Arts Center meeting takes place today

The future of the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a Division of Ringling College of Art and Design will be the focus of a neighborhood meeting that will take place this afternoon.

The Arts Center is seeking an amendment and extension of its existing site plan, which was approved in 2003, four years before the Ringling College and the Arts Center merged. According to a letter to the town’s planning staff from Tracy Wagner, Ringling’s vice president of finance and administration, the Arts Center proposes a four-phase plan, beginning with the demolition of its ceramics wing, removal of its outdoor kiln, and wayfinding improvements by the end of this year. The second phase would include moving a small cottage on the property and connecting it with a covered walkway, and the third phase consists of parking, landscaping and site renovations. The final phase would commence in 2016 with the completion of a new, two-story building that could be used for flexible retreat space.

Ringling will likely submit an application for a site-plan amendment to the Planning Zoning & Building Department in March.

Today’s meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Arts Center, 6960 Longboat Drive S. For information or to RSVP, call 383-2345.

For more information, pick up a Feb. 23 copy of the Longboat Observer.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].