ReCharting Longboat Key

ReCharting Longboat Key Toward Community, Economy and Resiliency Urban and architectural design studio in support of revising comprehensive planning regulations for the Town of Longboat Key, Florida.

School of Architecture University of Florida

University of Florida Office of the President Dr. W. Kent Fuchs, President College of Design, Construction, and Planning Dr. Christopher Silver, Dean School of Architecture Jason Alread, Director

The Town of Longboat Key, Florida Jim Brown, Mayor Dave Bullock, Town Manager Alaina Ray, Director; Planning, Zoning, and Building

Š 2015 University of Florida, School of Architecture

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Contents Project Team

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Executive Summary

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Chapter 1 - Introduction

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Process

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Chapter 2 - Analysis

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Coastal Morphology Residential Morphology Sea Level Rise Existing Land-Use Map Future Land-Use Map Longboat Key Development History ULI + UDS Summary of Context Longboat Key By Air

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Chapter 3 - Diagnostic Elements

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Evaluative Geographical Appraisal Perceptual Identity Environmental Assets and Threats Settlement Development, Assets, and Vulnerability Mobility and Infrastructure Opportunities and Threats Population and Carrying Capacity

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Chapter 4 - Locations of Opportunity

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Gulf of Mexico Drive Longbeach and Bayside

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Whitney Beach / Plaza / Arts Center Mid-Key: St. Jude’s Drive to Jungle Way Mid-Key: Centre Shops of Longboat Key Mid-Key: Twin Shores Bayfront Park Town Center The Colony South Key Threshold

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Chapter 5 - Possible Futures

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Layered Mobilities Connections and Centralities Modified Ecologies Adaptive Morphology Longboat Key 2101

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Chapter 6 - Integrated Student Project Proposals Longbeach

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Amphi-Bio City: Jesse Mantohoc Resiliency Through Floating: Silvia Aloisio

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Whitney Plaza Commerce, Living, and Civic Event on the Lawn: Alex Schmidt Commerce, Living, and Civic Event on the Canal: Shane Lamay Harry’s and St. Jude’s Drive

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Recombinant Canal Living: Silvia Aloisio Centre Shops

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Civic Marina Resort: India Brooks Twin Shores

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Resilient Podium Community: Di Hu

Longboat Key Hilton Folding Destination: Matt Kaminsky

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Bayfront Park Modified Confluence: Alexander Thomas

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Town Center Healthcare Resort and Civic Plaza: Hsiao-Tung Hung Water Scape and Urban Canal: Silvia Aloisio

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The Colony Resilient Resort: Emily Porter National Tennis Training Resort and Stadium: Lauren Day Reef Resort at Longboat Key: Craig Nightingale

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South Key Threshold LokeMoma: Xhuancheng Chu Aquaponica: Jessica Phillips Chapter 7 - Recommendations References Coastal Morphology Appendix Anna Maria Island to Casey Key Casey Key to Charlotte Harbor Charlotte Harbor to Sanibel Island

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Project Team A team of international students and visiting scholars from the University of Florida School of Architecture under the direction of faculty and in collaboration with students from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, external reviewers and planning staff from Town of Longboat Key combined efforts as the Urban Design Studio project team. Faculty and consultants engaged in advanced research and discussions with town planners to set up the primary work of the studio during the Spring of 2015. Selected students from the studio worked with collaborators and faculty to prepare the results of the studio in the form of this text and a media executive summary presentation.

Principal Investigator

Co-Principal Investigator

Project Coordinators

Martin A. Gold Architect & Associate Professor School of Architecture Martha Kohen Professor School of Architecture Jerry Murphy Planning Consultant Florida Resilient Communities Initiative William Whiteford Planning Consultant Florida Resilient Communities Initiative

Editor

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Alexander Thomas Graduate Student School of Architecture

Project Team Leads

Team Members

External Reviewers

Alexander Thomas Hsiao-Tung “Lily” Hung Xuancheng “Chu” Zhu Silvia Aloisio, Visiting Scholar - La Sapienza University Jessica Phillips India Brooks Alex Schmidt Lauren Day Hsiao-Tung Hung Xuancheng Zhu Di Hu

Jesse Mantohoc Craig Nightingale Alexander Thomas Emily Porter Shane LaMay Matt Kaminsky Silvia Aloisio

William Tilson Professor School of Architecture

Roberto Bove PhD Candidate La Sapienza University

Nancy Clark Associate Professor School of Architecture

Enrique Walker Associate Professor School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University

Stephen Bender Adjunct Professor School of Architecture

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Executive Summary

Under the leadership of Mayor Jim Brown, the Longboat Key town commissioners, Dave Bullock, Alaina Ray, and many the other Longboat Key staff, this effort is one of many positive steps toward advancing a consensus vision for Longboat Key – ReCharting Longboat Key and creating new land development regulations to implement the vision. The work presented in this book includes the research, analysis, findings and integrated design proposals develop in the Urban Design Studio – a group of faculty, consultants, and students from the University to Florida School of Architecture. The Urban Design Studio project team is working in parallel with town staff and planners from the Florida Resilient Communities Initiative (FRCI) collaboratively to remedy (near term) conflicts and re-write (primary objective) the Longboat Key land development regulations. The goal of this parallel approach is to resolve elements causing properties to be non-conforming; to reveal a consensus vision that can set the priorities for the land development code, and then initiate a rewriting of the code toward implementation of the consensus vision.

