Future of Zoning Board rests with commissioners

Four of the five members of the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment held a meeting Jan. 9 to approve a variance for a dock.

Edward and Terry Kolodzieski received a dock variance of 52 feet for property located at 6550 Bayou Hammock Road. But they had to wait 10 months to obtain that hearing.

That’s because it was the first time the ZBA has obtained a quorum to hold a meeting. The attendance issue means the future of the ZBA and its members are in doubt.

After the meeting, Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray and Senior Planner Steve Schield apologized to the Kolodzieskis for the long delay in receiving the dock variance.

Ray told the Longboat Observer after the meeting she “never wants to have happen what happened with this applicant.”

Ray said another applicant, Diane Goll, who was seeking a variance to build a home on a small lot, gave up after she was not granted a hearing. She ended up not buying the lot.

“That’s not the kind of service we want to be known for in this department,” Ray said.

The Longboat Key Town Commission doesn’t think so, either.

It gave Town Manager Dave Bullock and Town Clerk Trish Granger direction in November to place a referendum question on the March ballot that would ask voters to decide if the ZBA should be eliminated.

The duties for the board could be transferred to the Planning and Zoning Board.

But commissioners learned Jan. 6 that the town missed a Dec. 31 deadline the Sarasota County Elections Office required to provide ballot language for the referendum question.

The commission will discuss the issue and how to proceed at its Jan. 21 regular workshop.

Complicating matters further, there are two seats that still need to be filled on the ZBA, and, despite several attempts to fill the seat with advertisements from the Town Clerk’s office, the seats remain vacant.

In the meantime, Ray said a solution is in the works that will eliminate the issue of applicants having to rely on ZBA members to reach a quorum to hear an issue.

At its Jan. 21 meeting, the P&Z Board will review an ordinance that recommends its members review any ZBA hearings if ZBA board members can’t attain a quorum.

“That alleviates my concern,” Ray said. “It gives applicants due process with either one board or the other.”

ZBA board members declined to discuss the fate of their board after the Jan. 9 meeting.

“All we can do is carry out our duties as board members,” said zoning board member Gaele Barthold, who chaired the Jan. 9 meeting. “We can’t worry about what might happen.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]