Town will reduce planning board in May

The town of Longboat Key has crafted a plan to reduce the size of the Planning and Zoning Board from nine members to eight members.

In an April 22 email to the Longboat Key Town Commission, Town Manager Dave Bullock said a commission will review the ordinance that approved the reduction of the board on first reading at its 7 p.m. May 4 regular meeting.

The deadline for applicants to apply or reapply for their board seats is at noon on May 11.

The commission will then hold an 11 a.m. May 18 Meet and Greet with all applicants following a budget workshop. Later that day, the commission will hold a 1 p.m. special meeting May 18 to certify results of a mail-in ballot referendum and will then approve the seven-member planning board on second reading and select the new seven-member planning board at the same meeting.

The next day, the commission and the new planning board will hold a joint workshop at 9 a.m. May 19 to discuss issues and code and land development code revisions. All current planning board members and applicants for the planning board will receive information for the joint workshop that will be made available to them on May 12 in the event they are chosen to serve on the board and will be up to speed and ready to attend the meeting the day after they are appointed.

At its Monday regular workshop, the Town Commission gave unanimous consensus to whittle down the membership of nine planning board members to seven members.

The decision was made after much discussion the past couple of years by both the commission and the planning board, which has been described as “unwieldy” in its current form.

The original plan was to reduce the planning board in June but an expedited plan allows the board to be changed before the joint workshop next month.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].