The Urban Design Studio has studied the prevalent opportunities and difficulties arising out of the geographic context, economic forces, resource availability, historic development, natural ecology, existing land uses, and projections of demographic trends, sea level rise, shore erosion, and population trends. This information was utilized to develop master plan priorities and to identify and qualify thirteen ‘Locations of Opportunity’ on the Key that might be substantially reconsidered in the new land develop9

ment regulations. The master plan priorities include understanding the linear nature of the key – 10 miles long and 0.42 miles wide (average) – as a collection of aligned places, nodes, or events forming more of a polycentric necklace structure than that of a more traditional town center with land in all (inland development) or at least three directions (coastal development). Although these ‘places’ are not presently emphasized along Gulf of Mexico Drive, they do exist and present a wide variety of semi-urban forms that could be enhanced to the benefit of the larger community. Observations are provided to qualify the present condition of the locations of opportunity in

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terms of strengths and weaknesses and ‘responses’ are offered that elaborate on these inherent opportunities and how they might support a larger master plan vision through local investments, development, or redevelopment. The responses were then translated through speculative design into project proposals that illustrate the integration of architectural form, program, organization, civic culture, and the landscape ecologies of the beach and marsh ecosystems.

Community leaders should establish a target population and growth timeline to both promote and

manage growth on the Key. This study suggests that up to 5,000 new residents could be accommodated based on available capacity in the current infrastructure. This limit is based solely on the potable water projections and with improved water supply or even a small improvement in the current successful water conservation measures, the population could grow by up to 7,000 people before evacuation becomes the limiting factor. In the evacuation case, if the routes were designated with all lanes as evacuation (out only), even more residents could occupy the Key within the safe design capacity. This report carries this finding even further suggesting where new development might be optimized and what types of developments would be compatible within the locations of opportunity. This opportunity for development, or redevelopment as the case may be, coupled with a targeted growth timeline, should be incorporated into the language of the new the land development regulations.

Key-wide recommendations also include the development of design standards for Gulf of Mexico Drive to promote pedestrian, cyclist, and light electric vehicles by enhancing and adding separated paths in order to transit between Key places. Mobility recommendations also include direct automobile connection to the mainland that could achieve shorter commuting times, more direct routes, provide safer evacuation, and could catalyze development off of the Key – an opportunity in Manatee County to house support populations serving the Key nearby. A new pedestrian connector to Downtown Sarasota is also recommended via City Island – this could also accommodate emergency vehicles (ambulance) or one-way emergency evacuation. Mobility would be also greatly enhanced by improved transit on GMD, including a local ‘loop’ service and through a water taxi network. The linear form of the Key makes transit much more viable than an urban grid. Given the dense traffic during high season, a water taxi network could also provide shorter commute times with the proper infrastructure in place.

The locations of opportunity represent almost all of the varied conditions on the Key with the exception of single family homes built after 1960 – neighborhoods that are largely in-tact, healthy, and seemingly will be for the foreseeable future. The thirteen locations of opportunity addresse areas on the Key that have been in decline for an extended period of time, are under utilized, are in an undirected state of transition, or are severely limited in terms of redevelopment by the current land development regulations. Chapter 4 – Locations of Opportunity, details the current status, opportunities, and threats as observations, and proposes responses that could be

implemented through the land development regulations. Chapters 5 and 6 elaborate on the integration of master planning strategies that underpin locations of opportunity and illustrate how the responses could be implemented through schematic design proposals. This allows the staff and community stakeholders to evaluate potential outcomes and push forward or draw back in order to meet and exemplify community expectations.

Summary recommendations for master planning elements and strategies for each of the locations of opportunity are put forward in Chapter 7. These recommendations refer back to the early research and also to the student project proposals presented in Chapter 6. The Coastal Morphology Appendix presents in more detail the summary included in Chapter 2 – Analysis.

The faculty, students, consultants, and collaborators are grateful to be a small part of this unprecedented and exemplary evolutionary moment in the lineage of Longboat Key. The timing of this effort to reconsider or ‘re-chart’ the future seems also to be emerging naturally as markets recover from the 2008 recession. At the time of this writing, even the long disputed Colony financial plan seems to be on the resolve toward financing for a new development within a year or two. Stewardship of the natural ecology has become the norm, the infrastructure is undergoing substantial improvement (electricity), residents seem to be ready for the next generation lifestyle of civic engagement including a wide range of outdoor recreational activities and communing with nature. Coastal resiliency has evolved beyond the notion of – ‘just don’t build were people want to live’ – into a more sophisticated understanding of protection through occupation and safety trough design and retreat. Emergent forms of mixed-use development have been well tested in Europe and the United States signaling that a new generation of urban living is emerging. And, according to Richard Florida, this lifestyle is perhaps equal to or more desirable than the now limiting traditional suburbs.

Residents of Longboat Key, with the will of consensus – and through this extraordinary opportunity to re-write the land development code as an important new tool – have the resources to re-chart the future through redevelopment, economic activity, diversity, and cultural richness, toward a healthy, vibrant and resilient community.

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Introduction ReCharting Longboat Key is part of an ongoing effort initiated by the Town of Longboat Key in partnership with the University of Florida College of Design, Construction, and Planning, to address a multiplicity of community redevelopment, mobility, and resiliency issues that have come into focus in the mid 2010’s. Natural generational change, infrastructure lifecycles, and perhaps an emerging understanding of the natural ecology of this coastal barrier key suggests that the timing is right for the community to come together and rechart the course toward Longboat Key’s future.

