- April 18, 2024
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Community leaders asked commissioners Monday to consider a new recreation center at Bayfront Park, one of the many requests made at the town’s annual goals and objectives meeting.
Longboat Key community leaders gather in Town Hall once a year by invitation from town commissioners to discuss what direction the town should take, and how it should spend taxpayer money, in the coming fiscal year.
This meeting, which included presentations from residential, business and environmental organizations this year, is designed as a means of providing the Town Commission with a better foundation for what its constituents want prioritized.
And although some organizations had niche requests — like the Garden Club asking for a fan at Joan Durante Park and Sleepy Lagoon residents proposing landscaping for the Public Works Building — many shared common objectives:
The town-operated park reopened last year after a redesign and renovation project that added tennis, basketball and pickleball courts, dog parks and a playground. But one thing remained unchanged: the recreation center.
The recreation center, moved there by former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort owner Murf Klauber, formerly operated as a tennis shack at the Far Horizons Resort, said Mark Richardson, streets, facilities and parks and recreation manager.
The building, which has about 1,350-square-feet of function space, was moved to where it now stands in the 1980s, Richardson said. It was donated to the town in 1994.
Residents in 2004 rejected a referendum proposing more than $6 million to build a new recreation center. That referendum failed with more than two thirds of voters opposing the reconstruction.
Commissioners were reluctant to agree with residents about the need to rebuild the recreation center Monday, citing the cost of such a project in addition to other expensive initiatives the town has undertaken. Those capital programs include putting all the town’s wires underground and designing a site for the proposed Arts, Cultural and Education Center at Town Center.
But residents were insistent that the building needs to be reconstructed, not just renovated.
“It’s not in keeping with the modern air of the park,” said Kiwanis President Steve Branham. “I wouldn’t want to invest my money into fixing it.”
The Longboat Key Federation of Condominiums suggested the Commission consider enrolling in a program that would allow residents to finance clean energy and storm protection improvements through their property tax bills.
This program allows owners to borrow money for a span of the useful life of any additions to their property, making investments into solar panels or storm shutters less of an immediate financial burden for residents.
Commissioner Irwin Pastor said he’s interested in this program and asked Town Manager Tom Harmer — who said he helped institute PACE when he worked for Sarasota County — to begin looking at what the town must do to be a part of it.
Residents encouraged the town to continue thinking about and investing in ways to alleviate traffic jams that often burden the island in the winter months.
Country Club Shore representatives asked for a center turn lane that would stretch the length of the island. But that request countered that of the Garden Club, which seeks to beautify Gulf of Mexico Drive with landscaped medians separating north and southbound traffic.
Longboat Key North, which represents about 800 residents on the north end of the island, asked the commission to consider a roundabout at the intersection of Broadway Street and Gulf of Mexico Drive.
The prospect of losing the Sarasota County Area Transit bus route for Longboat Key also irked some groups: Longboat Key Foundation chairman Jeff Mayers said the move was “counterintuitive” to reducing traffic impacts on the island.
Gail Loefgren, president of the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce, said at least 100 employees on the island would be affected by the loss of SCAT Route 18.
Longboat Key has strict codes about turtle preservation and short-term rental allowance — residents asked that the town give both careful attention.
Lynn Larson, a former commissioner representing Country Club Shores Unit 4, said enforcing rules that disallow short-term rentals should be a high priority for the town.
“With the investment we have in our homes, we want to protect our neighborhoods from weekly and nightly rentals,” Larson said.
Longboat Key Turtle Watch president Tim Thurman congratulated the town on its effort to increase education about protecting turtles with the Ringling College of Art and Design. Thurman asked town commissioners to consider “appropriate enforcement and citation” means to keep residents and visitors within with town rules.
Mayor George Spoll said he’s been having conversations with town staff about potentially hiring a second code officer to meet residents' requests for enhanced enforcement.
Multiple groups suggested that the town reconsider its rules for reconstructing sea walls on the island. As the rules are written, sea walls may only be rebuilt to six inches above the existing height. But for some residents, that's not enough to protect their yards against high tides.
There are anywhere between five and 10 applications for rebuilding seawalls per month, said Planner Steve Schield.
"These seawalls have been here for 50-plus years," former commissioner Larson said. "Design [the codes] that will allow citizens to protect their property."
