Longboat sets June 22 date to reopen more facilities

Pickleball players, you might want to start stretching those muscles.

Longboat Key is planning to reopen its public Bayfront Park courts on June 22,  with restrictions, along with the park’s hard-court tennis facilities, its basketball courts and playgrounds there and at Joan Durante Park.  Town Manager Tom Harmer's executive order, dated today, indicates at least one of the restrictions will be the number of courts in use. 

Bayfront Park features three regulation pickleball courts and a pair of hard-court tennis courts, one of which is marked for pickleball use and equipped with a pair of rollaway nets.

The newest executive order from Harmer further rolls back closures and restrictions set in place as part of the town’s March 23 state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Bayfront Park Recreation Center building will remain closed, the order says. A re-evaluation of Harmer’s latest executive order is expected on June 29.  All town facilities, including Town Hall, remain closed to the public, though contact with town employees can be arranged via phone, digital communications or by appointment.

The town earlier this month also indicated it would consider permit applications for public events of 10 people or less. The pickleball courts, which opened last winter, often attracted dozens of players before pandemic concerns arose. 

The town’s Public Tennis Center, beaches and parks closed in mid-March to help control the spread of COVID-19, and began reopening in early May as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis statewide reopening protocols. Access to the town’s beach parking areas and Quick Point Park opened on June 1.

The Town Commission has been meeting virtually since March, and the town’s Planning and Zoning Board resumed its meetings, also virtually, earlier this month.

One more commission meeting is scheduled June 30, virtually, before the commissioners begin their summer break until September.

Sarasota reopened parks and courts this month.