The Challenge: To enhance Longboat Key through a synthesis of existing investment, resiliency, nature, growth, employment, and lifestyles that respect and advance this world class destination.

Under the leadership of Mayor Jim Brown, the Longboat Key town commissioners, Dave Bullock, Alaina Ray, and many the other Longboat Key staff, the community has taken several positive steps toward crafting a vision. One important step was the preparation of the ULI (Urban Land Institute) Briefing Book prepared in early 2013 as a comprehensive self-assessment of the Town’s character; infrastructural assets and liabilities; and perceived opportunities and difficulties both presently and foreseen. This comprehensive assessment was prepared in advance of a community workshop led by the ULI and also served as a starting point for the prioritization of ‘strategies of consensus’ within the community. Community consensus rather than absolute agreement is needed for the municipal agencies to advance the vision through policy and implementation.

In late October of 2013, the ULI conducted a fiveday intensive workshop with a noted advisory panel led by Kamuron Gurol, Director of Community Development, City of Sammamish, Sammamish, Washington. The eight-member panel of experts in planning, urban design, economics, and development worked with town leaders, staff, citizens, business owners, stakeholders and residential associations to craft priorities for policy, land use and civic investment. The ULI team prepared a 50page report – Longboat Key Florida: Developing on Success and Envisioning the Future – documenting 13

their process, findings, and recommendations. The report included assessments of: national market/ demographic trends and suggestions on how the trends relate to Longboat Key; local real estate trends; the Longboat Key municipal infrastructure; the state of residential development currently in place; emerging environmental challenges; and the outstanding character of Longboat Key as an internationally sought out vacation and retirement destination.

The report recommendations highlighted catalyzing development in the town center, redeveloping or revitalizing the North Key (Whitney Plaza and the Gulf of Mexico Drive/Broadway intersection), and enhancing mobility through improved transit service and diversity.

Town Center recommendations suggest pedestrian oriented urban form and streets, more commercial density, more diverse activities (cultural center), and the addition of homes. The North Key recommendations suggested transforming Whitney Plaza into a multi-use development and to aim toward mitigating the arts center within the adjacent neighborhood to reduce traffic.

Mobility

recommendations focused on improvements to walking/cycling facilities and expansion/enhancement of transit with the addition of a local “Jitney”. Traffic circles were recommended for particular locations however it was noted that this would not alleviate bottlenecks during season and could exacerbate congestion at certain locations.

Bayfront Park was noted as an important point of water access and recreation for the Key and it should be a high priority for civic improvement.

Clearly there are competing interests on Longboat Key as noted in the ULI report. The panel suggested that a process of engagement could aid in bringing the community together around some common priorities

“One significant challenge that Longboat Key faces is a tone of divisiveness that has diminished the quality of public debate over the future. The residents of the Key overall clearly have a lot of horsepower, ability, and means. How can the people of Longboat Key get along better, affirm their mutual interests, and move ahead productively?”

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and goals that could truly ‘rechart’ Longboat Key’s future. This would be developed through a complete reassessment/rewrite of the land development code, direct municipal investment, and a variety of incentive types that could steer private development toward the common vision. The community’s investment of time and effort toward this initiative to date, coupled with the timing of needed renovations to much of the building stock erected in the 1980’s, suggests an unprecedented opportunity for Longboat Key to make substantial advancements that would be a model for other coastal communities in the US. Sanibel Island was in a similar situation in 1976, and under the leadership of Mayor Porter Goss (who later headed the CIA) developed a visionary plan with noted Landscape Architect Ian McHarg that balanced nature with commerce and development.

It has become a standard reference for the ULI and other communities. Thirty years later in 2007, Sanibel was designated a National Planning Landmark by the American Planning Association.

ReCharting Longboat Key is a collaborative effort between the University of Florida Resilient Communities Initiative, the School of Architecture, Longboat Key staff, and community leaders to engage students and expert faculty in advancing the recommendations of the Urban Land Institute. The work presented in this report derives from the core priorities elicited in the ULI Briefing Book developed by Longboat Key staff and Longboat Key Florida: Developing on Success and Envisioning the Future published by the Urban Land Institute Advisory Panel. In most cases in this report, the recommendations of the ULI Panel are reinforced and elaborated on with some detail to test prioritization recommendations and in other cases, alternatives have come to light that may be an improvement on the original recommendations. A more diverse set of ‘Opportunity Focus’ areas have been developed and specific integrated design

proposals have been identified at the conceptual to schematic design level. Schemes are provided to encourage open discussion within the community.

Multiple master plan approaches have also been developed that optimize differing priority strategies.

For example, ecology may be favored over mobility or the reverse to test priorities in an integrated proposal. Synthesized master plans with near, mid, and long term implementation timelines have been developed as an example of the result of community input on prioritizing master plan strategies. The team has also analyzed the coastal region to evaluate historic trends and emergent development strategies that have emerged out of the regional context.

Mobility and infrastructure enhancements have been integrated into the master plans in addition to specific site proposals that explore expansion strategies, resource recapture, and responses to threats such as storms, erosion, and sea level rise.

