P&Z approves club's code suggestions

The town’s Planning and Zoning Board approved all seven zoning code amendments proposed by the Longboat Key Club and Resort Tuesday, April 6, and will forward their recommendations to the Town Commission.

The zoning code amendments were proposed by club attorney John Patterson at a special board meeting at Temple Beth Israel to clarify legal questions surrounding the club’s Islandside renovation-and-expansion application.

The code changes will now be sent to the Town Commission for its review before being approved on first and second readings in May. If approved, hearings on the club’s $400 million project can reconvene in June.

The club is proposing a five-star hotel, meeting center, two new condominium towers, villas and a revitalized Islandside golf course.

When the planning board approved a code change that didn’t include hotels and hotel related-uses as non-accessory commercial development, it prompted Furen and approximately 30 IPOC members to promptly get up and leave the meeting.

Said Furen: “I have nothing further to say today. I realize this is clearly a waste of time.”

The code change means hotels and other accessory uses the club is proposing are allowed in planned-unit developments and are not subject to a 5% limitation on non-accessory commercial development of the gross area of a PUD.

For more information on the planning board meeting, pick up a copy of the April 8 edition of The Longboat Observer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].