The Ralphs applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection to build a dock running from their development's wooden bulkhead and the state's pierhead and
bulkhead line, and continuing for 60 feet into the bay.
The commercial site consists of nine single-story buildings with approximately 2.5 acres of upland plus an additional acre underwater that extends to the
bulkhead line. The property has approximately 302' of frontage along Richmond Terrace and extends into Kill Van Kull tidal strait which separates Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey.
During 1967, the Sarasota City Commission held several stormy public hearings, presenting expert testimony from both the city departments and Arvida's consultants on the location of the city's proposed engineered
bulkhead line. The crux of the issue was whether it would be placed at approximately the mean high water mark or amended, as proposed by Arvida, and moved further out in places to take in areas of shallow water the developer either owned or hoped to acquire.