This project has been a tremendously positive experience for students to work directly with community leaders on such a critically important project. The students and faculty have struggled, as the community has, with the many contradictions inherent in community interests, urban design perspectives, ecology, natural threats, economic conditions and perhaps most importantly with the responsibility as stewards of the future for such an outstanding community as Longboat Key. It is our hope that this work will be received not as the solution for Longboat Key, but rather as an advancement of the important work that has come before and as an opportunity to evaluate the visualizations presented and develop strong consensus on near, medium, and long term priorities while understanding that this vision must be elastic and able to accommodate inevitable change.

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Process ReCharting Longboat Key engages students from the University of Florida School of Architecture in close collaboration with the FRCI (Florida Resilient Communities Initiative) and the Town of Longboat Key, Florida. This is a collaborative effort to develop innovative approaches, derived from recent area studies and precedent research, toward retrofitting/ improving existing areas designated as opportunity sites on Longboat Key. The work was parsed into four phases generally moving from the broader issues or areas to the specific opportunity locations identified by the Urban Land Institute among others. Guiding principles were developed and applied through sixteen integrated project proposals within six locations of opportunity’. The locations of opportunity have been identified through independent research and from the ULI Panel Report. Each of the location evaluations include a prioritization of the current assets/amenities and the potential for proposed community-oriented programs along with project examples that carry forward principles of resiliency, environmental stewardship, and civic engagement to directly address unique site elements. These conceptual design proposals serve as measuring tools in support of discourse toward community consensus in the priorities and perhaps details during the revision of the current land development regulations (private domain action), and, for community agreement on priorities for municipal organizations to improve infrastructure and public lands (public domain action). It is important that these strategies are understood as speculative examples to foster conversations toward a consensus vision. Sixteen unique project proposals are presented support of this effort organized relative to their geographic location (North to South) within the six locations of opportunity. Detailed narrative, renderings and drawings of the project proposals are presented in Chapter 6 - Integrated Project Proposals.

Phase 1: Understanding the regional context — The studio team analyzed issues of climatic change and sea level rise risks in the ‘triple

coast’ condition of West Coast Florida, inclusive of its bays, estuaries, barrier Islands and the human settlement patterns. These elements define an inventory of waterfront development responses evolving over time and with respect to changing understanding of the coastal ecology. This peripheral perspective is important to measure current Longboat Key issues within a broader yet ecologically similar panorama. During this phase of work, multiple site visits and mapping/data analysis was conducted including circumnavigating Longboat Key by water.

Phase 2: Organizing the Key — The project team posed the question: how is the Key understood in terms of destinations, and sub-communities along Gulf of Mexico Drive and could this be improved?

This work involved site visits, tours with planning staff, mapping studies, review of the ULI Advisory Panel report and the development of organizational scenarios ranging from the single center foci to polycentric organization (the pendant -vs- the string of pearls). The project team developed a set of guiding principles such as preserving current investments; limiting exposure at high risk locations; population constraints (policy, evacuation, carrying capacity); identifying key destinations, attractions, and their identities; arrival/departure from Longboat Key; density relative to building form; resiliency of utility and transportation (priority to optimal locations); and identifying opportunities to support community and economic enhancement. The guiding principles are presented in Chapter 5 – Possible Futures.

Master plan organizational alternatives by four teams were developed during this phase to illustrate resiliency/development priorities (high, mid, low) for land suitability, development potential, mobility, staged relocation, optimization of public lands, and expansions or contractions of residential density and supporting commercial investment. Utility infrastructure is also included as a prominent concern in conjunction with climate trends, transportation issues such as level of service and evacuation, 17

and emergency access. Master plan studies are presented in Chapter 5 – Possible Futures.

Phase 3: Scenario Modeling — What might Longboat Key look like in the future with appropriate responses to the guiding principles? Phase 2 priorities were tested at the neighborhood and site scale resulting in integrated project site proposals for reconsideration and refinement. These results are presented as recommendations for inclusion and refinement through the rewrite of the land development code.

The work was parsed into four phases generally moving from the broader issues or areas to the specific opportunity locations identified by the Urban Land Institute, among others.

The project team developed sixteen conceptual design proposals inscribed in the master plan proposals, for each of the six investigation sites that are representative of future outcomes derived from the development typologies and guiding principles identified in Phases 1 and 2. The students in the UDS (Urban Design Studio), working both in teams and individually, with consultation from studio leaders and collaborators, revisited master plan assumptions, confirmed and revised initial concepts as necessary, and developed new visions for the Key. Then the teams developed fine-grain implementation scenarios at the neighborhood or center scale. This work included the incorporation

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of civic space, private housing, shelters/civic use structures, commercial structures and mobility enhancements. Proposals also included suggestions for the phasing of high-risk structures, new structures and/or adaptive reuse of land to mitigate risk while enhancing the community as a resort destination.

In parallel with the UDS, underpinned by analytical and interpretive studies, local municipal representatives and stakeholders participated in the project through panel sessions at the initiation, midterm, and conclusion of this phase of work. The studio leaders and students presented the work to community representatives as a Power Point lecture and as an interactive exhibit of the proposals allowing review and discussion of project assumptions and results. These results were tempered by community representative feedback and suggestions were integrated into revised proposal establishing the basis for advancing to Phase 4.

Phase 4: Reconsideration and Policy Recommendations — The project team consolidated the student proposals incorporating feedback to align high, medium, and low priority elements evaluated and visualized in the schematic proposals. This work is further parsed into recommendations that can be subsequently implemented through policy and planning initiatives through the land use regulations.

