Town Commission reviews Colony today

The Longboat Key Town Commission will review a 67-page report from Building Official Wayne Thorne and a recommendation from Town Manager Dave Bullock that requests existing units at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort site be torn down.

The recommendation will occur after the commission’s 1 p.m. regular workshop today at Town Hall.

Bullock notes the buildings are a nuisance and a threat to the health and safety of the general public during a storm. Bullock is suggesting Colony structures be torn down as a condition to the property keeping the grandfathered tourism units on the site.

The recommendation is being met with opposition from Colony unit owners.

At the meeting, the commission will also review another request from the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association to ask for another extension of the grandfathered tourism-uses at the shuttered resort.

The resort contains 237 tourism units on 18 acres. But, because the hotel and resort buildings were built before the town created its tourism resort commercial classification, which only allows for six tourism units per acre, 129 of the resort’s 237 units are considered grandfathered, or, legally non-conforming. Without the extension, 129 of those units can’t be rebuilt on the property.

At its regular workshop today, commissioners will also review and discuss:

• A request for the temporary closure of Broadway from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. Saturday for a Longbeach Village Holiday Parade.
• Public alleys and the bay access points in Longbeach Village.
• A report on the condition of the town’s canals.
• A proposal from Sarasota County to provide public dispatch services for the town.
• Freezing the Police Officers’ Retirement System pension plan and creating a new pension board.
• Modifying town board and committee email policies through a resolution.
• Current revisions of the Comprehensive Plan and land development code.

For more information on today’s meetings, check www.yourobserver.com and pick up a copy of next week’s Longboat Observer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].