Developers Challenge City Council's Decision on Waterfront Project

The company that wanted to develop a three-story apartment building on a key piece of downtown waterfront is asking the courts to overturn the Bradenton City Council's .

REDUS Florida Land LLC, a successor to the former Promenade at Riverwalk II, LLC, filed a petition last week saying that the city council did not follow "the essential requirements of law and did not base its decision to deny the project on "competent substantial evidence"

It is asking a judge to set aside the city council decision and to allow the company to develop its proposed three-story apartment building on the waterfront. Wells Fargo has foreclosed on the property after the previous developer took out loans for its proposed mixed use development, using the waterfront land as collateral.

REDUS is arguing that rather than follow the city staff's and the planning commission's recommendations which were based on land use regulations, the city council listened to the public's objections to the project and made its decision based on the public's dissatisfaction with the project.

Most of the public objections at the May city council meeting were based on the elimination of retail, restaurants and commercial uses on the first floor of what was to be a five-story, mixed-use building.

Bradenton residents said they want the project to include restaurants and retail in order to keep the former publicly-owned waterfront property accessible to the public.

Councilman Gene Gallo said the city's attorneys were meeting with the developers' attorneys on Tuesday to determine what the developers want.

"Our attorney will report back to us to let us know if we are on solid legal grounds," Gallo said. "It's fact finding at this point."

But Gallo still doesn't buy that the promised restaurants and retail won't work on the waterfront. To test his theory, he had lunch Tuesday at , the newest restaurant to open along the downtown waterfront.

"From what I've seen happen with Tarpon Pointe and the crowds of people that restaurant is bringing in, now is the time to build on that waterfront," he said. "The people are going down there."

He said the developers' arguments that the city needed more heads in beds downtown in order for commercial development to thrive didn't ring true.

"We have all the beds and heads you need. We have 350,000 people in the county. If you build the right retail and restaurants they will come from all over the county. Tarpon Pointe is living proof."

Councilman Bemis Smith said it is rare for a company to file a lawsuit over a city council decision, although the council gets threatened with lawsuits — from opposing sides on any issue — more often.

"My feeling is that those kind of circumstances don't drive my decision-making process significantly," Smith said. "We're supposed to make decisions on whether a project or land use is good or bad, not whether we're going to get sued."

He said the city council works to address legal issues to avoid making decisions it shouldn't, but doesn't get paralyzed by threats of lawsuits.

"We try to do the best for the community," he said. "We make our decisions based on that."

But REDUS argues in its petition that both the city's planning commission and its planning department approved the application because it was compatible with surrounding land uses and with the city's comprehensive plan.

The city council is likely to get a briefing from the city attorney at Wednesday's council meeting.