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Analysis Chapter two illustrates and provides detail on the analytical components of the work that prepared the team and students to develop specific projects for the locations of opportunity. This section provides a summary of that analysis under the following sections:

­• Coastal Morphology

Florida West Coast; Casey Key to Sanibel

­• Residential Morphology

Florida West Coast; Casey Key to Sanibel

­• Sea Level Rise - Projected

Sourced from Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA, featuring short and long-terms horizons

­• Land-Use Maps

Existing Conditions and Future Proposal

­• Longboat Key History

Excerpted from Historical Development of Longboat Key, FL

­• ULI and UDS Summary of Context ­• Longboat Key by Air

Aerial drone photography conducted at various sites along the island

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Coastal Morphology The studio’s first approximation to coastal morphologies, working towards establishing a wider context of reference for Longboat Key, consisted of a series of urban geographical analysis layers covering the area from Anna Maria to Sanibel Islands. The area shares common features regarding geographical characteristics: that of the barrier islands, bays, sounds, estuaries and rivers, beaches, marinas, and environmentally protected areas threaded by the Intracoastal Waterway and human settlements.

Three student teams were established to focus on corresponding sections of the region. The first section encompassed Anna Maria Island to Casey Key. The second, from Casey Key to Boca Grande at Charlotte Harbor, and the third from Charlotte Harbor to Sanibel Island. These are not comprehensive studies, but rather an approximation of the issues that may share commonalities with the Longboat Key case study. In that sense, the studio focused on understanding what characteristics of Longboat key could, or would be present in the wider context, and how ideas generated in Longboat Key could draw from the wider realm. The analytical layers, partially represented in this report, include:

The barrier island chain of the Florida West Coast is a unique coastal morphology representing only 13% of the world’s coastlines. They result through the unique conditions of small to moderate tidal flows (0 to 4 feet), ample sediment supply, fairly consistent wave activity, a low gradient shelf sea floor condition, and a long period of stable sea level. The resulting bay + estuary + marsh systems between the Gulf of Mexico and the mainland are critically important ecological networks of habitat and storm mitigation.

• Historical development patterns from the 19th through the 21st Centuries; • Geographical systems, including water and land bodies, tidal areas, ecological and natural habitats, dune and beach ecologies, estuaries, bays, sounds and river mouths; • Current land use maps, including the identification of residential typologies and densities, commercial typologies, and civic nodes; • Transportation systems, terrestrial, nautical and aerial, with identification of networks (infrastructural hierarchy – main vs. feeder roads, railways, major navigable channels, seawalls, and bridges) as well as points of modal exchange (ports, marinas, and airports); 23

• Infrastructural provisions for water supply, water treatment and refuse disposal; • Local plans and provisions for addressing the future of the development; • Sea level rise. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predictive maps were used to portray the reach of progressive water intrusion and evaluate the risk involved for the settlement areas.

This interrelated set of systems was analyzed under the situation of an emergency evacuation, and resiliency regarding sea level rise and storm surge circumstances. The groups identified the reach of the impact on the natural as well as the developed areas, along progressive circumstances of a one, two and three foot permanent sea level rise. The studies identified commonalities of impact but also marked differences between the areas. The residential settlement typologies are analyzed in greater detail in the following section.

Conclusions from the comparative study between the three sections have been useful to understand the shared issues within the Central West Coast of Florida, as well as the specific circumstances that manifest in Longboat Key. The major conclusions drawn from the three-part coastal analysis are:

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Major Planning Issues 1. Multiple local authorities do not have planning strategies for the future instituted at the public level; 2. The issues of the impact of sea level rise are not yet specifically addressed systemically; 3. Resiliency issues require planning around the road transportation networks, specifically tied to the age and capacity of the bridges, as well as for other infrastructural systems; 4. Navigation conditions may improve, but the modal change nodes will also need impact mitigation work; 5. Naturally and ecologically protected areas – which are in general low lying areas – will suffer significant impacts; 6. Residential settlements are classifiable in 16 identifiable categories that recur periodically in the areas, and for which we can vision similar methods of adaptation, mitigation or replacement.

Detailed barrier island and key-level analyses including maps and narrative are included in the Coastal Morphology Appendix.

Residential Morphology After early agriculturally based settlements and the incorporation of the mass use of air conditioning, residential development dominated the West Coast on the mainland and barrier island chain becoming the dominant organizing element. These variations in residential neighborhood and condominium forms were studied over the barrier island chain from Ana Maria Island to Sanibel Island. Of particular note was the relationship between residential development and the coastal and estuary conditions encountered.

Following theoretical essays by Quatreme de Quincy, Giulio Carlo Argan, Aldo Rossi, Leon Krier and others, we define type as:

“The idea of an element which should itself serve as a rule” or “a valued analytical tool for architecture and urban form, which also provides a rational base for design” In discussions of urban morphology, type is credited with the capacity to make urbanism more legible.

Archetypes are reduced to a common root form which has analogous formal and functional properties. It is a principle that, though allowing variations, is able to maintain the main characteristics while applied to different realms.

the typological analytical choices, but those certainly do have relevance and were considered at the proposal level. These included property types, historic considerations, and construction components. The variables were examined across

the whole region, by aerial photography, drone flight explorations, in situ visits, and interviews with local administrators, operators and stakeholders.

