This is the order by Judge Charles E. Roberts qaushing the Longboat Key Club development order with instructions on what the Town must do as a remedy.

Another top management position saw a major change as Planning, Building and Zoning Director Monica Simpson was placed on administrative leave and subsequently let go. According to Police Chief Al Hogle who was serving as the interim town manager at the time, the Simpson issue came to a light when a Planning, Zoning and Building [...]

The town manager has suggested that the town purchase the balance of the land that abuts the new Publix project. This would finally bring together the original thinking of Arvida and the town to make the entire area a town center with walkways, band boxes and more of the landscaping that has been done so effectively on the other side of the road in front of Town Hall — a true town center.

To keep Longboat Key a quality community requires the residents’ involvement. The town has been blessed with volunteers who have been hugely successful in their business life and who have offered their services gratis to help make the town what it is today.

Longboat Key at long last has a date with Publix. The town’s Planning and Zoning Board will consider the completed site plan and application for a redeveloped Publix and Avenue of the Flowers Shopping Center. The town is recommending approval of the plan after months of negotiating and working with the applicant to increase buffering and configure parking and other issues optimally.

Everyone remembers the old chestnut about a camel being designed by a committee, well from press reports it appears this was the method chosen by the new manager, Dave Bullock, to arrive at his decision on how to handle Monica Simpson, the now former head of the Planning and Zoning Department.

Cedars Tennis Resort received approval from the town Planning and Zoning Board to allow dining service on the patio beside the pool and at the outdoor tiki bar.

Opponents to the idea of a cell tower at the Longboat Island Chapel were disappointed the Town Commission voted 5-2 to make Comprehensive Plan changes eliminating height restrictions from the document that controls all land use policy on the key.

A new Publix may arrive on Longboat Key in time for Christmas 2012. Publix has submitted its application for consideration by the town for its development of the new town plaza. According to Town Planner Steve Schield, if the plan is approved by the Planning and Zoning Board and subsequently by the Town Commission, Publix will close in April 2012 and will remain closed through December 2012.

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.