Relatively mild mannered tropical storm Fay has at least created a potential threat to the barrier islands including Sand Key. Should Fay gain enough strength to become a hurricane, the projected path is through the Tampa Bay area.
Out of concern for the potential safety of guests and staff, we have decided to cancel Wednesday’s planned anniversary party and reschedule for next Wednesday, August 27th from 5 to 7 PM.
Backwaters will attempt to keep our regular hours until weather conditions make it impossible or unsafe. Just call us at 727-517-7383 if you have any questions.
Maggie Mae’s will also be open our normal hours, subject to weather conditions. You can call Maggies at 727-595-1096.
For those of you who didn’t see the St. Petersburg Times article yesterday, you can click here for the full text. Mike Donilla, the reporter, did a good job of showing the key issues and the differences of opinion between the City staff, Legg-Mason and opponents of the proposed hotel.
One of those key issues is parking. My understanding is that Legg-Mason wants a 38 room hotel PLUS a 165 seat restaurant. They are only planning 56 parking spots. With staff, guests and vistors, the parking is about half of what they need.
Opponents need to focus on this issue. Current parking is insufficient and the staff from the Cabana Club park in the public park lot on many occasions. If they are popular after the new facility is built, where will they park with this plan?
Southern Boil - Backwaters 2007
The event of the year for Sand Key residents is from 5 to 7 PM Wednesday evening, August 20, 2008. That’s when Backwaters will again be bringing out the huge pots for an old fashion southern tradition. The pots will be stuffed with shrimp, mussels, crab, corn on the cob, sausage, red potatoes, clams and much more. Add a little corn bread, seafood chowder and lots of Old Bay seasoning and you have a southern boil. That is a tradition at Backwaters for the last eight years.
Join your neighbors and friends. The food is compliments of Backwaters and the waterfront setting is Mother Nature’s best.
Tags: Backwaters, boil, events, food, party, sand key, southern
I received Cynthia Remley’s reply to a letter from Martin Smith, Managing Director of the Belleview Biltmore explaining the future development of the Cabana Club property.
Without boring you with the details of the two page Remley letter, the key point she makes is that the hotel group is mis-leading you and they cannot be believed. Ms. Remley fails to note that Legg-Mason’s plan is clearly of record and there is nothing mis-leading about their plans. They are what they propose to the city - nothing more, nothing less.
Remley’s open letter makes these points:
- She claims Legg-Mason wants to “take” part of the beach beyond the Coastal Construction Line. She fails to mention that there are dozens of encroachments of the CCL line that are actually within the property lines of the owner. Why don’t we oppose ALL of these variations that exist now and have for years?
- Parking - the Remley letter points out the shortfall of the parking for the Legg-Mason hotel plans. She is correct, there are not enough parking spaces to accommodate a hotel and a 165 seat restaurant. Saying that Legg-Mason is acting as something less than a good neighbor. When you go in front of the City of Clearwater Development Board, you better ask for more than you want. That is bargaining and has nothing to do with a company’s integrity. Sure they want to much, but I seriously doubt the City can’t figure this out. The existing Cabana Club already uses the City park for employee parking on many occasions. That is not acceptable.
- Remley complains about the height. Right or wrong, the plan clearly shows the height in their drawings and plans. There is nothing incorrect about the plans. They aren’t hiding anything.
- In the Remley letter, she complains about the variations that they are requesting. Again, whether you agree or disagree the code variations are clearly set out. The City will negotiate with Legg-Mason to grant what has been done in the past. There are numerous variations all over the island. Legg-Mason is very agressive, but is that posturing based on historical precedents or real planning?
- Remley also points out the financial impact this project may have on the neighbors. That is indisputable, but not much worse that what is there now.
- Contrary to what Remley states, the “community” is not against the hotel. In fact, many people want them to develop the hotel (without unprecedented variations). There is no universal opposition to this project as there was with the Shoppes issue.
Finally, the statement that Legg-Mason takes a “take it ot leave” position or we may have a “gas station, liquor store, nightclub or a used car lot” on the property is just over the line and preposterous.
BOTH sides need to stop the rhetoric, exaggerations and name calling atmosphere. What is there is not working. Something beneficial or acceptable can be built, but Sand Key needs unity to create a neighborhood design plan that makes sense. Creating new groups, committees and organizations that fragment the community won’t work. This is a perfect example. It merely allows Legg-Mason and others an easy walk through the development process.
Just a quick opinion.
Tags: cabana club, legg-mason
The following was received as an emailed comment, but we thought it should be brought to the attention of all;
“I haven’t commented recently, but have our residents noticed the changes in Sand Key Park since the Pinellas County Park Department has implemented the ‘Preserve Maintenance’ schedule for mowing. As the former Park Supervisor of Sand Key Park from 1989 to 2002, my staff and I prided ourselves in providing our area residents and visitors from all over the world with a beautifully maintained beach park on the Gulf of Mexico.
Thanks to Amendment 1 and the interpretation of how to meet the challenges of budgeting, our county commissioners have chosen to make the park department the ’sacrificial lamb’ to help meet other budgetary needs in other departments.
Those residents who regularly walk through the park or take their dogs to the dog park have obviously seen what ‘preserve maintenance’ means.
