Commission to discuss Publix plans Monday

The Lakeland-based Publix Supermarkets Inc. will shop its plan for a new Avenue of the Flowers store to the Longboat Key Town Commission at Monday’s regular meeting.

The commission is scheduled to discuss on first reading and public hearing three separate outline-development plan (ODP) amendment ordinances for plans for the site owned by Publix, along with two adjacent parcels currently owned by Bay Isles Enclave Acquisition LLC and W. Howard Rooks, which Publix is under contract to purchase. The commission will also hold a public hearing and discuss a resolution to approve a site plan amendment for the project. The Longboat Key Planning & Zoning Board recommended all three ODPs and the site-plan amendment at its Dec. 13 meeting.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9, at Longboat Key Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road. Also at tonight’s meeting, the commission will:

Discuss on closing action and consent agenda:
• The appointments of Michael Murphy as at-large trustee for the Firefighters’ Retirement System Board, Ron McDonough as at-large trustee for the General Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees and Peter Kasdan as at-large trustee for the Police Officers’ Retirement System Board;

• A resolution expanding a town pension-plan study to include the firefighter pension plan;

• A resolution opposing Florida House Bill 4025 and Senate Bill 760, which would eliminate Chapter 205 of Florida Statutes, which gives the town and other municipalities the authority to tax local businesses. The bills would effectively eliminate the town’s business-tax receipt program from which it derives approximately $165,000 in annual revenue;

• A resolution allowing a budget transfer of $36,284 to provide funding for a telecommunications study;

• A resolution establishing March 20 as the date of the Longboat Key general municipal election and providing for one week of early voting at Town Hall;

Discuss on first reading:
• An ordinance changing the time of Town Commission regular workshops from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Discuss on first reading and public hearing:

• An ordinance amending town codes to provide for alternative methods to meet requirements for landscape buffers in transition yards;

• An ordinance amending town codes to allow property owners six months to bring their landscaping into compliance in the event that their landscaping is involuntarily damaged or destroyed.
Discuss on second reading and public hearing:

• An ordinance providing for a budget transfer for a one-time payment approved by the Town Commission in December of $1,000 to all full-time employees, with part-time employees receiving a prorated amount;

• An ordinance passing through a Manatee County wastewater-rate increase to the town’s utility ratepayers.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].