Survey says: Longboaters want more than a library

In an informal online survey conducted by the Longboat Observer, the majority of respondents said they want a Sarasota County public library branch at Town Center Green — but not as much as they want an education and community center.

Of the 170 readers who answered that question, which was one of six in the survey, 56% of respondents said they are in favor of the library, and 44% said they were not. However, when the results were filtered to reflect only Longboat Key residents, the support for a library was stronger: 65% of the 154 Longboat residents who responded said they favored a library.

In a question asking if respondents supported a library branch of 8,000 square feet, 60% of respondents said no. Of the Longboat Key respondents, 54% said no.

Asked to rank possible facilities to be developed on Town Center Green, an education center got the top ranking with 42% of votes, community center was second with 33% of votes and a public library branch ranked third with 24%. Longboat residents also ranked an education center as their top choice (42%), with a library second (31%) and community center third (28%).

A majority of both Longboat residents and non-residents agreed on the answer to our fourth question: Sarasota County should appropriate all or nearly all of the funding for a combined community center, education center and library.

When we asked whether respondents would support a townwide bond issue to pay for the construction of a facility large enough to accommodate separate spaces for a community center and an education center, the answers were evenly split, with 50.89% responding no, and 49.11% responding yes. The gap widened slightly when sorted by Key residents’ responses: 56% of Longboaters said they would not support a bond issue.

Of the 41 comments we collected on the proposed library, 13 supported the library proposal. Of those who were against it, some asked why the current library couldn’t be renovated, expanded and enhanced, and others said in the digital age, a library is not needed on the Key.

Twelve comments spoke about the need to use the opportunity to build an expanded education center, while six other commenters said the Education Center at Temple Beth Israel was good enough for that purpose. Several commenters were in favor of having a library on the first floor and a community and education center on the second.

Of the 16 comments that were against a library, about half of those said no development is necessary on Town Center Green, and they would value it as green space most.

But one commenter was really thinking outside the box with their suggestion: “Rebuild The Amore Restaurant.”

To take the survey, visit YourObserver.com/library-survey.