Page 12 Friday, August 24, 2012 Longboat Key News

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Beachgoers should exercise extreme caution when entering the Gulf.

Flooding, resulting from increased rainfall and higher than normal tides, is expected. Depending on storm surge, roadways in low-lying areas (for example the Village) may be covered with salt water. Rain bands are expected to arrive overnight Sunday or early Monday morning. Several inches of rain are possible over the next five days.

Onset of tropical storm force winds may occur Monday morning continuing through early afternoon. Isolated tornadoes are possible. Localized power out-ages are possible as with any severe weather event. Report, or check the status of power outages, at www.fpl.com.

Beginning Friday morning, sand, bags, and shovels were made available to the general public for use to protect homes and property from potential flooding. Residents will have to fill the bags themselves with no limit to the number of sand bags available for each per-son. The materials are located at the Broadway public beach access on the North end of the island near the 7000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Residents are advised to monitor this storm and take appropriate protective measures.

Longboat Key emergency managements staff contin-ues coordination with Sarasota and Manatee County

Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) in preparation for Tropical Storm Isaac. Conference calls will be taking place with the National Hurricane Center, as well as the State of Florida Department of Emergency Management. Updated information will be provided following those briefings.

All residents and businesses are encouraged to ensure their disaster plan is in place, have a pre-determined evacuation location, and to have adequate disaster sup-plies on hand.

Please don’t forget to include your pets in your disas-ter planning. Please note that no decisions regarding evacuations have been made by Sarasota and Manatee County Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) at press time. If evacuations are to become necessary those deci-sions will be made over the weekend. Stay tuned to your local news and weather for announcements regarding local threats, evacuations or shelter information.

Updates regarding the storm and anticipated impacts, preparedness measures and any evacuation decisions will be posted to the Town’s website as well as lbknews.com.

The Town’s website, www.longboatkey.org also con-tains links to the National Hurricane Center, the Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Manatee County EOC. There are also links regarding disaster planning, how to strengthen you home against hurricane damage, and convenient checklists to help prepare emergency supply kits.

Storm, from page 1

largest privately held hotel operating and development groups in North America operating 107 hotels with 17,936 guestrooms. Today, the company is managed by Walsh and his five children: Mark, Mike, Patrick, Bill and Susan.

Ocean Properties is the largest hotel company in Florida operating more than 30 hotels across the State. The Company has corporate offices in Delray Beach, FL; Portsmouth, NH; Montreal, QC and Vancouver, BC.

Ocean Properties, Ltd & Affiliates purchased Atlific Hotels & Resorts, the largest independent hotel man-agement company in Canada in 1997. Atlific operates hotels in Canada, from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia.

In addition to developing and managing hotels and resorts, Ocean Properties, Ltd & Affiliates develop and operate restaurants, spas, golf courses, commercial real estate, marina operations and boating tours, often on behalf of third party investors and lenders.

Venture, from page 10 Whether Ocean Properties eventually acquires the Key Club in its entirety or ends up developing and/or managing the operation is to be seen.

The Longboat Key Club is comprised of more than 400 acres, 45 holes of golf, the golf and tennis courts and club assets as well as six restaurants, the 9,000 square–foot Island House Spa, meeting areas and the Inn on the Beach Hotel with 218 rooms. It is recognized as a AAA Four-Diamond Resort and the United States Tennis Association gave it the “Outstanding Facility Award” for its Tennis Gardens.

Both developer and management background

The Ocean Properties Website refers to the company as one that “is consistently chosen as the developer of choice when responding to RFP development and renovation opportunities. Our experience and ability to provide a complete turnkey partnership coupled with our strong franchise relationships allows us to carefully select the projects we partner with. The Company con-

tinuously seeks out and embarks on new hotel develop-ment opportunities.”

As testimony to investment during the recession, Ocean Properties has made multimillion-dollar invest-ments including the recent development of the 454-room Le Westin in Old Montreal and the acquisition, renovation and expansion of The Sagamore Resort at Lake George in Bolton Landing, New York.

The latest significant growth projects include the acquisition of the Sandpearl Resort in Clearwater Beach and the complete redevelopment of The Latham Hotel in Center City Philadelphia to become a modern, urban, boutique hotel.

The company is in the midst of opening third water-front hotel in Bar Harbor, the West Street Hotel.

In addition to developing and managing hotels and resorts, Ocean Properties, Ltd & Affiliates develop restau-rants, spas, golf courses, commercial real estate, marina operations and boating tours.

If you are not registered as a PSN (people with special needs) and would need special assistance in the event of a hurricane evacuation, please contact Sarasota or Manatee Emergency management to register.

Sarasota declares state of emergencyThe Sarasota County Commission Friday declared a

local state of emergency due to the expected threat of Tropical Storm Isaac. The Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center remains at a Level 3 monitoring status as Isaac moves through the Caribbean on a path toward the southwest coast of Florida.

Declaring a local state of emergency is a proactive measure to allow Sarasota County to be prepared for any unforeseen expenditures due to the storm, and to use the county’s emergency operations plans. This action also provides the county the authority to coordinate the allocation of resources in protecting the community, critical infrastructure and general welfare of citizens and visitors.

Residents should continue to pay close attention to local news media for updates on the situation. Additional flooding, tornado warnings or other urgent updates can happen as Tropical Storm Isaac moves toward the south-west coast of Florida.

For information about storm preparation, contact the Sarasota County Call Center at 941-861-5000, or visit www.scgov.net and click on the All Hazards link.