Bayfront Park: A Community Concept

The latest plans for Bayfront Park include a community center with an activity room and community room, each with 3,000 square feet, along with a 2,000-square-foot exercise room and, possibly, a rooftop terrace. The park property itself would have a kayak beach launch, community garden, multi-use active recreation area and sports court and the potential for an off-leash, dog-play area.

Architect Lisa Wannemacher, of the St. Petersburg-based Wannemacher Jensen Architects and who also designed the concept for the proposed community center in 2004, presented the concept plan at a Jan. 18 community workshop. She told the approximately 50 people in attendance about the Largo Community Center, a facility that Wannemacher designed primarily for a senior population, which could serve as a model for the Longboat Key facility. Every day that community center comes alive with activities such as Wii tournaments, line dancing, card games and art classes.

Residents had their suggestions, as well.

One resident wanted an area for coffee. Wannemacher said that a kitchenette was a possibility for the proposed rooftop terrace.

Another resident suggested pickleball courts.

“What is pickleball?” several attendees asked.

“It’s fast and it’s furious and you’ve got four people playing on a court at the same time,” the man said of Pickleball — which has a large following at the Anna Maria Island Community Center.

Resident Beverly Shapiro told the Longboat Observer after the meeting that she would like to see a place where support groups could meet to help residents cope with issues such as the loss of a spouse. She remembered one such group in her former home of Marblehead, Mass., that saved the life of a woman who was suicidal.

Chuck Fuller said he liked the proposed plans for the kayak launch.

And Jackie Salvino said that she just wants a facility where residents could meet, get to know each other and put politics aside.

Before the discussion of the current concept began, Mayor Jim Brown discussed the community center proposed in 2004 — the one that more than two-thirds of voters rejected issuing a $6.4 million bond for via a referenda vote. Brown, who in 2003 and 2004 chaired the Community Center Advisory Committee, spelled out the reasons that he believed this time around could be different.

The center of the issue
In March 2003, the Longboat Key Town Commission voted to appoint a citizens committee to develop plans for a community center on the Key after 592 citizens signed a petition in support of the idea. The petition was spurned in part by the fact that the Recreation Center building was falling into disrepair and residents had discussed off and on the possibility of a community center. About the same time, the Longboat Key Holiday Inn was slated to be torn down and turned into what is now Positano condominium. The hotel was the site of many community meetings and gatherings, so residents were concerned about future venues for large events.

At the March 2003 meeting, then-Vice Mayor Ron Johnson warned the fellow commissioners about past opposition over construction of a community center.

“Be aware,” he said, “there is a battle to come.”

Johnson told the Longboat Observer this week that he supported a community center at the time but felt that many residents felt otherwise.

“I listened carefully and the consensus I got was: ‘No way, Jose,’” Johnson said.

Johnson said that many residents didn’t want to pay for the facility because they already had access to the features proposed through their condominiums or memberships at places like the Key Club.

Sure enough, the battles heated up by September 2003, as residents debated what elements of the park could be sacrificed to allow for the larger building. The town’s Comprehensive Plan required a ball field on the island, and although it didn’t necessarily need to be at Bayfront Park, town staff found that moving the ball field would be a challenge. Residents became divided about the removal of a swimming pool from the plan, a decision that the committee reached in part because of the amount of space required by a pool and its maintenance and insurance costs.

By the time the committee voted to recommend a proposal to the commission in November 2003, the plan still called for sacrifices. The new 19,500-square-foot building that was proposed was so large that its construction would require the removal of a tennis court and basketball court from the property.

The committee promoted the proposed facility to voters throughout the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004, urging them to vote in favor of a $6.4 million bond referendum question to fund the community center. But in March 2004, 68.1% of voters said “no” to the question. Although they technically rejected the way to pay for the community center — rather than the community center itself — the question ultimately quieted debate for the short term.

“I’m still shocked,” Brown said after the 2004 vote. “But I’d like to keep going if we can.”

New life?
The ideas discussed at the Jan. 18 meetings were just concepts. But if those concepts are solidified into a plan the earliest date, voters could decide if they want to issue a bond to pay for them in a November referendum.

An “anti-Town Hall” mentality at the time of the last referendum vote helped to defeat the bond issue, Brown said.

But Brown said that much of the opposition at the time stemmed from the compromises residents were being asked to make at the time. They were working with a smaller site, requiring difficult trade-offs, such as the elimination of a tennis court and basketball court for a larger building. But the 2007 Sarasota County purchase of the Albritton property added 3.88 acres to the site, while last year’s purchase of the property formerly owned by Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber added another 0.71 acres to the property.
Although voters would have to approve a bond for the $7 million cost upfront, Brown said that funding sources are available to offset the costs that weren’t available in 2004, including $3 million from the Longboat Key Club and Resort, if its Islandside redevelopment plan moves forward, and Sarasota County Infrastructure Surtax funds.

“We’re now vetting everything we have and everything we’ve done to try to determine if what we want to do is the right thing,” Brown said.

A second community meeting is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 6, at the Rec Center, 4052 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Community Center Chronology
November 1976 — Ralph Hunter appeared before the Longboat Key Town Commission to ask for the appointment of a committee to determine the need for a community center, a request that was forwarded to the Planning & Zoning Board for possible inclusion in the Comprehensive Plan but ultimately died.

1982 — A transfer of density created what is now known as Joan M. Durante Park, which spurred discussion about the possibility of a community center on the property. Environmentalists and a political action committee opposed the idea, and the park’s use became passive recreation.

1994 — The town took over operations of Bayfront Park Recreation Center.

1996 — The Longboat Key Town Commission refused to vote on a detailed plan for a cultural community center at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, asking for a referendum instead.

Early 2003 — Citizens began circulating a petition in support of a proposed community center.

March 2003 — The Longboat Key Town Commission voted to create a citizens committee to explore the idea of a community center at Bayfront Park.

November 2003 — The Community Center Advisory Committee recommended a $5.9 million concept plan for Bayfront Park with a new, 19,500-square-foot building.

March 2004 — Longboat Key voters rejected the issuance of a $6.4 million bond for a community center via referendum vote.

March 2007 — Sarasota County finalized the purchase of the 3.88-acre Albritton property located adjacent to Bayfront Park Recreation Center.

May 2009 — The town and Sarasota County created a new park concept with input from residents.

May 2011 — The commission voted to hire a design professional to combine the 2003 facility design with the 2009 park plan into a single prospectus plan.