By associating two or more of the variables, we generated sixteen typologies that were tested in the three regional areas of study. The typological analysis enabled us to understand the shared characteristics between the Longboat Key settlement and the surrounding areas. It is a pioneer study toward establishing an Atlas of Hydro Generated Urbanism for the State of Florida. By understanding the problems that the different typologies face for their resilience, we are able to identify alternative courses of action that can be applied beyond our focused field of proposal for the Town of Longboat Key. The typologies are illustrated in the following pages, with four entries for each of the sixteen identified, inclusive of their diagrammatic representation, their Longboat Key presence and a selection of other locations in the region, for the purpose of illustrating the settlement types. Some of the types were, however, absent in Longboat Key.

For the coastal analysis toward establishing recurring and identifiable settlement patterns, and typological residential patterns, we considered an array of variables from which we selected the most significant ones. These were determined by the studio as the ones that accounted for most of the variability in the field of study. They include the relationship to the waters’ edge, with regard to beach, bay, river or canal medium; its access possibilities, as referred to pedestrians, cars and boats; its residential density, also linked to building types, spanning from recreational vehicles, mobile homes, suburban units, grouped units, multifamily middle height buildings, or independent tower buildings. Other possible variables have not been prioritized for composing 25

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Key: 27

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Key: 29

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Sea Level Rise “The current sea level rise rate — which started in 1990 — is 2.5 times faster than it was from 1900 to 1990, according to a study published in the journal Nature.

Scientists say that faster pace of sea level rise is from melting ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica and shrinking glaciers, triggered by manmade global warming.”

- New York Times, Associated Press, January 14, 2015.

“Not only would it (sea level rise) be 10 feet, but it would imply that in the next decades after that it would be even more.

Because where this water is coming from is the west Antarctic ice sheet, and then there’s another part of the east Antarctic ice sheet which also has several meters of sea level rise in its ice. So what that would mean is coastal cities would become dysfunctional…”

- Dr. James Hansen, interview on CNN’s FAREED ZAKARIA GPS, July 26, 2015.

Climate change and global warming, although controversial in terms of the cause, are clearly affecting sea levels globally and seas are rising at an accelerating rate. According to both historic tidal gauge measurements and more recently (since 1990) more accurate satellite measurements of sea level, the rate of rise is increasing. Measurements taken since 1990 show the rate of sea level rise accelerating – rising much faster now than earlier in the 20th Century. Furthermore, Dr. James Hansen, the former Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, suggests that due to glacial melting, the seas will rise by 10 feet within 50 years (by 2065). Therefore, current models that rely on century averages, will likely substantially underestimate the actual sea level rise.

Current models of the local impacts of projected sea level rise do not include the recent acceleration findings but rather the average rate over the entire century. These models are in the process of revision.

Army Corps of Engineers and NOAH data have been compiled and included in this report that suggest sea levels at Longboat Key may rise as much as 5 feet to 6 feet by year 2100 (high prediction) and could be 2 to 3 feet high by 2050 (high prediction). Based on the recent

understanding of accelerating sea level rise, the high prediction is much more likely to occur, and perhaps sooner, than the median prediction currently used in long term planning. The mid-term and longterm recommendations incorporate these updated projections based on the higher Army Corps of Engineers predictions in order to accommodate for the recent measured acceleration.

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Sea Level Rise Projected

UF Geoplan, US Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA

3 Foot Rise Median Estimate Year: 2100

Sea levels at Longboat Key are likely to increase at least 3 feet by 2050, and could increase as much as 5 feet or higher as early as 2035 according to recent measurements and glacial melting observations.

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5 Foot Rise High Estimate Year: 2100

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Existing Land-Use Map Longboat Key’s existing land use regulations date back to the 1980’s and as is pointed out very clearly in the ULI Advisory Board report, the regulations are out of date. Perhaps more importantly, they are out of step with current citizen expectations for community amenities and lifestyles. This issue is coupled with building stock that was constructed speculatively over 30 years ago - which is also largely in need of substantial renovation or replacement. Significant changes to the land use regulations will be needed to accommodate and ultimately to finance any advancement in the redevelopment, development and enhanced quality of Longboat Key.

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Future Land-Use Map As mandated by the State of Florida’s statutes, the Town of Longboat Key must adopt and maintain a FLUM (Future Land-Use Map) as part of its Comprehensive Plan. The FLUM is the “blueprint” for the future development and population accommodation of the Town. However, the Town’s FLUM and accompanying Future Land Use Element does not reflect uses – especially density – that currently exists, or are reasonably foreseeable from the standpoint of redevelopment. Very little redevelopment has occurred other than the singlefamily residential housing bubble that preceded the “great recession” of 2008. The Town has begun the process of amending the Comprehensive Plan and FLUM to better reflect what actually exists on the ground. This is a step in the right direction.

And, moving forward as part of the overarching future land use planning effort, the Town may also consider a rational approach to understanding its human population carrying capacity, the typologies of the built environment, and desirable land uses that will support a sustainable future as it reforms the Comprehensive Plan.

