Sand Key residents came to City Hall by the carload and the busload.

By the time the March 20 City Council meeting started, nearly 400 of them waited to see whether the council would grant “T” (Tourist) zoning to the 2.9-acre strip mall known as the Shoppes on Sand Key. Three hours later, they got their answer.

A two-decades-old court settlement left the shops with “commercial” zoning, which no longer exists. The owner, Clearwater-based D.A. Bennett Co., has requested “T” zoning, which would allow a 100-foot-tall, 150-room site to be built on the site, although Bennett representatives say there are no imminent plans for doing so.

Sand Key residents complained that the change would shut down the shopping center and they would have to drive to Island Estates or Largo to do their shopping. But Bennett’s attorney, Michael Foley, said that that is not necessarily so.

“Just because my client is granted ‘tourist’ designation does not mean that the shops will cease to exist,” Foley said.

Conversely, city officials said that denying “T” zoning would not guarantee that the shops would stay in business.

“There is nothing the city can do to guarantee that the shops will remain,” Mayor Frank Hibbard said. “That’s a private property issue.”

“It’s true that you cannot vote to keep the Shoppes on Sand Key,” resident Gene Gillespie agreed. “But a vote for tourist zoning is a guarantee that they’ll be gone.”

“The Shoppes on Sand Key, in my estimation, will not be around in a few years because they’re not the highest and best use of the land,” Councilman Paul Gibson added.

The residents said that adding another hotel to Sand Key, where there are already two hotels, would destroy the residential ambiance of their island.

“This is a residential neighborhood,” said resident John Thomas, a professional land use planner. “It has a sense of place, a sense of character.”

Some residents complained that a 100-foot-tall hotel would block the view and lower the property values of nearby condominiums.

“Some people have a problem with height,” Foley replied. “My client’s property is surrounded by height. It’s dwarfed by height.”

The residents feared that a hotel on the site would increase traffic in the area. But officials said that, because people come and go from shopping centers more frequently than they do from hotels, the traffic might actually decrease.

Hibbard lamented that “commercial” zoning is no longer available.

“This property screams to be commercial,” he said.

Gibson then made a motion to deny the “T” zoning and have the city’s Planning Department amend the Community Development Code to allow “commercial” zoning of the shops. Hibbard, Vice Mayor John Doran and Councilman George Cretekos voted in favor of Gibson’s motion. Councilwoman Carlen Petersen was the lone dissenter.

“I can’t honestly say that the designation of ‘tourist’ does not fit that piece of property,” Petersen explained.