Not every neighborhood may be on board with the city’s Bahia Mar Park project.
Peter Henn, vice president of LXR Luxury Resorts and Hotels, the project’s developer, has promised not to rest until the project has the support of all of Bahia Mar Park’s neighbors. But getting those endorsements may prove more difficult than anticipated.

Although the Central Beach Alliance, South Beach Alliance, Harbor Beach Property Homeowners Association Inc. and Harbour Inlet Association all approved the $500 million project, several groups have opposed the plan and others have refused to vote on it.

“We found that LXR’s drawings of the area didn’t quite match what’s there,” Idlewyld Association president Mary Fertig said in June. “The buildings are really much larger.”

Tamara Tennant, president of the Riviera Isles Homeowners Association, said her group walked out of an LXR presentation, contending the developer “has no intention of building anything.”

“They want to get the lease extended and the zoning laws changed, and then flip the property,” Tennant said. “They want to get control of Bahia Mar, then sell it. That’s what they’re trying to do.”

The boards for the Illini, Venetian and Marina Towers condominiums also withheld approval over the past few months.

Bahia Mar Park is becoming one of the largest projects confronting the city and is beginning to draw plenty of attention. After two years of enthusiastic presentations to neighborhood associations and condo boards, LXR’s presentation to the City Commission last week received mixed reviews. Mayor Jack Seiler said that while LXR’s proposal is not acceptable, neither is the current state of the Bahia Mar site. He urged city officials to continue negotiations.

However, full-on support from all the project’s neighbors may be just a pipe dream.

“Some people will never accept any new development – end of story,” said Central Beach Alliance president Steve Glassman.

“One hundred percent approval can never be obtained,” said Sadler James, a member of the Central Beach Alliance. “There are always those people who want to go on living in a peaceful little village.”