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MUC-1 MUC-1

Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico

Future L CG General Commercial

Future L

CG Highway General Commercial CH Commercial CH Limited Highway Commercial CL Commercial CL Limited Commercial INS Institutional INSIsland Institutional IP Preserve: 1 DU/5 ACRES IP Island Preserve: 1 DU/5Service ACRES MCS Marine Commercial MCS Marine Service MUC-1 MixedCommercial Use Community (Bay Isles): 3.26 DU/ACRE MUC-1 Mixed Use Community (Islandside): (Bay Isles): 3.26 MUC-2 5.05DU/ACRE U/ACRE

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MUC-2 Mixed Use Community (Promenade/Water (Islandside): 5.05 U/ACRE MUC-3 Club): 11

MUC-3 Use Community (Promenade/Water Club): 11 OI OfficeMixed Institutional OI Office Institutional

Saraso Sarasota Bay Sarasota Bay

Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico

¯¯

Sarasota Bay Sarasota Bay USCa -r 1a s o t a B a y

M UC-1

MU UC C -- 33 M U C - 2M MUC-2

of Mexico

Land Use Designations

Land Use Designations

M MU UC C -- 33 M MU UC C -- 33

Future Land Use Designations CG General Commercial CH Highway Commercial CL Limited Commercial INS Space Institutional OS-A Open - Active IP Island Preserve: 1 DU/5 ACRES OS-A Open Space - Active OS-C Open Space Conservation MCSSpace Marine Commercial Service OS-C Conservation OS-P Open - Passive MUC-1 Mixed Use Community (Bay Isles): 3.26 DU/ACRE OS-P High Open Space - Passive RH-6 Density SF/Mixed Residential: 6 DU/ACRE MUC-2 Mixed Use Community (Islandside): 5.05 U/ACRE RH-6 Low High Density SF/Mixed Residential: 6 DU/ACRE RL-1 Density SF Residential: 1 DU/ACRE MUC-3 Mixed Use Community (Promenade/Water Club): 11.26 DU/ACRE RL-1 Density SF Residential: 1 RL-2 Low 2 DU/ACRE OIDensity Office Institutional RL-2 SF Residential: 2 DU/ACRE3 DU/ACRE RM-3Low Medium Density SF/Mixed Residential: RM-3 Medium Density SF/Mixed Residential: 4 3 DU/ACRE RM-4

1.26 DU/ACRE

RM-4 Medium Density SF/Mixed Residential: 4 DU/ACRE TRC-3 Med. Density Tourist Resort/Commercial: 3 U/ACRE

1.26 DU/ACRE

TRC-3 High-Density Med. Density Tourist Resort/Commercial: Resort/Commercial: 63 U/ACRE U/ACRE TRC-6 TRC-6 High-Density Tourist Resort/Commercial: 6 U/ACRE

TO WN OF

OS-A OpenL Space - Active O NTG BWONA T O O FK E Y F OO RA ID OS-C Open - Conservation L Space O N GL B T AK E Y

FL ORIDA OS-P Open Space - Passive

0.4 High Density SF/Mixed Residential: 6 DU/ACRE RH-6 0.035 00.1 0.070.14 FUTURE LAND USE MAP Miles Miles 0.4 Miles 0.035 00.1 0.070.14 RL-1 Low Density SF Residential: 1 DU/ACRE FUTURE LAND USE MAP Miles MilesLow DensityMiles RL-2 SF Residential: 2 DU/ACRE

This is to certify that this is the Official Zoning Map of the Town of Longboat Key as ofDensity the adoption of Ordinance No. 2014-22.

Medium Residential: DU/ACRE This isRM-3 to certify that this is theSF/Mixed Official Zoning Map of3the Town Adoption Date: ________ of Longboat Key as ofDensity the adoption of Ordinance No. 42014-22.

RM-4 Medium SF/Mixed Residential: DU/ACRE Adoption a t t e s tDate: e d ________

TRC-3 Med. Density Tourist Resort/Commercial: 3 U/ACRE

atte sted ________________________ __________________________ TRC-6 High-Density Tourist Resort/Commercial: 6 U/ACRE Mayor Town Clerk __________________________ ________________________ Mayor Town Clerk Prepared by Rev. July 2015, Arnold Department of Planning, Zoning, & Prepared by Rev. July 2015, Arnold Building Department of Planning, Zoning, & Town of Longboat Key FLU Map.mxd Building Town of Longboat Key FLU Map.mxd

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Longboat Key Development History Much of the early history is excerpted from Historical Development of Longboat Key, FL; Parker, Amber and Major, Elizabeth, New College of Florida under the supervision of Dr. David Brain.

The Calusa and Timucan Indians are earliest known island inhabitants ultimately being displaced after 1538 when Spanish conquistador Juan Anasco first explored the island. Perhaps his warnings that New Pass was only accessible by longboat led to the key’s current name. Spain ceded the Key (as part of Florida) to the US in 1819 and by 1882 the land had been subdivided into parcels to be awarded to early settlers. By 1910, permanent residents Thomas Mann and Bryan Corey had established the first US Post Office. Commerce on Longboat Key at the beginning of the 20th Century derived from a variety of agricultural crops and livestock with commercial development occurring on the North end of the island with the establishment of a hotel, restaurant and the subsequent platting of Longbeach. The hurricane of October 1921 inundated Longboat Key with seawater rendering it unfertile forcing most agricultural interests to relocate. The land languished for a decade while attempts by John Ringling to develop the south end of the Island and efforts by Manatee County to connect the north end for automobile access were ultimately thwarted by the stock market crash of 1929 and a severe storm in 1932.

