Longboat Key, FL

Longboat Key town leaders have a vision for the Town Center Green.Piece by piece, that vision has taken shape. The Longboat Key Historical Society's building has been picked up and placed on the green, and a new lease for the society is pending. The Karon Family Pavilion provides a stage for special events at the park. Architectural plans for a Sarasota County library were drawn up, though construction hinges on the fate of Amendment 3, and a yes vote would halt its groundbreaking.A pedestr

The library for Longboat Key’s Town Center Green gained final approval by commissioners.The development plan passed unanimously on second reading with little discussion at Monday’s Town Commission meeting. Sarasota County now has the approval to build a public library with expanded meeting space on the town-owned park surrounded by Publix, the tennis center, Town Hall and the Longboat Key Club.The planned unit development agreement includes seven conditions, which Town Planning Mana

Carlton Ward Jr., the Emmy-winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer known for documenting Florida’s wildlife, spoke Sunday at Suncoast Waterkeeper’s “Brunch for the Bay” fundraiser on Longboat Key. The event sold out, as it has every year since 2022, showing steady community appetite for the nonprofit’s work protecting local waters. Ward founded the Florida Wildlife…

Sarasota County’s beaches hosted 4,928 sea turtle nests in 2026, according to Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program. The tally came from 35 miles of coastline stretching from Longboat Key to Venice, watched every morning of the season by staff, interns and more than 300 Sea Turtle Patrol volunteers. Loggerheads dominated with…

On the ballot this election, voters will decide whether to cut property taxes.Amendment 3 asks voters whether the Florida Constitution should increase the homestead exemption by 400%. If approved, homesteaded residents with assessed home values over $250,000, which is the norm, if not the rule, on Longboat Key, will see their annual property tax bills decrease by about $1,400 in Sarasota County and about $1,710 in Manatee County by fiscal year 2029.Additionally, for nonhomesteaded properties, t

One week into stone crab season, the dockside dining rooms along the Suncoast are looking a lot more like February than October. Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant and Pub on Longboat Key reports roughly a 40% increase in guests from the week before the season opened to its first week. Fall is traditionally the quietest stretch…

St. Armands Circle was a hot topic at the joint meeting between Longboat Key and the city of Sarasota on Oct. 7. A common refrain from those discussions, however, was that the county oversees stormwater management at the Circle, not the city.Longboat commissioners had to wait a week — when Sarasota County and Longboat Key commissioners met — for clarity on what can be done to relieve flooding in the interim, but flooding was hardly discussed at the joint meeting on Oct. 14. Sar

Longboat Key leaders were east of the interstate Oct. 14 as Sarasota County hosted a joint meeting between the Longboat Key and Sarasota County commissions at the County Commission's administration building next to the Celery Fields.The meeting, which lasted about 75 minutes, featured an abbreviated agenda that focused on the county library planned for the Town Center Green on Longboat Key, fiscal impacts if Amendment 3 were to pass and Breeze OnDemand service on the barrier island.“S

The first step was taking on ownership of the tunnel.Now, the town of Longboat Key is working to enter into a lease with the Florida Department of Transportation to formally authorize the tunnel’s continued public use. On Oct. 5, the town passed a resolution that is a prerequisite of that agreement between the town and FDOT.“This is not a lease,” Town Attorney Maggie Mooney said. “This is a resolution that declares that the tunnel that you acquired will be used for a pub

Manatee County residents will see slight increases in their bills this month.At the Longboat Key Town Commission meeting Oct. 5, commissioners voted unanimously to approve “pass through” rate increases for water and wastewater over the next two years. They also unanimously approved a retroactive increase to garbage, recyclable and yard waste collection rates.Bryan Mantz, the president of utility, financial, rate and management consulting firm GovRates Inc., described the firm’