Commission warns Colony parties

The Longboat Key Town Commission didn’t mince words last night when the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort parties appeared at the meeting to give a status update.

Commissioners expressed frustrations about the lack of progress in resolving the longstanding dispute between the parties. Both Vice Mayor David Brenner and Commissioner Jack Duncan warned the parties that if they don’t see progress by Dec. 31, they would vote against extending a tourism abandonment requirement that could result in the property losing more than half of its units.

The purpose of the hearing was solely informational. The March status update was a condition the commission set when it extended a continuance of the town’s tourism abandonment requirement for the Colony to Dec. 31, 2012. Without the extension, the 237-unit, 18-acre property could have been limited to six units per acre on Aug. 15, 2011 — exactly one year after the resort closed — because were built on the property before related town code’s were written.

Town Attorney David Persson suggested that the pressure was on for all parties.

“They’re all in the same bath tub and the water is getting hotter and hotter,” he said.

For more information, pick up a March 8 copy of the Longboat Observer.