- December 4, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
The next time you visit the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center, or the post office or even enjoy the town’s Freedom Fest activities on July 4, have a look around.
Notice something missing?
There, in the middle of Bay Isles Road.
Right next to Town Hall.
The trees. They’re gone.
Killed by wind and salt in hurricanes Helene and Milton, the tree remnants were removed in short order by the town’s Public Works Department, leaving mulched medians, sun-splashed pavement and a generally “something is missing but I can’t quite place it’’ appearance.
Now, the town is talking about what comes next and how to pay for it. One stumbling block, though: “we have no funding for it,’’ said Finance Director Sue Smith at the Town Commission’s final budget workshop last week.
“The medians, the trees all died, they really look terrible,’’ said Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman.
Before Town Commissioners broke for their summer hiatus from public meetings on June 27, they signaled their support for at least the beginnings of a plan to fix up the appearance from Gulf of Mexico Drive to the traffic circle adjacent to Temple Beth Israel.
“The idea here is to really re-beautify those medians, or beautify them — actually, they weren’t in great shape to begin with,’’ Brownman said.
Although the quarter-mile project would have to go out to a competitive bid, town officials are working with a plan that would cost an estimated $300,000 to complete. The most resilient of the landscaping plans calls for a mixture of trees and shrubs to be planted in the six medians.
Resilience is key, because the storms’ salt water is the prime suspect in the deaths of the previous trees, though Town Manager Howard Tipton said the condition of the trees before the storm wasn’t optimal.
“The trees that were lost were hurting already, the saltwater kind of put them over the edge,’’ he said.
In preliminary talks with landscape engineer David W. Johnston Associates of Sarasota, town officials learned a horticultural truism about color vs. greenery in leaning toward a palette of Florida-friendly species. The same company performed work for Longboat Key’s Town Center Green project as well.
“We did ask them to throw a little more color in there and they did point out that color tends to be more fragile,’’ Brownman said. “They did give us one option that was all color but we knew that could be wiped out in any given storm.’’
Among the species on the preferred concept are:
Although the Bay Isles Road project is not in the budget for which Town Commissioners set a maximum millage rate of 1.960 per $1,000 of property valuation last week, there may be a way to cover the estimated cost.
Smith explained to commissioners estimated funding initially set aside for hurricane repairs to the town’s four parks exceeded contractors’ estimates by $1.7 million — money that would ordinarily return to the town’s general fund reserves.
With assurances from contractors their estimates were dependable, town officials say they are confident in the figures and prepared to return the unused funding to the general fund. Commissioners signaled their support for the tree project and will likely present an amendment to the proposed budget when they return in early September to make the move official.
Money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is not eligible for this kind of work, commissioners were told. “They don’t do landscaping,’’ Commissioner Penny Gold joked.
Existing irrigation wells along the roadway will save some money on the project, and town workers also helped hold the line on the cost by removing the dead trees in-house, something that would been costly to contract for, said Brownman, the town’s former Director of Public Works.
“It was really great to see our streets team remove all the trees,’’ he said. “They closed the road and rerouted traffic in a very professional manner, I was impressed and I ran the group for seven years.’’
Planting work could begin shortly after approval, taking advantage of Florida’s rainy season. Freshly planted trees would need bracing for a short period against the wind.
Proper spacing of trees would allow for driving sight lines, and the Florida Department of Transportation recommends the maintaining of shrubs at no more than 3.5 feet for driver and pedestrian safety.
While the scope of the proposal encompasses the 1,300 feet or so between Gulf of Mexico Drive and the traffic circle, planning a second phase for the remaining half that intersects with Bay Isles Parkway and passes Town Center Green’s main parking area in the future makes sense, town officials said, adding the landscape architect also suggested the additional phase.
Consistency of design would be a plus, and it could create a seamless upgrade to what Town Commissioner Debra Williams called “our Main Street.’’
There was no initial estimate on what that project would cost.
“That would be the idea,’’ Brownman said. “At least get the design on paper to get it designed in a similar fashion until we figure out how to build those improvements out, either incrementally or in two phases.
From there, it’s possible to update the landscaping on other adjacent town-owned property including Town Hall and the Building, Planning and Zoning annex.
Ultimately, the section of town encompassed by Bay Isles Road and Bay Isles Parkway could present a consistent look as the center of town, Tipton said.
“The goal really is we’re trying to raise the game for Bay Isles Road,’’ he said. “What we want is if Bay Isles Parkway looks great, we want Bay Isles Road to look equally as great. Different trees, different approach, but really be first class.’’
Though a formal vote on the addition of the project and the means of financing it won’t come before Town Commissioners until their first public meeting after their summer recess, those who expressed a viewpoint expressed support.
“I would support it,’’ Williams said. “I know it’s probably going to be unpopular to say ‘let’s go ahead and spend $300,000 to do this,’ but I think it’s important for the look of the community. It is our Main Street, so I think we need to do it.’’
