Vision plan can be reviewed

Town Attorney David Persson said the Longboat Key Town Commission can review the town’s vision plan whenever it wants.

Last month, Town Manager Bruce St. Denis advised the commission he was going to hold off on scheduling a discussion at a future workshop for the town’s vision plan, which was created in 2007 with the help of input by 300 Key residents, until The Longboat Key Club and Resort’s Islandside renovation and expansion application was complete.

St. Denis made the decision after discussing the matter with Persson.

But Persson now wishes to reconsider his advice.

“It seems to me that while there is a potential danger of discussing specifics of the application, there are other considerations that might lead the commission to wish to begin discussion (on the vision plan),” Persson wrote in an e-mail to commissioners. “It appears to me that the commission is very sensitive and responsive to the requirements that the quasi-judicial process imposes, both collectively and individually. I believe that discussion could occur without violating anyone's rights so long as we are all vigilant.”

The commission reviewed the document, which contains a list of goals and objectives for the town for the next 20 years, but has never officially adopted the plan. Instead, it chose only to accept it.

The vision plan, the commission believes, needs more work because its action step timeline needs to be updated and some of the goals that have been completed can be removed.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].