Manatee County’s review of Carlos Beruff’s and Larry Lieberman’s mixed-use Long Bar Pointe project, newly named Aqua By The Bay, continued at a January development review meeting.
With an August 2015 application, the developers proposed 3,200 homes and 78,000 square feet of commercial space on 463-529 acres abutting Sarasota Bay, west of El Conquistador Parkway in Bradenton, less than 5 miles east of Anna Maria Island. County approvals on the project already include 458 residential units in the uplands.
At the Jan. 13 meeting, the developers’ representatives asked what was needed to move the project forward.
Planners questioned the developers’ rights to four 30-foot strips of land, asking for an adjacent landowner’s authorization. But, the developers’ attorney, Ed Vogler, said his clients already hold easement rights.
Privately owned wetlands, density calculations and acres dedicated to commercial use also were discussed.
Battle lines have been drawn for years between the private developers and those who wish to maintain the integrity of the coastal area.
Environmentalists and commercial and recreational fishers view the Long Bar Pointe shoreline as one of the few remaining pristine coastal areas with environmentally sensitive seagrass beds, ecosystems for wildlife and oyster beds, as well as nurseries for spawning fish, scallops and clams.
An August 2013 public hearing drew some 1,000 attendees, many opposing the developers’ plans to destroy mangroves and seagrass beds for dredged canal access, a marina and other commercial development in the coastal wetlands.
After the hearing, Manatee County commissioners rejected the developers’ proposed changes, leading to their lawsuit in 12th Judicial Circuit Court — now on appeal — challenging the constitutionality of coastal protection policies.