Briefs 9.12.13

+ Longboat Key police gear up for new vehicles
Longboat Key police will receive three new vehicles later this month.

Two of the vehicles will be SUVs, and one will be a patrol car. The vehicles will have a paint scheme similar to that of the police marine vehicle.

Marked police vehicles are replaced every two years, or about the time they reach 100,000 miles.

Police Chief Pete Cumming wrote in an email that he plans to order the second half of the department’s fleet in late October and expects delivery sometime in the late winter or early spring of 2013.

+ Mote researcher nominated for Indianapolis prize
Dr. Randall Wells, Mote Marine Laboratory senior scientist and program manager of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, is one of 39 nominees for the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s top award for animal conservation.

Other nominees include anthropologist Jane Goodall and conservation leader Carl Safina.

Wells began studying bottlenose dolphins as a highschool volunteer at Mote in 1970 and went on to receive his Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1986.

As director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, he oversees the longest-running study of a wild dolphin population. The program, which began in 1970, is a collaboration between the Chicago Zoological Society and Mote.

The pool of nominees will be narrowed down to six finalists who will be revealed in spring 2014. A winner will be announced mid-2014 and honored at the next Indianapolis Prize Gala, presented by Cummins Inc. The winner will receive $250,000; the five other finalists will each receive $10,000.

+ P&Z prepares for long meeting next week
The Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board has more than just a Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub application to review at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17.

The planning board will also review changes to its telecommunications ordinance and controversial amendments to its boat and trailer ordinance.

Meetings & agendas
• Town Commission Regular Workshop — 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16.
• Planning and Zoning Board Regular Meeting — 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17.
• Town Commission Special Budget Adoption Meeting  — 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23.
• Town Commission Regular Meeting — 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7.
• Zoning Board of Adjustment Regular Meeting — 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.
All meetings take place at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road, unless otherwise noted.