2015 Issues to Watch: Town Center

People go to the Bay Isles area to do grocery shopping, fill prescriptions or take advantage of the Longboat Key Library or Longboat Key Public Tennis Center. And once they’ve accomplished their mission, they typically get in their vehicles and leave.

Arvida Corp. succeeded in its vision for developing the Key, but one part of that vision has not yet come to fruition: a completed town center in the Bay Isles area where local government facilities, shops and social spaces would be located. A completed town center concept would change that.

“Right now, this place is asking you to leave,” said Evan Johnson, urban planning project manager at Tindale-Oliver & Associates Inc., at a Dec. 18 public workshop. “There’s no reason to stay.”

In 2015, residents could come one step closer to having a reason to stick around in the Bay Isles area after they’ve purchased their groceries or played tennis.

The town has hired Tindale-Oliver to create concepts for a walkable, mixed-use environment at the center of the community. Over the next six to eight months, members of the community, stakeholders and a steering committee will develop master plans for three development scenarios.

The first phase of the project will include steering committee meetings, public workshops and Longboat Key Town Commission meetings. The commission will receive a master plan report in April. At that point, the second phase will begin, which will consist of developing a zoning overlay district to implement the master plan concept.

Past development of the Bay Isles area has occurred piecemeal, which wasn’t the intention of Arvida.

“The area was to be the central gathering space for the community, where residents and visitors could interact with their government, take in a small cultural activity, enjoy a good meal, shop, stroll along attractive walkways, or just get together for a cup of coffee,” according to the town’s website, longboatkey.org.

Residents offered suggestions about what they would like to see at a town center.

George Spoll said the Key needs meeting space.

“We have resorted to using facilities of churches and the temple, and a flexible black box that could be used for larger crowds is a valid point, I believe,” Spoll said.

Real estate broker Joe Daniels said at the workshop that luxury senior housing developer Watercrest Senior Living Group is interested in being part of a future town center.

Commissioner Pat Zunz expressed support for senior housing in the area.

“People who want to give up driving in a car would have something right there, so I would hope that it could someday be looked at,” she said.

Although the town is a key player in creating a town center, its role is limited to planning — not building or developing.

“This is about finding ways to entice the private sector,” said Johnson, who said the public and private sectors would have to work together to make a town center a reality.

A report by an Urban Land Institute panel that suggested completion of a town center concept invigorated discussions about the possibility in late 2013. In March 2014, the town purchased a parcel of land adjacent to Longboat Key Publix for $1,508,000 to jumpstart the process.

The report on the town’s website expresses optimism about the potential for the concept following the acquisition of the property.

“This is the final piece that will tie the area together,” it states. “With the purchase of the property completed, the town is moving forward to bring to fruition the community’s vision of a true town center concept.”

FACTS FOR ’15
The issue: The town continues to gather public input for a future town center in Bay Isles.

Why you should care: If the concept comes to fruition, residents will finally have the central gathering space many say the Key lacks.

Timetable: A final town center master plan is expected to be completed in April.