New focus on deck for Longboat commissioner

Longboat Key Commissioner Jim Brown has no plans to sail into the sunset when his term ends in less than two months.

After 10 years in elected public office, including a four-year stint as mayor from 2011-2015, Brown will again step away from his seat in March. But he plans to remain active with the town, particularly when it comes to its proposed Arts, Culture and Education center.

Brown said he was tired, and it’s time to do “something fun,” coincidentally the name of his 72-foot Hatteras yacht, where he has made his home since December.

Brown’s spot on the commission will be taken by Mike Haycock, vice chairman of the Planning & Zoning Board. Haycock became Brown’s heir apparent when candidate Randy Langley dropped out of the election this month.

“I have been kind of looking for a way out,” Brown said. “I would not have resigned if it was just me and Randy running. I even considered resigning and having them appoint Mike. But that would be too controversial and put a blemish on the whole thing.”

Brown stepped away from elected life previously in 2015, running again for an at-large seat in 2017 and winning.

One of Brown’s first projects as a private citizen: formation of a citizens committee dedicated to raising money to build the town’s proposed Longboat Key Arts, Culture and Education center. Town leaders last week heard from Ringling College of Art and Design President Larry Thompson, who said raising the estimated $18 million for the project might be too ambitious. Ringling is the town’s partner in developing plans for the arts center.

Brown said the commission urged him to take the lead. 

“I have to talk to (Town Manager) Tom (Harmer) and others and organize this. I would like to get this back, organized and moving in the right direction.”

Besides forming the committee to raise money for the arts center, Brown said he plans to remain involved with the Longboat Key Foundation, the philanthropic nonprofit he helped start in 2013 with Dave Brenner and Tom Aposporos.

The 73-year-old retired architect, who spent his career in Virginia, got his start in town politics when he made a presentation to the commission opposing the rezoning of a parcel to residential because it seemed clear that it was meant to be part of the Publix shopping center. The town has since acquired the property as part of a town center concept. He was later appointed to the town’s Community Center Advisory Committee, and then, the Planning and Zoning Board before he ran unopposed in 2009 for the commission.

The Planning and Zoning Board “had always been a stepping stone to the commission,” he said.

During his time on the Planning and Zoning Board, Brown developed a reputation as someone who was not afraid to ask questions and think outside the box. He recalled a case before the board in which a restaurant owner proposed to build an outside seating area.

As part of the project, the owner wanted to put a temporary canopy over the seats but was told by the board he could not. Brown said he listened for an hour before raising his hand and asking if the board wanted the outdoor seating.

“I said, ‘Why don’t we make this happen, rather than tell him why he can’t do it. Why don’t we change the zoning?’

“They looked at me like you’re not supposed to change things like that. That’s how I got started.”

Through it all, Brown said his experience as an architect helped him succeed in local government.

“Architects are like orchestra leaders. You have to keep all of those people organized, happy and working together,” he said.

Brown says he won’t rule out returning to local government, possibly to where it began.

“There are people who are suggesting I go back on the Planning and Zoning Board,’’ he said. “I don’t know whether I will or not. I will consider it.”

Brown said the biggest problem facing the town is the continuing need to replenish its beaches. Finding high-quality sand is getting harder, and it’s getting expensive to truck in from the state’s interior, he said.

“We have to figure out a way to manage renourishment,” he said. “Phil Younger (former commissioner and current Planning and Zoning Board member) and I go to breakfast once a week. We’ve talked about having a pipeline in the center of the state. It might be cheaper than trucking. A lot of places are looking at it.

“We are unique because we pay for our own renourishment.”

Even though he plans to remain active with the town while enjoying his boat, which is docked at Longboat Key Club Moorings, he has not taken it out since December.

“I like the water and I like to fish, but this is more like an apartment,” said Brown, who has had boats since he was 7 years old. “That’s how I look at it.”

His biggest adjustment to life on a boat? His two Yorkies. One fell in the water shortly after he moved aboard.

“It’s having to take them on and off to go for a walk,” Brown said. “When I lived in a house, I would just open the door.”