modified February 19, 2007, 22:54:18]