Town lays out expectations of county library project

The county is funding the project and deems design, planning and operations as its responsibility.

By Lauren Tronstad
| 5:00 a.m. February 2, 2023

The Town Center Green is in phase two of construction, which includes a privately funded stage.

Longboat Key
News

The town of Longboat Key is putting in writing what it considers important in its relationship with Sarasota County as the two governments move forward with plans for the Town Center library project.

Over the past few years, the town has been advocating for a community center and library to be a focal point for the development of the Town Center Green. During the town’s joint meeting with the Sarasota County Commission on April 27, 2022, the town requested the County Commission consider monetarily supporting the construction of the library.

The county ended up setting aside $1 million of its fiscal year 2023 budget to advance the planning and design of the proposal.

Former Town Manager Tom Harmer worked with county administration to develop a principles of agreement document. The document outlines general responsibilities for the county and town regarding a land lease, design, construction, operations and maintenance, programming and funding of the project.

The County Commission reviewed the document and voted in support of the continued partnership Tuesday.

“We look forward to collaborating with the Town of Longboat Key to provide this much-wanted amenity in a way that complements the town’s vision for their Town Center Green project,” said Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis said in a press release. “Our state-of-the-art library facilities and services will integrate seamlessly with the Town of Longboat Key’s vision to provide arts, cultural, and educational programming.”

Sarasota County has indicated that because the library would be a county facility, it would take the responsibility of design, construction, operation and maintenance of the facility.

As it stands, the library is planned to include the core library circulation component, reading and meeting rooms and a large multipurpose space.

Under the agreement, the town would have the ability to weigh in on elements they would like to see included. All planning and design phases would go through review of the town as well.

For starters, the county is anticipating entering into a 50-year land lease. Such a lease would require approval of a formal agreement by the Town Commission.

Expectation Letter

Harmer wrote a letter to the county outlining what the town sees as expectations of the county and the project.

The letter is as follows:

The development of a Town Center and related community amenities is a major long-term priority for the town. The town is expecting a partnership with the County on the development of a Library/Community Center within the Town Center and on town-owned Property adjacent to the Town Center Green. It is important that the county’s facility be developed consistent with the town’s vision of a gathering place on the island that will integrate into the overall site and all of the other amenities and activities that will occur. We appreciate the recognition that this facility will include not just a library circulation component, but also other collaboration/meeting space and a larger community space that could accommodate small performances, film screenings, visual arts programs, art exhibits, etc.

The town also looks forward to identifying potential additional space or amenities to the project as may be identified during the planning/design phase.

We appreciate the county’s efforts to develop “state of the art” libraries that are much more than the traditional libraries and look forward to the design and function of a facility on Longboat Key that demonstrates the evolution of libraries and helps set a standard for other communities. We see a great opportunity to help partner on the continued evolution of libraries with this project.

We don’t see this as a standalone project. The look, feel, and integration into the overall site is critical to the plan. This facility will have the opportunity to interconnect to the new Town Center Green improvements, the new performance stage, and potentially other facilities on the site.

We expect on-going coordination and communications with the Town on the use of the non-library components of the space including not just for Town use and functions but also for other community events and activities that may come up during the year. We are excited about the partnership to bring arts, cultural, and education programming to the Town Center and see this facility as another amenity that will expand those efforts. We look forward to helping advance the discussions with the School Board about additional lifelong learning programming and the input from our existing stakeholders in that area.

We know the public input process will be extremely important as the planning for this facility kicks off.

Our town staff and Town Commission look forward to hearing those updates and working with the county to ensure this project meets the goals of the Longboat Key community and the county’s desire to build unique, state of the art community-based facilities as part of their plan.