News Briefs

+ Commission schedules beach meeting
Town Manager Bruce St. Denis has two special meetings planned for the Longboat Key Town Commission this month.

Susan Phillips, assistant to the town manager, confirmed the Town Commission would hold a special meeting at 9 a.m. Friday, May 27, to examine a peer review by Dr. Kevin Bodge, whom the town hired to review the town’s Comprehensive Beach Management Plan.

The commission asked for the peer review to get a second opinion about its beach plan to make sure it is still effective for the town.

The Town Commission will also hold a special meeting to discuss the Bayfront Park concept plan at 1 p.m. Friday, May 13.

+ Village peacocks deemed sanitary
The Longboat Key Town Commission asked staff to have the Manatee County Health Department look into possible health issues with the peacocks in the Village.

Thomas Larkin, environmental manager for the Manatee County Health Department, visited the Village May 2 and reported in an email that the peacocks aren’t considered “a sanitary nuisance.”

“In summary, I did not observe conditions created by the peacock bird population that represented a sanitary nuisance,” Larkin wrote in a May 2 email to Public Works Department Director Juan Florensa.

Commissioner Pat Zunz, a Land’s End resident, told Town Manager Bruce St. Denis the reason Larkin didn’t observe any unsanitary conditions is because the residents make it a point to hose down their walkways and driveways.

+ Retirement center concept gains traction
The Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board gave town staff direction at a special meeting Thursday, May 5, to allow a retirement community facility as a use for a town center overlay district Comprehensive Plan amendment it’s crafting for the area of Avenue of the Flowers and Bay Isles Road.

The planning board hopes an overlay district for the area would create a more vibrant town-center concept that would attract residents to the area and create a better sense of community for the island.

Meetings & agendas
â–º Planning and Zoning Board Regular Meeting — 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 17.
â–º Town Commission Regular Workshop — 1 p.m. Thursday, May 26.
â–º Town Commission Regular Meeting — 7 p.m. Monday, June 6.
â–º Zoning Board of Adjustment Regular Meeting — 9:30 a.m. Thursday, June 9.
â–º Code Enforcement Board Regular Meeting — 1 p.m. Thursday, June 16.

All meetings take place at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.