News Briefs

+ New Publix store off to a constructive start
Construction work was under way Monday, April 9, just two days after Publix Super Markets Inc. closed its Longboat Key store to rebuild a new store by the end of the year. CVS, along with other businesses in the Avenue of the Flowers shopping center, remain open and accessible through Bay Isles Parkway.

+ Lido Shores home sells for $7.1 million
A home at 1255 Westway Drive in Lido Shores closed April 4 for $7.1 million. The transaction is the highest-priced real-estate transaction recorded year-to-date in Sarasota County.

Mark Huber, of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s Longboat Key office, represented the buyer in the sale. Linda Roe Dickinson, of the Palmer Ranch Michael Saunders & Co. office, was the listing agent.

The 6,618-square-foot, Gulf-front home has five bedrooms and six bathrooms and last sold for $8.9 million in November 2004 to James and Maryann Armour, according to Sarasota County property records. The name of the buyer was not immediately available.

+ Town seeks volunteers for boards
The town is seeking volunteers for its Planning & Zoning Board, Code Enforcement Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment and Citizens Oversight Tax Committee. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Monday, April 23 to the Office of the Town Clerk, 501 Bay Isles Road. For information, call 316-1999.

+ Buchanan seeks sand-source update
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Marine Fisheries Service inquiring about the status of a biological opinion the town had sought regarding finding an offshore sand source for beach nourishment related to the Port Dolphin project. Buchanan sent the letter April 4 seeking a status update and estimated timeline, after Town Manager David Bullock contacted a field representative for the congressman, writing that the town has “hit a bureaucratic cul-de-sac” with the NMFS office of the general counsel in St. Petersburg after four years of progress.

+ P&Z Board meeting canceled
The Longboat Key Planning & Zoning Board’s Tuesday, April 17 meeting has been canceled because no items were scheduled to be heard. The next P&Z Board meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 15, at Longboat Key Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.

Meetings & Agendas
• Goals & Objectives Workshop — 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 11
• Town Commission Regular Workshop — 2 p.m. Thursday, April 19
• Town Commission Regular Meeting — 7 p.m. Monday, May 7