Summer meetings could be on horizon

The town of Longboat Key’s two most prominent bodies must decide whether to hold special meetings this summer — during a time when meetings are usually not held because many residents are gone — to expedite Comprehensive Plan amendments relating to the Longboat Key Club and Resort Islandside renovation-and-expansion project.

The state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is expected to respond to Longboat Key Comprehensive Plan amendments relating to the Islandside project by May 20.

DCA is expected to respond to the town’s submittal with its Objections, Recommendations and Comments (ORC) Report, which Longboat Key Planning, Zoning and Building Director Monica Simpson says marks the start of the adoption process.

In a May 13 memo, Simpson explained to planning board members that her staff is already addressing potential concerns by the DCA. The response to the DCA could be brought to the planning board for review at its 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 21 regular meeting.

But if the response cannot be completed in time for the June meeting, the planning board decided May 16 that it’s willing to hold special meetings in June, if necessary, to review the amendments. Now it’s up to the Longboat Key Town Commission to decide if it wants to hold meetings in July and August to review the amendments.

Simpson said the special meetings would not violate a town policy mandating that meetings regarding development and land-use applications not be held in July or August.

“If the town decides not to proceed with public hearings in July and August, then the final adoption of the ordinance for the amendments would most likely occur at the Dec. 5 (Longboat Key Town Commission) regular meeting,” Simpson wrote in her memo. She said that the commission would have to review the amendments at a workshop and at a first reading before the final adoption.

But if the town decides to hold public hearings this summer, the Town Commission could adopt the amendments as early as its 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12 regular meeting. That timeline would require the commission to hold a special meeting in August for first reading.

The amendments have been in the works since last year and are being drafted by the town to clarify the uses and densities allowed in the future land-use categories of the Comp Plan.

The amendments come in response to the DCA’s ruling in October. DCA ruled that an ordinance amending parts of Longboat Key’s code — before the Town Commission approved the Islandside renovation-and-expansion project  — was partly inconsistent.

DCA made the ruling after IPOC filed an administrative appeal in July that challenged the code changes the Town Commission approved in May 2010. 

The town wants to clarify that those non-residential uses and densities are allowed by the plan and currently exist in town planned-unit developments. The town is also clarifying that planned developments allow for tourism uses and are setting standards for additional height allowances in planned developments.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].