Luckiest P&Z Board members could be niners

The luckiest of the lucky seven individuals who are selected for a seat on a reduced Planning and Zoning Board could get nine years in their seats.

Wrestling with the news that some longtime planning board members were upset with the commission’s decision to implement term limits, the Longboat Key Town Commission modified its decision to reduce its planning board at its Monday night regular meeting.

Last month, the commission gave unanimous consensus to whittle down the membership of nine planning board members to seven members. The decision was made after much discussion the past couple of years by both the commission and the planning board, which has been described as “unwieldy” in its current form. 

The commission previously agreed to a term limit of two, three-year terms for a term limit of six years of total service for the new board members but backtracked on that decision Monday.

Commissioner Jack Daly said he changed his mind on the term limits and now thinks  they are a bad idea. 

“Every year, the commission has an opportunity to review expired terms and consider applicants,” Daly said. “I agreed with term limits last time, but now I’m of a mind the present system is better as proposed here.”

Key resident and former mayor George Spoll agreed. 

“The commission has the responsibility of putting the very best people into place with experience and capability to handle planning and zoning issues,” Spoll said. “I think it’s an act of cowardice on a commission that enacts term limits. You have the option every time a person’s term limit comes up to remove them and fill the seat with someone else.”

Commissioner Phill Younger suggested three, three-year terms, and the suggestion gained traction.

“That’s nine years and that’s a long time,” Younger said. “Call it an act of cowardice or not, but unless there’s an overwhelming reason to take them out, it’s human nature not to make that move (to remove them).”

Town Attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale will work to revise the ordinance before second reading next month that includes a suggestion by Younger that once the seven members are elected, their names will be placed in a hat, and the first three members drawn will receive three-year terms. The next two names will receive two-year terms, and the last two members will receive one-year terms that won’t count toward a member’s ability to still have a full three three-year term. 

The terms need to be staggered when the board is created so all members aren’t up for terms at the same time to create continuity on the board.

Town Clerk Trish Granger said every current member of the planning board has reapplied for a seat so far except Al Hixon and Walter Hackett. 

The deadline for applicants to apply or reapply for seats is at noon May 11. 

The commission will then hold an 11 a.m. May 18 Meet and Greet with all applicants. Later that day, the commission will hold a 1 p.m. special meeting May 18 to certify results of a mail-in ballot referendum and will then approve the seven-member planning board on second reading. Commissioners will then select the new seven-member planning board at the same meeting. 

The next day, the commission and the new planning board will then hold a joint workshop at 9 a.m. May 19, to discuss issues and code and land development code revisions. 

All current planning board members and applicants for the planning board will receive information for the joint workshop that will be made available to them May 12 in the event they are chosen to serve on the board and need to be prepared to attend the meeting the day after their appointment. 

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].