Some north-end community center details emerge, others remain unknown

There are many parties involved in the plans for a community center on the north end of Longboat Key.

There’s a nonprofit, two governmental entities, a church and a community group all coming together in hopes of utilizing space at Longboat Island Chapel as a community center.

“If it was just two governments, that’s not as complicated as two governments and a nonprofit and a church,” Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton said. “We have to make sure we’re all speaking the same language.”

And with the church, a governing board. With the town of Longboat Key, a Town Commission. With Manatee County, a board of county commissioners. With the Paradise Center, a board of directors. With so many stakeholders and discussions in the intermediate stages, there are more questions than answers as to how a potential partnership could work.

“What’s the role of the town in this? Are we the grant recipient and then we manage it on behalf of the county? Or is it a relationship between the Paradise Center and the county directly? There are just some pieces to this that are just not resolved or known,” Tipton said. “We’re still having a lot of conversations.”

Officially or not, the space is already being used by the community. Longboat North, a group of condo association representatives and homeowners on the north end of Longboat Key gathered at Longboat Island Chapel for its latest meeting. The guest at that meeting was Manatee County Commission Chair Tal Siddique, who shared the latest on the community center from the county’s perspective.

“I’m happy to say that after many years of conversations, different locations, dollar amounts changing, we’ve settled on the Paradise Center as the definitive space for that,” he told the group.

Manatee County will be making a financial commitment to the project, Siddique said, and is also open to using staff to enhance programming if needed. The number being discussed among county staff at the moment is a $175,000 initial capital investment into the church to repair the elevator that was damaged from the 2024 hurricanes. The county is also proposing an investment of $825,000 for operating expenses over a three-year period. Siddique said he is pushing to extend the agreement to five years.

Though nothing is signed, town, county and community leaders feel the idea is moving forward.

“Based on the conversations I’ve been a part of, I feel optimistic,” Tipton said. “I just don’t have sense of the timing.”