- July 19, 2026
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Only minutes after Sarasota Planning Board Vice Chairman Douglas Christy delivered a brief annual report to the City Commission — one in which he lamented a sometimes one-week notice to review voluminous documents in advance of their meetings — one new member was appointed and a current reappointed.
Ironically, the new member only had two days to review documents for the next Planning Board meeting, which was scheduled for Wednesday.
At its Monday meeting, the commission unanimously granted a second three-year term to the board’s most recent chairman, Shane Lamay, and replaced outgoing member Dan DeLeo, who didn't reapply for the position, with Tiffany Nisbet.
The commissioners' discussion leaned heavily toward applicant Rebecca Owens and her residence in the city’s District 1, the only of the city’s three districts lacking representation on the board.
In the end, though, commissioners favored Nisbet over Owens and other applicants Justin Bloom, Norman Schimmel and Marc Gauthier.
Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich suggested full city representation on the board brings added value, a mantle picked up by her fellow commissioners.
“The Planning Board is heavily weighted for District 2 residents,” Ohlrich said. “There’s one District 3 resident and zero District 1 residents. So, with that in mind, I would nominate highly qualified candidate Rebecca Owens, who lives in District 1.”
Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch agreed that equal representation across all districts has merit, but touted the qualifications of Nisbet and Bloom. Commissioner Liz Alpert also gave credence to district representation, but in the end leaned toward Nisbet.
“We have five really qualified nominees, so it was hard for me to narrow it down,” Alpert said. "There were three (commissioners) who mentioned Tiffany Nisbet, so I'm going to nominate Tiffany Nisbet."
With that, Nisbet was named to the board by affirmation.
This story was updated to correct that Tiffany Nisbet is the fifth member of the Planning Board.
