- April 29, 2025
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"Resiliency" was the word of the day at the Longboat Key town commission’s 2025 strategic planning retreat.
As the commission and town staff head toward the fiscal year 2026 budget cycle, the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton were top of mind as the commission discussed priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.
“This is an interesting period of our island's history,” Town Manager Howard Tipton said. “We've just seen a storm season that is as bad as any we've seen in the past century.”
The goal of the planning retreat is to give commissioners a chance to discuss key priorities before the first budget workshop, which will be on May 19.
The commission previously received the results of the annual citizen survey and held a goals and objectives workshop on April 7. Those two pieces gave the commission insight from Longboat Key residents and stakeholder groups before the planning retreat.
With the community still recovering from the 2024 hurricane season, a few of the town’s highest priorities are how to rebuild the town from the storms and, in some ways, how to become more resilient for future storms.
The word “resiliency,” then, was a key theme, dealing with physical, technological and financial resiliency.
One of the major impacts of last season’s hurricanes happened on the island’s beaches. After the storms, the beaches appear flatter because of a loss of the berm that is crucial to the beach’s elevation and acts as a natural barrier.
The town’s coastal engineer consultants estimates the amount of sand lost during the hurricanes came to 407,300 cubic yards.
Those losses are eligible for a claim through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, from which the town could receive a 75% reimbursement of a sand-replacement project.
Staff estimates a $16.2 million price tag for a nourishment project that would recuperate those losses. Of that, $12.2 million is reimbursable through FEMA, $2 million through the Florida Department of Emergency Management and another $570,000 from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
But, the town could go further and add another 212,000 cubic yards to build the beach back to the level it was after the 2021 major nourishment, when the town placed one million cubic yards of sand on the island.
There is a third, more expensive option, which would be to conduct a nourishment project of about 800,000 cubic yards of sand to not only build back from the storms but also add extra protection for future storms.
"The reason why we built up to this is because of the focus on resiliency, because of the responses the Citizens Survey," Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman said.
Early estimates for the largest project are about $32 million, and the town would need to come up with about $12.7 million.
The town’s coastal engineering consultants also previously suggested a groin field project on the Gulfside Road beach, which would be an additional $6 million but help stabilize the erosive beach.
The earliest the town could begin the mobilization of such a project would be around 2027, depending on reimbursements and budget constraints.
Brownman said the town’s finance department will work to see what the budgeting possibilities are and present an update to the commission at the first budget workshop on May 19.
It’s possible, Brownman added, the town would need to give voters a referendum to allow the town to take on debt to cover the costs up front, since much of the funding comes from reimbursements.
In the coming fiscal year, the town’s finance department will need to work on building back the town’s emergency reserves after using a chunk during the hurricanes.
According to a report on April 7, about $5 million was used from the town’s emergency reserve and the general fund. Most of that — about $4.2 to $4.4 million — was for debris removal.
The town has an emergency fund for natural disasters that started at $3.7 million. After the storms, that fund dwindled to $477,000.
Now, the town will need to build those back over the next fiscal year, among other pressures staff identified, like state and federal changes, crucial beach projects, applying for the subaqueous force main loan and developing a canal funding mechanism.
Outside of hurricanes, flooding is a common occurrence for Longboat’s low-lying areas like the Village, Sleepy Lagoon and Buttonwood.
The town plans to take concrete steps toward advancing infrastructure improvement projects in these low-lying areas in FY26 by conducting engineering design.
Though the projects differ in each area, common elements include increased road elevation and additional drainage structures.
Staff emphasized these projects would not protect against storm surges like the one seen in Helene, but would help alleviate the impacts of “sunny day flooding,” or the flooding that happens during high tides or summer storms.
Resiliency also applies to the town’s facilities and how those will evolve in the future. This also means adapting to the town’s needs.
In the short term is the construction of the Sarasota County library project on the Town Center Green as the last piece to the green.
The town is engaged in a fundraising campaign and has about $2.3 million in pledges out of the $3.5 million needed for an enhanced version that would include a larger community meeting hall and terrace.
Tipton said town staff will present a fundraising update to the Sarasota County commission in May and hope to have the $3.5 million raised by then.
Another immediate project is a potential north-end community center in collaboration with Manatee County.
Manatee County previously committed to a community center in a leased space in Whitney Plaza, but decided earlier this year to back out of those plans and instead look at owning a space.
Town staff will now try to work with the county in finding possible purchase options on the island to transform into a community center.
Tipton also said the Bayfront Park Recreation Center has been on the commission’s long-term planning for several years, and will need to be replaced in about 5 to 10 years.
"It is a building that is deteriorating and is in need of replacement," Tipton said.
The question of what to do with it will be up to the commission to decide in the near future.
Lastly, Tipton suggested the town address what he identified as a critical need: more space for town staff offices and training.
Building a new town space would provide space for departments to meet, possibly offices and additional space for police department training. There is a possibility that the current Longboat Library land may be used for this purpose, Tipton said, but that is to be determined.
Discussions of a “complete streets vision” happen in conjunction with projects like the upcoming Broadway Roundabout, but the town has yet to take a major action toward that vision.
In previous commission discussions, the purpose behind the vision has been to improve pedestrian safety, congestion, connectivity and enhance the overall aesthetics of the island’s corridor.
Town staff hopes to allocate funds in FY26 to start a project development and environment study. The purpose of such a study is to “determine the location and conceptual design of feasible build alternatives for roadway improvements and their social, economic and environmental effects,” according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
Brownman said the town must pursue a PD&E study before the FDOT will start allocating future funds to the town’s complete streets project.
