Town wants community input on island vision

The town of Longboat Key has received six proposals from community consultants who are willing to review the town’s current codes and engage in community-wide discussions on where the town is headed.

The town put out a bid for request for proposals in May to find a consultant to help the town through an analysis and an objective review of existing town conditions.

“It’s a plan to review current codes with the community and encourage public discussion,” said town attorney David Persson. “It will help focus the town.”

In April, the Longboat Key Town Commission reached consensus to direct town staff to find a community consultant after commissioners rejected a proposal from The Urban Land Institute to organize a five-day panel of various professionals at a cost of $125,000.

The town-hired consultant who’s selected will spend more time looking at all aspects of the community and hold no less than 10 community meetings to discuss everything about the island, including its residential and tourism aspects.

“The town had a mindset and a policy that worked well until the Longboat Key Club’s application came along,” Persson said. “Times have changed; there’s more of an attitude to redevelop, and this process helps lay everything out for us in that regard and in other regard while gathering public input.”

The five main areas of concern that the hired consultant is expected to review are residential, tourism, commercial, marketing and zoning.

“The goal is to see what we should be looking at in the future and if our codes and our Comprehensive Plan are set up to support those ways of thinking,” said Town Manager Dave Bullock. “A big part of that is what does Longboat Key want to be? How do we get there? And who do we want to attract?”

Longboat Key commissioners are hopeful the consultant will help formulate how the town wants to redevelop properties in the future. Although a voluntary rebuild ordinance on the island allows properties to redevelop to their current size, commissioners have noted that tourism properties that want to redevelop are looking for larger square footage in today’s market to compete with other rental properties.

Once a consultant is picked and community meetings are held, there will be follow-up meetings to discuss the consultant’s findings and get feedback on the issues.

Consultant Questions
A consultant hired to review the town’s current codes and engage in community-wide discussions on where the future of the town is headed must help answer a myriad of questions, which include:
• What methods should the town use to sustain its unique residential character and quality of life?
• How important is tourism to our local economy?
• Given the seasonality of demand, can we expect businesses to thrive or to barely survive?
• Do we need to do a better job of marketing the island, and, if so, how should we do it?
• Is our land-use plan and allocation of zoning consistent with our objectives for achieving a mix of mutually supporting uses and activities?