As we look at the future of Longboat Key there are clearly two directions we can take. The one favored by the current commission appears to be toward more development, that is, high-rise condo-tels and tourist towers similar to what has befallen other Florida beach communities. The other direction points toward a community similar to Casey Key, which is predominately private residences.

The judge in the case of the IPOC against the major expansion of the Longboat Key Club has been rendered and probably to no one’s surprise, the judge came down on the side of the residents. There are many facets to this decision but a basic one is the issue I have been pounding at from the beginning; how can the Town Commission allow an individual developer to come in and walk all over the great majority of the adjacent landowners when the codes say otherwise?

Florida Circuit Court Judge Charles Roberts called the entire effort by the Longboat Key Town Commission, including ignoring existing building codes and the town’s Comprehensive Plan, “a miscarriage of justice.” He is right. The commission did this in order to grant Loeb Partners the right to expand onto protected PUD (Planned Unit Development) land, and thus abridge the property rights of Islandside property owners for Loeb Partners’ exclusive profit.

Here are a few thoughts and predictions about the coming year on Longboat Key: 1. The trend toward replacing ageing beachfront homes with larger homes will continue in spite of the current economic downturn. Decades ago, farsighted commissions and dedicated residents pointed Longboat Key in the direction of becoming an exclusive seasonal retirement community. For the most part their dreams have been fulfilled.

Contrary to the constant incantations coming from the Town Commission and the LLSA Chamber of Commerce, the residents residing in the northern reaches of our community really would rather not rely on commercial developers or academics to tell us what we will or will not do with our real estate. When I read that the town does not have the money to include the residents in any north end development study, I think of the half million the town just spent for a lot adjacent to Bayfront Park. The current commissioners seldom use the word resident, preferring instead to dwell on commercial interests. Who pays the taxes?

I hope my initial impressions of Longboat Key’s new town manager are more prescient than Commissioner David Brenner’s previous evaluation of our town government. So far Commission Brenner’s positive evaluations have been shown, by later events, to be somewhat premature. To date Bruce St. Denis and Monica Simpson have been fired. I sincerely hope that our finance and utilities directors fare better. For the two former town employees, Commissioner Brenner’s positive evaluations have been oscvlvm mortis (the kiss of death).

The Longboat Observer is conducting a straw ballot that is trying to throw light on how the citizens feel about the proposed cell tower adjacent to GMD on the property of the Longboat Island Chapel. These are legitimate questions but unfortunately straw votes are about the worst way you can go about getting the right answers. Straw balloting along with referendums is a lousy way to govern.

Last evening our commissioners spent more than $425,000 to purchase a piece of land adjacent to Bayfront Park. I believe this was an unwise expenditure that accomplishes little, when the money could have been spent to enhance our community’s attractiveness to visitors and perspective residents in more effective ways. Instead, we hear claims by the commission that a large project at Bayfront Park will somehow contribute to the island’s welfare.

If what I am witnessing at recent Planning and Zoning Board meetings is the best this community can do, then perhaps it is time to do away with such a hopelessly biased institution and seek management of the town’s affairs elsewhere. The PZB has deteriorated to being a group of appointees who are there because of who they know.

“The more we know” is a recurring theme in my efforts to add to the community conversation. I have contended for decades that small town government lacks the resources to find optimal solutions to community challenges such as our communications infrastructure, our pension plans funding and our beach management practices. Many of these challenges are technologically complex even for much larger communities with departments of specialized workers.