Sarasota County commissioners on Wednesday terminated the county’s $18.1 million deal to buy the Boatyard waterfront property at the foot of the southern Siesta Key bridge after a months-long dispute over a federal easement that clouded the property’s title.

The board voted 3-2 to walk away from the purchase rather than accept a proposal from property owner Chris Brown of Big Main Street LLC that would have left the county responsible for potentially significant costs to resolve the title problems.

Although commissioners had heralded the move as an opportunity to expand public waterfront access, some criticized paying for it by using funds earmarked for environmentally sensitive lands and neighborhood parks. Critics also questioned the price tag — more than double the $8.9 million Brown had paid for the site two years earlier.

Once the regulatory hurdles and easement issue became apparent, commissioners backed out.

“If we don’t have a clear title, then I’m not an interested party,” Commissioner Teresa Mast said before the vote.

Sarasota County Commissioner Teresa Mast voted down the Boatyard deal. | Photo by Christian Casale, Suncoast Searchlight

Mast was joined by commissioners Ron Cutsinger and Tom Knight in voting down the deal. Commissioners Joe Neunder and Mark Smith opposed terminating the contract, the latter arguing that they still had a rare and viable opportunity to expand public access to the waterfront.

“I am in favor of the county purchasing the property,” Smith said, “even if the whole process took five years, considering the use of that property for decades after.”

The vote brought an abrupt end to a controversial purchase that commissioners initially approved in February, hoping to turn the 2-acre Stickney Point Road property into a public waterfront park. Commissioners ordered two appraisals, which valued the property at $14 million and $18.1 million. They agreed to pay the higher appraised value.

Built more than 40 years ago, the complex of colorful, New England-style buildings connected by a fading boardwalk. Its 700 feet of bay frontage appealed to county officials as a way to improve public access to the water, but the property has deteriorated after storm damage and decades of wear and tear.

The pending deal forced businesses such as Siesta Key Watersports to relocate in anticipation of a sale that will never happen. Instead, the purchase stalled over a canal easement dating back to 1960.

Held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the easement runs across the site and an existing restaurant structure on the property encroaches upon it without permission, according to a letter the Corps sent the county.

The Boatyard Waterfront Bar & Grill sits on property Sarasota County had agreed to purchase for $18.1 million. The deal fell apart after a dispute over a decades-old federal easement affecting the site. | Photo by Christian Casale, Suncoast Searchlight

Getting the Corps to release the easement could take up to five years, with no guarantee that the federal government would agree to it and no set price if it did.

Brown had proposed setting aside $700,000 from the sale proceeds to help address the title issues. 

But the county would have been required to accept the property as-is, with the easement in place, and cover all costs exceeding the amount of Brown’s offer, including potential demolition expenses.  When Smith asked if the amount would cover the county’s expenses, Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Director Shawn Yeager said it was “unknown at this point.”

In an Oct. 1 letter, the Corps said the county would have to pay “no less than the appraised fair market value” for the easement if it’s released mainly for the owner’s benefit. That does not include the cost for surveys, environmental review and appraisals. 

The county’s own attorney had previously warned against assuming those obligations.

In a Sept. 14 letter, the Sarasota County Attorney’s Office disputed the seller’s claim that a federal easement affecting the Boatyard property was not a title defect requiring correction before the county could complete its $18.1 million purchase. | Suncoast Searchlight illustration based on the actual letter

In a Sept. 14 notice of default to Brown, Assistant County Attorney Vladimir DuBovis rejected Brown’s argument that the easement was simply a future permitting issue. Instead, he described it as a defect in the property’s title. 

Yeager told Suncoast Searchlight after his presentation to the board that the easement, which allows for parts of the water to be available for dredge material, constrained waterfront access. He said the county will still work to find other opportunities to improve public access to the water.

“We’ll be looking for more, but it doesn’t come along very often,” Yeager said. “But when it does, then we try to do our best to find those opportunities.”