Revitalization realization

A Sarasota County economic summit was held in January to discuss economic revitalization in the county’s towns and cities. Those in attendance stepped to the podium to give presentations on what their communities were doing to keep businesses and attract new ones.

Everyone except Longboat Key.

Former Longboat Key Mayor George Spoll attended the Jan. 19 meeting by himself, and Longboat Key was the only government entity present that had no PowerPoint presentation prepared about economic revitalization.

In fact, Spoll gave a brief speech from his chair, explaining that Longboat had no specific, official steps it was taking to try and spur economic development or revitalization.

Spoll, instead, listed projects and/or vacancies that were currently on the Key, using examples such as Whitney Beach Plaza and Avenue of the Flowers as developments that need revitalization.

“We’re rather passive in our approach,” said Spoll at the January meeting.

But that passive approach has done an about-face in the last three months.

The meeting led Spoll to explore why the town of Longboat Key has no economic revitalization committee and why the town isn’t doing more behind the scenes to spur economic revitalization or at least keep what it currently has in place.

The former mayor doesn’t think the town should be passive in that approach any longer.
Spoll, who recently completed six years of service on the Town Commission, is leading the charge with a newly formed Longboat Key Revitalization Task Force that began meetings Wednesdays starting last week at the Bayfront Park Recreation Center. The town, however, has not sanctioned the task force. But that’s not deterring Spoll.

“The public is clearly suggesting the town should be more pro-active, which is why I suggest it’s perfectly appropriate to seek out professional input from outside the Key on things that would be appropriate and ways to stimulate and revitalize commercial centers,” Spoll said.

The committee will work to keep what it has and get back what it lost.

And the group will also talk to developers who might have ideas on what needs to be done to revitalize aging shopping centers.

It’s a different approach than what other municipalities are doing, but Spoll believes it may be what’s appropriate for the Key at this time.

What other cities are doing
North Port Economic Development Manager Allan Lane said that Sarasota County’s largest city has a variety of economic activities that works to retain business, recruit businesses and assist businesses.
Marketing and branding North Port as a place to live and work also helps tremendously, Lane said.
“We see a direct relationship and benefit from our marketing effort for helping business retention as well,” Lane said.

Venice City Manager Isaac Turner, meanwhile, said its economic efforts over the past year included Tervis Tumbler committing to bringing 150 jobs to the area and investing $12 million into the economy.

“We work with the chambers of commerce and the county and continue to look and see how we can meet the needs of companies and businesses in our city,” Turner said.

Sarasota City Manager Bob Bartolotta said the city is a performance-based organization that has a list of 21 items that are meant to help the city through the economic downturn.

“We emphasize community partnerships and utilization of city assets,” Bartolotta said. “The only way we can survive is through partnerships.”

And the city’s greatest achievement, Bartolotta believes, is the city’s downtown business district’s willingness to tax itself an additional two mills, which are funneled back into the district for improvements.

But when other cities, towns and barrier islands along the coast were asked to comment on their economic revitalization efforts, they all confirmed they took more of a passive approach, like Longboat Key once did.
Sanibel Island City Clerk Pamela Smith said the island of approximately 6,400 residents, which is often compared to Longboat Key, has no effort in place.

“We are a small island town,” Smith said. “We don’t have anything like that.”

Cheri Cory, Manatee County’s director of neighborhood development services, said there is no revitalization or preservation effort in place to retain existing businesses on Anna Maria Island’s three cities of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach.

“We do give an incentive for retention, but it has to be related to some sort of a business expansion,” Cory said.

But Anna Maria Island may not need that sort of an effort, according to tourism numbers.

Anna Maria Island tourism tax dollars have risen every year since 2005. Tax dollars rose to $2.9 million during the 2010 fiscal year on Anna Maria Island.

Meanwhile, over the past five years, Longboat Key tourism tax dollars have only risen 12%. And in the last two years, tourism tax dollars have dropped 13% combined.

Those types of numbers, Spoll and others believe, paint a bleak picture.

But Spoll is quick to point out his newly formed task force isn’t interested in attracting new businesses.
“It’s clear we aren’t looking to provide jobs or put new businesses here,” Spoll said. “We are trying to
establish many of the amenities we once had.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]

Target Areas
Former Longboat Key Mayor George Spoll and the Longboat Key Revitalization Task Force hope to hold meetings with potential developers to see what kinds of ideas they have for revitalizing aging shopping centers and other areas of the Key. Some of the following areas will be discussed in meetings, which are closed to the general public.

• The north entrance of Longboat Key, which Spoll has stated can be just as attractive or more attractive than the south entrance.
• Whitney Beach Plaza and the potential for residential use above the plaza
• Creating a synergy along Broadway and the waterfront in the Longbeach Village
• Avenue of the Flowers
• Bay Isles Road/Avenue of the Flowers Town Hall center concept
• Bayfront Park concept plan
• Coming up with ways to retain or help existing businesses
• Finding ways to restore businesses the town has lost since 2000, including gas stations, restaurants, inns, etc.