Commission avoids rush to judgment on plans for new community center

A community center may or may not be part of Longboat Key’s future, but one thing is certain: The discussion about it will continue.

The Longboat Key Town Commission reached consensus at its March 15 workshop to direct Town Manager David Bullock to work with the St. Petersburg-based Wannemacher Jensen Architects Inc. to get a breakdown of the costs for moving forward in two phases with plans developed for Bayfront Park Recreation Center and report back to the commission for future discussion.

Bullock told the commission that the town’s land acquisition fund has just under $1.5 million, and the town is scheduled to receive approximately $3 million in infrastructure surtax for parks-and-recreation improvements over the next 15 years. The commission could also consider reallocating approximately $1 million set aside for improvements to streets and drainage and could also pursue matching grant opportunities and the possibility of funding from Sarasota County, which enlarged the park site when it bought the former Albritton property in 2007.

The town could receive an additional $3 million as compensation for loss of open space if the Longboat Key Club and Resort proceeds with its proposed $400 million redevelopment-and-expansion plan.

Commissioner Phill Younger (see sidebar) suggested moving forward in two phases, beginning with implementing plans for the park, while gathering input from residents about whether they want a community center on the property.

Mayor Jim Brown and Commissioners Jack Duncan and Lynn Larson agreed with the approach. But Commissioner Pat Zunz worried that the town could be missing out on the low building costs and interest rates in today’s economy. Vice Mayor David Brenner said, “All the polling in the world doesn’t mean a darn if citizens don’t know what’s going to go there.”

But Commissioner Hal Lenobel expressed skepticism that the community would use such a facility and described the discussed use of funds as a gamble.

The discussion ended after an hour and 50 minutes. But, technically, it’s been going on for much longer — off and on for the past 35 years. A request for the appointment of a committee to determine the need for a community center was forwarded to the Planning & Zoning Board for possible inclusion in the Comprehensive Plan in 1976. The idea of a community center came up at least twice — in 1982, following a transfer of density that created what is now Durante Park, and in 1996, when the commission refused to vote on a plan for a cultural community center at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts — before voters defeated a proposal for a community center at Bayfront Park Recreation Center in 2004.

Brown, who chaired the Community Center Advisory Committee in 2003 and 2004, emphasized the importance of finding out what residents want.

“I’m 100% in favor of this community center but I don’t want to shove it down anyone’s throat,” he said.

Younger: Back in action
On Thursday, March 15, Commissioner Phill Younger was back where he belonged: in his seat to the left of Town Manager David Bullock on the commission dais for the first time since an illness left him hospitalized for 20 days in February.

Younger stayed for the entire discussion before heading home.

“My very lovely wife and very harsh warden is in the back and my parole is up,” he said of his wife, Fanny.