On June 4 of 2025, a long-anticipated vote by Sarasota County went the way the Longboat Key Commission hoped.
The Sarasota County Commission agreed that Longboat’s fundraising had reached its goal of $3.5 million and now the design phase for the new Longboat Key Public Library can move forward.
Longboat successfully raised the $3.5 million to pay for the custom enhancements to the core library, which the county is building at Town Center Green between Publix and the public tennis center on the Island.
Additionally, Sarasota County agreed it would relax the requirement that 25 percent of the Library’s $14 million total cost be required for the naming rights of the library.
Longboat Key resident, U.S. Congressman and founder of Sarasota Ford Vern Buchanan offered to donate $1 million toward the library enhancements for Longboat Key if the county would agree to name the library after the Buchanan Foundation. Sarasota County agreed, and now the plan is moving forward. The fundraising total was $3.1 million, which was donated by 12 people with Buchanan being the largest donor.
Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton was tasked with spearheading fundraising for the project. Tipton met with Vern Buchanan and his wife, Sandy, as well as the library officials and said that Vern seemed absolutely thrilled that the project was moving forward and was excited to participate.
Mayor Ken Schneier and his wife, Cynthia, are major donors to the Library construction as well.
For Ken Schneier, it became an important, almost legacy project to see through. He had just started on the Commission eight years ago when the Town had a formal agreement with Ringling College to build and operate a community art center on Longboat at the same location. That agreement fell through when fellow commissioners disparaged the Ringling organization on several occasions in meetings and in writing. Schneier is pleased that after seven years, an agreement with the county has been forged, the fundraising completed and much of what the Town has sought for so many years is finally coming to fruition.
There are details to still be worked out such as the leasing of the Longboat Key land to the county for a 50-year term, but the town manager does not believe any of these housekeeping issues will present problems.
Tipton says the next act is the county will develop detailed designs for construction. The Town, says Tipton, will have tremendous input into that process, especially regarding the Longboat Key enhancements. The enhancements include a community room that can seat more than 200 for an event, or a class, or a lecture or a meeting. The other enhancement is an outdoor seating area, a terrace of sorts, that will be covered and will be a community gathering area where residents and visitors can read, surf the Internet on their devices as well as enjoying cappuccinos since there is talk of a coffee bar going into the project. The library construction is slated to begin in the spring of next year.
