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SARASOTA -
Supporters repeated the words "jobs," "economy" and "redevelopment," while opponents of a proposed yacht marina, hotel and restaurant spoke of a towering building, noise disruptions, threatened manatees and pollution of Whitaker Bayou.
Related Links:
* Proposed marina project map | Graphics
After hearing from more than 35 residents -- some in support and some against the Whitaker Bayou Yacht Club -- Monday night, city commissioners voted 3-2 to approve it.
At a meeting on Sept. 3, more than 20 residents spoke on the same issue.
Phase one of the project includes a 285-slip marina and a fueling station.
Developer Charles Githler III hopes to break ground within nine months at a location on Whitaker Bayou, north of downtown.
Residents against the project spoke during a better part of the five-hour meeting, bringing photos to show the proximity of the boat storage building to their homes. A handful said they were concerned the project could reverse improvements in water quality.
Fans of the yacht club argued the project would create temporary construction jobs and more than 100 permanent jobs in the marina and hotel.
Andy Dorr, representing Yacht Center Land Co., answered questions from commissioners about buffering and noise. Dorr said the developer promised to prohibit noise past 9 p.m. and had reduced the number of boats by 27 percent.
The answers did not alleviate Commissioner Dick Clapp's concerns about the need for more of a buffer made up of trees to disguise the marina.
"There is a pretty good case that there ought to be a change there," said Clapp, who lives in nearby Indian Beach and represents the neighborhood. "This is a site that on three sides has single-family residential."
Anthony Paul Lerie, who lives in Indian Beach, opposed the project. "I am for development on the North Trail, but I am not for this development," Lerie said. "My guess is the prostitutes won't care if there is a huge yacht facility there. This project will be large, garish and in my backyard."
Supporters also came as a group.
"I've been there 12 years and I welcome anything like this that could possibly be a catalyst for redevelopment on the North Trail," said Michael Mosti, manager of the Southland Inn.
Githler and his development group purchased an aging boatyard in 2003.
Javier Torres has worked in the boatyard for the past 10 years doing everything from bottom painting to repairing engines.
Since he came to Florida from Cuba in 1994, it has been one of his better, more steady jobs, and he said working at the yacht center would be an even better job at a time when the economy in Sarasota looks murky.
"It would be a good opportunity for me and my family," Torres said.
"And it's going to be clean and not noisy like what we have now."
Source Link:http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080923/ARTICLE/809230395/2055/NEWS?Title=Sarasota_approves_ho tel_and_marina
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