ULI final report draft still needs modifications

It’s not the final draft, but at least it’s something.

Right before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray received a draft of the Urban Land Institute study that commissioners have been seeking for weeks.

The $125,000 study was due no later than Jan. 31, and commissioners have grown frustrated they don’t have a final copy.

The final copy, though, is still in limbo.

Ray informed commissioners the draft they received is still requiring input from staff and commissioners before it’s sent back to ULI with revisions on Friday. A final copy will be delievered at a later date.

The draft copy reiterates much of what was already outlined by ULI officials at a public meeting in October.

The draft copy confirms the thought process of Mayor Jim Brown, Vice Mayor David Brenner and Commissioner Pat Zunz.

“They gave us all the information we need,” Zunz said. “There really won’t be anything new in the report that they haven’t already informed us about.”

Brown agreed.

“I’m not worried about it,” Brown said. “They told us all this information already.”

Brenner said the town already knew “what the content will be about.”

Ray has been trying to get a final copy of the study, even just an advanced electronic copy, for weeks.
ULI staffers informed Ray 10 days ago the report is at the printer, and they were seeking an aerial photo of Longboat Key for the report’s cover.

Commissioner Terry Gans, whose former career also involved publishing annual reports, told Ray at the commission’s Feb. 3 regular meeting that the news should have meant the report is ready.

Ray attempted to get that copy to no avail, and when the town still hadn’t received the report last week, Gans and other commissioners became more frustrated.

“I have to count to 10 and remind myself the value of the process and the final report is not determined or diminished by this very disappointing delay in ULI’s finalizing of the study,” Gans wrote in an email to the Longboat Observer. “ULI created the expectation that we would receive the report around the end of December, then January, then…Unless the contract we have with them provides a wide latitude, I believe we should negotiate an adjustment in the fee.”

Commissioner Phill Younger, who questioned spending money for the study to begin with, said ULI “has failed to deliver on a product we paid them for” in a timely manner.

“The fact they used the check-is-in-the-mail approach doesn’t speak well of their professionalism,” Younger said.

Commissioner Lynn Larson called the waiting “frustrating” and said she now questions whether the entire process “was a waste of time.”

Calls and an email to ULI officials regarding the report were not returned as of press time.

Ray said she has already found some errors in the report that need addressed.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]