News Briefs

+ CDD to host information center acquisition meeting
Lakewood Ranch supervisors are starting a conversation about purchasing the Summerfield Information Center.

Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 1 supervisors will host a public meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 3, at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, to obtain public input on the information center and potential uses for the property, if the building’s owner, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, decides to sell it in the future.

The information center currently is not for sale.

The Summerfield Information Center, at 6310 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Lakewood Ranch, currently houses Lakewood Ranch Community Activities Corp. offices, and representatives of SMR, who provide information on the community from that location.

+ PDQ opens for business
The area’s newest drive-thru restaurant at the northwest corner of Lena Road and State Road 70, just east of Interstate 75, is open for business.

Patrons will have the options to dine in, carry out or use the drive-thru. PDQ also offers catering services. It opened a restaurant in September on Tamiami Trail, in Sarasota.

The company has 19 locations in Florida.

+ Baugh can’t discuss the seven-story plan
District 5 Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh is making the rounds, meeting with residents and urging them to provide her input on any and all issues. Except one.

At a Nov. 11 Palm-Aire Country Club meeting, she warned residents there’s one issue she cannot discuss when she hosts a Town Hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1, at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, 8175 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Lakewood Ranch: changes to the University Lakes Development of Regional Impact.

Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch has requested changes to its University Lakes DRI that would allow construction of up to seven stories on the Lakewood Ranch Main Street parcel (see page 1).

The Manatee County Board of County Commissioners will address the agenda item at its Oct. 2 meeting.
But because the agenda item is a quasi-judicial matter, Baugh can listen to resident concerns, but she cannot respond to residents before the matter is heard.

Said Baugh: “I know you want my input on it, but you’ll have to wait until Oct. 2.”

Meetings & agendas
Council of Governments Meeting — 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 30, at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, One Haven Blvd., Palmetto

Manatee County Board of County Commissioners Land Use Meeting— 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 2, at the County Administrative Center, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton