Costs incurred by Key Club hearing

MELISSA REID
Staff Writer
mreid@lbknews.com

Town Commissioner Gene Jaleski expressed concern this week about the associated costs of the upcoming Planning and Zoning Board meetings regarding the Key Club’s Islandside redevelopment plan, specifically the change of venue from town hall to the Temple Beth Israel.

Jaleski wrote to Town Manager Bruce St. Denis, “Bruce, what have the taxpayers spent to date on the Key Club application including staff time, staff comp., time, rent for the Temple, AV equipment rental including employees, advertising in the newspapers, your time and all other incidental costs…Perhaps we might consider transferring all of the above costs to the developers who stand to reap handsome profits from whatever concessions they get from the community.”

St. Denis replied to Jaleski in an email stating that typically the town incurs the cost of the hearings, but that the Key Club, the town and Islandside Property Owners’ Coalition (IPOC) have agreed to split the cost of renting the temple for the upcoming meetings. IPOC is the group that has hired attorney Mike Furen to represent condominium owners living within the Key Club.

The Key Club has also spent its own money advertising in one of the local papers for its redevelopment plan, and IPOC has spent money advertising in the newspapers as well.

The town’s Planning and Zoning Board will be considering several of the town’s codes on April 6, specifically if they need to be clarified when it comes to the Key Club’s redevelopment project.

The Planning and Zoning Board will hold a meeting Tuesday, April 6, at 9 a.m. at the Temple Beth Israel on Longboat Key to review seven of the town’s codes as suggested by the Longboat Key Club at the previous Town Commission meeting. The commission voted to send the Key Club proposal back to the Planning and Zoning Board when the Key Club’s attorney, John Patterson, suggested that if there were further clarification on the seven codes, then there would be no more confusion on either side regarding whether the Key Club’s plan should be approved.

Key Club attorneys are hoping the code clarifications will eliminate code ambiguities and move the project forward to a Town Commission vote while eliminating many of the legal challenges presented by attorneys for IPOC, which opposes portions of the project. IPOC considers the town code already clear, and that any attempt to clarify is simply an attempt to change the code to accommodate the Key Club’s plan.

IPOC President Bob White wrote an email this week to the town commission expressing the concerns the group has with the code clarification process. White wrote, “The proposal to alter the town’s zoning/building codes should not be predicated on reviewing only the codes governing the GPD. If the commission determines that a review of the code is advisable this review should include all of the code, not just that which is applicable to the GPD. While there may well be elements of the code and comprehensive plan that need to be clarified; relaxed is another matter entirely.

Changing the code and/or Comprehensive Plan to allow the undermining of the key’s residents’ longstanding desire to remain a primarily residential community would be folly of the first magnitude.”

Other residents such as Francis Robinson and Charles Rosen have written letters to the town expressing concern that the town should not change its code for one applicant. Others stated at the previous commission meeting that if the town reviews its code, any changes should be made town-wide and not just for the one development.

The board will review the Key Club’s code amendment request for its Islandside redevelopment project the entire day Tuesday, and if the board is not finished and another meeting is needed, they will meet Thursday, April 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.