Town commissioners set to meet with county leaders

**Correction: The meeting's day of the week was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

Longboat Key commissioners and staffers are scheduled to head over the bridge to Sarasota’s County Administration Building on Wednesday for their annual joint meeting with the County Commission.

High on the list of priorities for Longboat leaders is furthering discussion of a joint project to one day build a library and community center at the Town Center Green site.

Among the steps likely to precede such a commitment are interim library services, such as visits by a library van that could deliver and return books ordered from the system’s online portal and longer range assessments of what a Longboat Key library might look like, the services it might provide and a timeline for further action.

Longboat Key leaders have said previously that such a building would also include room for adult education classes and a multiuse space for other events. Town commissioners in a strategic retreat last week expressed deep interest in continuing to pursue a commitment from county leaders that would result in financial participation in the design, construction and operation of a public library.

"I don’t want them forgetting about us," Commissioner Mike Haycock said.

Although a community center’s parameters haven’t been set out, Commissioner Penny Gold said that it was wise to keep options open and consider a range of uses.

"We have a great opportunity here," she said. "If you’re doing sculptures, you’re going to need water and special counter space and whatever else sculptors are going to need. And painters, there’s going to be splatter and mess, and you probably can’t use those rooms for anything else."

Among the other topics on the agenda for the joint meeting:

Update on Residences at the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort

Town staffers are expected to explain to county commissioners some history behind the project and update them on construction progress on the 17.6-acre property.

The $800 million project is under construction with a planned opening on June 6, 2024.

When completed, the residential side of the complex will include 67 condominiums and two tourism units arrayed in three five-story buildings above ground-floor parking. An amenity building is also part of the plan.

On the north side of the property, a 166-room resort hotel is under construction, which will also feature three restaurants, three bars, more than 17,600 square feet of ballrooms, meeting rooms and boardrooms. Three pools will be built between the resort side and the residential side, along with an event pavilion near the beach and a reprisal of the Colony Beach & Tennis Club’s Monkey Bar, also near the beach.

Parking capacity is 405 spaces, most of which are in parking decks below the buildings. Town leaders on Oct. 20, 2021, granted final approval for the project construction, and a groundbreaking was held Oct. 25.

Barrier Island Traffic Study

The study, launched by the Florida Department of Transportation in 2017, concluded in 2020 with a final report that recommended 77 items, including a late addition requested by the town as the final weighted suggestion.

The town set its priorities from the overall list as follows:

• Intersection improvements at Gulf Drive and Cortez Road in Bradenton Beach (ranked No. 77)
• John Ringling Parkway counter-flow (ranked No. 4)
• Additional flexible lane added to future bridge replacements and Coon Key (ranked Nos. 8 and 12)
• Pedestrian managers at St. Armands Circle, though town leaders advocated for such managers at Bridge Street on Bradenton Beach, as well (ranked No. 13)
• Anna Maria Island Trail to channelize pedestrians to specific crossing locations (ranked No. 17)
• Elimination of some parking spaces on St. Armands Circle to improve traffic flow (removed from final report rankings)
• Aerial tram between Sarasota and St. Armands/Lido Key (ranked No. 41)
• SCAT and MCAT coordination of transit services (ranked No. 45)
• Pedestrian bridges over U.S. 41 (ranked No. 76)

The town also continues to advocate for a system of water taxis operating between the mainland and the barrier islands, though a landing spot on Longboat Key would have to be developed, and a system by which parking availability could be monitored via electronic signs or a phone app to dissuade beach patrons from fruitlessly searching for parking.

On-demand ride service

With the elimination of fixed-route bus service from downtown Sarasota to the Bay Isles area of Longboat Key, and other lower-performing routes countywide, Sarasota County Area Transit leaders added an on-demand service that operates much like commercial ride-hailing apps.

County figures indicate that 20,000 riders have used the service in the Longboat Key, Lido and St. Armands zone between its launch in June 2021 and January 2022. In the final year of the fixed route service from downtown, more than 71,500 riders were served.

Peak ridership of the on-demand service to, from or within Longboat Key took place in December, with about 1,700 riders. Since the first of the year, about 1,500 riders a month have used the service to, from or within Longboat Key.

SCAT leaders are working with barrier island employers to get word out about the $1.25-per-ride service.

Town leaders this month ranked coordinated transit between Manatee and Sarasota county providers as a top priority for the coming year.