Commission plans Islandside field trip

The Longboat Key Town Commission may be taking a field trip.

Islandside resident Shan Dinapoli sent an e-mail to commissioners Feb. 7, inviting them to visit to the site where she believes a new hotel proposed for Islandside will negatively impact the views of Sands Point and Lighthouse Point residents.

Commissioner Peter O’Connor declined the invitation, explaining that the town attorney advises against them against such action because it would be considered an ex-parte communication of the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s Islandside renovation-and-expansion hearing.

Although Town Attorney David Persson agreed with O’Connor’s assessment because all evidence must be introduced at the hearings, he said there are limited times when the commission could conduct a site visit.

But the visit can only be done at the direction of the commission and can’t involve conversation between residents and commissioners or among commissioners.

Persson’s Feb. 8 e-mail prompted Commissioner Gene Jaleski to ask the town attorney “to arrange such a field trip … in the spirit of complete and thorough examination of the complex questions confronting the commission.”

The town attorney is asking Jaleski to ask for such a field trip, if he wishes, when the commission reconvenes the hearing 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 12 at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].