P&Z e-mail spat ensues

Planning and Zoning Board Chairwoman B.J. Webb sent an e-mail to the planning board and the Town Commission Tuesday, July 20, suggesting that fellow board member Bradford Saivetz might not be well suited for serving on a town board.

Referring to an opinion column Saivetz wrote for a local newspaper last week regarding the commission’s approval of the Islandside project, Webb wrote:

“For a P&Z member to be writing an article, pro or con, after a decision has been made by the P&Z and not even acknowledge he is a member of the P&Z Board is unseemly at best.”

Webb writes that being on a public body has certain public speaking restrictions and disclosure requirements.

Saivetz responded to the e-mail Tuesday, explaining in an e-mail that the project the commission approved was “a much different plan” than the one the planning board approved.

Wrote Saivetz: “Neither the new plan, nor the original one, were things that I was able to ‘debate from the dais.’ It is not in the best interest of this board, or any board, that the members are in lock-step with its chair (woman).”

For more information, pick up a copy of the July 22 edition of The Longboat Observer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].