Town to seek bids for zoning code review and Comp Plan

The Longboat Key Town Commission reached consensus to direct town staff to put out a request for proposals to determine the scope of work for a possible review of its zoning code and Comprehensive Plan at a Wednesday, April 11 workshop.

Commissioners heard a presentation in January from the not-for-profit Urban Land Institute, which proposed organizing a five-day panel of various professionals who could provide a report for a total cost of $125,000. The commission discussed the possibility of working with the ULI or a university, along with the option of soliciting bids from the private sector through an RFP.

Commissioner Phill Younger said he worries that the town would end up “paying for about four or five pages of useful material” and the rest “fluff.”

“It’s my opinion that you’re going to end up paying for about four or five pages of useful material and about 30 or 40 pages of fluff,” he said.

Commissioner Lynn Larson said that she would rather see the $125,000 proposed by ULI used for local groups, such as the Longboat Library, which requested a line item in the town’s budget at the Goals & Objectives Workshop held earlier that afternoon. She said that she was impressed with the recent north-end, community-based planning effort.

But Brown argued that they were “talking about apples and oranges.”

“What we’re looking for is someone to take a broad view of this Key and help us moving forward with advice about the steps we need to take,” he said.

Town Attorney David Persson told the commission that it could hire a non-profit, such as the ULI, immediately but would need to put the project out to bid if it wanted to hire a private firm. Commissioners discussed hiring a consultant but after listening to the discussion, Town Manager David Bullock, told them the town should issue an RFP.

“We just need to issue an RFP in the simplest and most straightforward way,” he said. “We don’t even know the description of the work a consultant would do.”

Before Brown asked for consensus, the commission heard from Islandside Property Owners Coalition President Bob White, who said that the “entire process was triggered by the court ruling,” referring to writ of certiorari granted to IPOC and the L’Ambiance and Sanctuary condominium associations in their challenge of the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s $400 million Islandside redevelopment project.
Brown, however, disagreed.

“What we’re talking about has nothing to do with the Key Club,” he said. “What we’re talking about is, should we hire a consultant?”

Five commissioners consented to move forward with an RFP. Vice Mayor David Brenner and Commissioner Phill Younger dissented.

The Key Club ruling triggered the discussion at the beginning of the year, with commissioners and town officials saying that the ruling highlights the need to clarify uses of planned-unit developments.

However, commissioners have expressed a larger concern that current codes will leave property owners with few options if they wish to sell and/or update aging structures built in the 1950s and 1960s, most of which became grandfathered, nonconforming structures with the passage of the 1984 Comprehensive Plan.