Attorney outlines ways to approve, deny Islandside application

Mayor Lee Rothenberg has called for a special workshop to be held 9:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 12, to discuss a 1979 agreement and 1992 order that mandates open space requirements and stipulates when the Longboat Key Club and Resort can schedule Islandside golf course tee times for club members and hotel guests.

The workshop will be held during the Islandside renovation-and expansion hearing, which begins 9 a.m. Friday, at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road.

Town Attorney David Persson provided an outline for the workshop, which he says is needed for the Town Commission to approve or disapprove the Islandside application.

To approve the application, Persson says the commission must:

•Amend a 1979 open space agreement to allow the uses the club is contemplating.

• Amend a final judgment order to allow guests at the proposed five-star hotel to utilize the Islandside golf facility.

Persson also states in a letter dated to the commission on Tuesday, Feb. 9 that the commission can approve an amendment to the Outline Development Plan by finding that:

• The application is consistent with the town’s Comprehensive Plan and current land development regulations.

• The conditions of approval sufficiently mitigate adverse impacts of the development

• There is competent substantial evidence of record to support the findings of the commission and the conclusion it reaches.

For the commission to deny the application, Persson says the commission can do combinations of the following:

• Deny amendments to the open space agreement and judgment order.

• Find the application to be inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan and land town land development regulations.

• Find that the burden for justification of departures has not been met.

• Find that the criteria for granting the departures has not been met.

• Attach conditions to the approval to which the club will not agree.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].