News Briefs

+ Town Hall to close for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Longboat Key Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road, will be closed Jan. 19, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Trash collection will not be affected. Town Hall will reopen at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20. The Longboat Key Town Commission’s regular Monday workshop has been rescheduled to Jan. 20 due to the holiday. For information, call 316-1999.

+ Amore by Andrea opens for lunch
Amore by Andrea is now open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“It has been our intention to offer lunch since we opened the restaurant in November,” said proprietor W. Howard Rooks in a news release. “We never expected that we would be able to do it this soon, but the response of diners, especially those on Longboat Key, has made it possible to put our lunch plans into action now.”

Rooks and executive chef Andrea Bozzolo opened the restaurant Nov. 13 in the building at 555 Bay Isles Parkway, where the former Mattison’s Steakhouse at the Plaza was located until 2008. The restaurant features 260 indoor and outdoor seats.

+ New Pass dredging to begin this week
A dredge arrived this week in New Pass for a city of Sarasota project that will bring new sand to Lido Key. Approximately 165,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged from the ebb shoal in New Pass.

The renourishment is an interim project meant to bring more sand to Lido Key until a larger project is approved. The project is slated for completion in February or March.

Meetings & agendas
Town Commission Regular Workshop — 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20

Barrier Island Elected Officials Regular Meeting — 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21

Consolidated Retirement System Board of Trustees Regular Meeting — 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30

Longboat Key Town Commission Regular Meeting — 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2

All meetings take place at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road, unless otherwise noted.