Sand Key Park looks like it is neglected and overgrown. This is not to fault the current supervision of the park. Mr. Jerry Cumings and his crew have to maintain the park with just 6 staff members. I had 11 staff members.
I would ask our residents of Sand Key to call the Director of the Pinellas County Culture, Education and Leisure Department, Mr. Paul Cozzie, to let him know what you think of the appearance of the park. Please support Mr. Cumings in giving you a park to not only enjoy the beauty of nature as you exercise, but one that you will be proud to bring your friends and family to. The department’s phone number is 464-3347. Thank you.”
Fred Bruder, Former Sand Key Park Supervisor
Tags: park
Once again Backwaters gets high praise from a restaurant reviewer from one of the top newspapers in the area. The food critic dined anonymously in the last two weeks and followed up by sending a photographer.
You can read the whole review by clicking here.
While the food was the center of attention, you can’t underestimate the setting here on beautiful Sand Key!
Backwaters is proud of the reputation built in the last eight years. This review was timely in view of the Eighth Annual Anniversary Party scheduled for August 20th. The highlight will be a southern boil complete with shrimp, sausage, crab, mussels, corn on the cob and much more. All of this will done in big pots on our deck from 5 to 7 PM. Join your neighbors at Backwaters!
This morning a bunch of signs started appearing in front of various condo buildings opposing the Legg-Mason boutique hotel. This must mean the condo associations of the buildings where the signs appear have voted to oppose the the project in its entirety.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the representative feeling among all Sand Key residents. My very unscientific poll finds that there seems to be four categories of positions on the proposed hotel.
- Those people who do not want the hotel under any circumstances.
- Those people who aren’t opposed to the hotel, just the unique variances requested by this project that haven’t been allowed on Sand Key previously.
- Those who want the hotel as an improvement over what exists there now.
- Those who want the hotel instead of alternative uses for the property that may be worse than a hotel.
No matter which category you fall into, there is no consensus as there was with the Shoppes issue a few months ago. There has been a lot of inaccurate and inflammatory statements made by both the ardent opposition and the Legg-Mason group. Each person has to make their decision and respond as an individual rather than the rush to come up with the idea you are joining a cause that is almost universally supported.
The Sand Key Civic Association has NOT opposed the building of the hotel. They have taken the cautious position of stating they do not want variances that may establish precedents for the future.
As far as the signs popping up, I think they are detracting to the community and hope this isn’t a trend for the future. I hope those in favor of the hotel project don’t follow suit by putting their signs up also. This is a small community. There are many ways to get your ideas across without making it look like a political sideshow.
The “stunt” last night on Clearwater Beach performed by Chris Angel still baffles me, but not for the reasons anticipated. Let’s break down this event.
- A guy picks handcuffs.
- Kicks in a window.
- Runs down a flight of stairs.
- Walks out the front door.
Sounds like a normal night in downtown St. Petersburg! Where was the great “illusion”? What happened to the helicopter takeoff? If it weren’t for the media build up, the summary of what Chris Angel did sounds like a dozen police reports you could find around the country where the exact same thing occurred.
This is supposed to be some kind of redeeming value for entertainment on Clearwater Beach that is supposed to be a family oriented beach? I can just hear the family conversation, “hey honey, let’s take the kids out tonight to watch some guy try to get blown up”.
The implosion of the Spy Glass Hotel would have been an event in itself; much like the media covered the old Adams Mark implosion.
According to one of the comments on my earlier post, Angel is supposed to be “the world’s greatest magician”. I saw nothing “magical” about his Hollywood type stunt that the movies do a dozen times everyday. The trick never came close to matching the hype. The drama was self created with fake smoke and all.
On the other hand Clearwater Beach got a lot of publicity. Every news channel and the newspapers highlighted our lack of parking, constant construction and traffic gridlocks. Just what we need is more news coverage of the problems on the beach! I cannot figure out how this event helped our image. However, I am happy for the temporary influx of business it brought for struggling hotels and restaurants in the area. It’s the long term that worries me. One article noted that Clearwater was the only city Angel could find that would allow this kind of stunt. Maybe that should tell us something.
Tags: chris angel, clearwater beach
Maybe it’s age, a difference in generations or just my lack of sophistication, but can anyone explain to me the redeeming value of allowing some “illusionist” to perform a stunt on Clearwater Beach. The complete details are at this link, but essentially on Wednesday night (July 30th) this guy is supposed to chain himself to the old Spy Glass Hotel and be able to get free in four minutes to reach a waiting helicopter.
This IS a stunt. Does anyone believe Clearwater Beach is going to be treated favorably for this kind of mindless publicity? What am I missing?
Let’s see, maybe the next time I go on vacation I’ll look for a place that allows second class magicians to attempt to blow themselves up on the beach. That’s good advertising and should bring the exact type of visitors we need. Probably help reservations for the Super Bowl coming this winter too! Of course this outght to make our 30 million dollar Beach Walk look real nice!
Please help with my thinking on this one!
The Clearwater Aquarium has scheduled its First Annual Ted Williams Fishing Tournament for August 16, 2008. The tournament will be held at the aquarium at 249 Windward Passage on Island Estates. Fishing will be from 7:30AM to 1:30PM with a weigh in at the docks at 2:30 PM. The charity tournament is a worthy cause for a great organization.
For more information on how you can support this event, click here.