Development after the 1930s was slow but steady with investment by the Whitney family on north Longboat Key through the 1960’s with the official formation of the Town of Longboat Key. Another period catalyst for development was the new largescale residential development proposed by the Arvida Corporation including 21 new platted developments. Arvida marketed Longboat Key nationally even commissioning the short film Ghost Hotel of Longboat Key produced by Hack Swan shortly before Mr. Ringling’s partially constructed Ritz Carlton Hotel was demolished in 1963. The film espoused the virtues of Longboat Key as the “key to happiness.”

With successful marketing primarily by Arvida, development accelerated to a brisk pace leading to over 70 new subdivisions and condos platted by 1970. Planning consultant Milo Smith pointed out in 1969 that the – then current – zoning would allow up to 65,000 residents on the Key – an amount that deeply concerned some in the community. With the notion of ‘overgrowth’ emerging as a potential threat to the Key’s character, a one-year building moratorium was enacted in 1973. Even with the short moratorium, development continued to increase to a crescendo in the 1980’s resulting in a substantial and pervasive public backlash. By 1984, the Town of Longboat Key had passed a highly restrictive code that immediately transformed nearly 60% of the existing properties to nonconforming status finally producing a dramatic

reduction in new development.

The 1990’s saw a much lower rate of development that was mostly limited to low density residential and condominium developments. The first beach renourishment project occurred in 1993 and multiple philanthropic investments occurred on the Key including the Longboat Key Center for the Arts and Durante Park. Substantial efforts were directed at civic improvements to the infrastructure, maintaining the beach assets, and enhancing character of the shared places during this period.

Recent history includes the closing of the Holiday Inn (2003) and the Colony (2010) greatly reducing tourism units on the island. The Current land use code is too prohibitive by limiting substantial renovations that would transform aging building stock to meet market viability and attract investment.

The Longboat Key Club won a lawsuit against the Town in 2010 with the court ruling that the current regulations are too discretionary and overstep municipal authority. These circumstances

suggest that the current land use regulations are both too ambiguous from a legal perspective and also do not have the elasticity to accommodate the types of development that would largely be publicly viable 43

in terms of enhancing the Key. Change, although necessary, is further encumbered by the limited flexibility in the Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan regarding future land use on the barrier islands.

Manatee County seems to have more flexibility in terms of trade-offs for ecological mitigation – increasing mangrove and natural estuary areas – and the clustering of development that may be allowed to exceed net residential density. It seems inevitable that any substantial advancement in the Town of Longboat Key land development code would involve detailed coordination with Manatee and Sarasota Counties. In both cases, the Future Land Use element, prior to its repeal as a requirement

by Florida Administrative Code (FAC) 9J-5.006 in 2011 called for “…a land use suitability analysis of vacant and undeveloped land as well as an analysis of the need for redevelopment.” Perhaps there is now a strong case for this work to be part of a suitability analysis and the establishment of need for redevelopment and more elasticity for new development on Longboat Key.

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The future distribution, extent and location of generalized land uses are not portrayed for the Barrier Islands, because it is the continued policy of Sarasota County that the intensity and density of future development not exceed that allowed by existing zoning.

Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 9 Future Land Use, Pages 9-15

ULI + UDS Summary of Context 1. Longboat Key is a richly diverse coastal ecology that combines beach, bay, and estuary habitats along a narrow strip of land allowing almost all residents access to water and the natural beauty of the coastal habitat. This character is threatened by sea level rise in the long-term and by beach erosion and storms in the near term through the loss of developed property and economic activity.

2. Longboat Key is an internationally recognized retirement destination offering an overall community composed of a collection of traditional residential neighborhoods, planned developments, compact housing, and condominiums with separate social networks. Particular areas are ready for redevelopment due to aging building stock, contemporary cultural expectations, increasingly stringent building code requirements, market demands for housing amenities, and market opportunities for commerce diversity.

3. Longboat Key is a tourist destination with a diverse collection of luxury resorts, time-share condominiums, and affordable hotels. Some redevelopment of tourist infrastructure is needed and should be considered with regard to density, market demands, building form, existing investment, longevity, and environmental forces.

4. Longboat Key has a rich heritage as a tennis and golf resort community with other recreational activities on the rise including cycling, boating, kayaking, and nature hiking. These types of fitness oriented recreation activities are generally expanding culturally and should guide planning decisions and community design toward enhancing the quality of these experiences.

5. Longboat Key is dynamic in terms of both the coastal geography and the native population subsequently requiring appropriate policies with overlapping planning trajectories – 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 year horizons – coupled with an adaptive management structure to make necessary realignments on an appropriate schedule.

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Longboat Key by Air Aerial perspective has been a vital planning tool since the end of the 19th Century, and has since revolutionized strategic and urban planning in the first half of the 20th Century. Today’s Google Earth provides unprecedented access to aerial ‘plan’ images with amazing currency and accuracy and was used extensively in this effort. However, satellite and ‘plan’ areal imagery is still quite limited in terms of depicting the three dimensional or spatial context in which people live in and move through. Also, plan aerial images can be quite limiting in areas with substantial tree canopy or varying building heights. Therefore, aerial perspective images are utilized when possible in order to qualify the spatial conditions of urban or suburban districts and to better evaluate the proximities and connectedness

of areas that may look substantially different (or similar) on a zoning or land-use map, yet are in fact quite similar (or different) in reality. In addition, this type of imagery allows improved analysis of the relationship between developed and natural areas and the connective tissue – swales, creeks, wetlands, natural vegetative buffers, and landscaping in terms of water flow, ecological corridors, and the potential for either conservation or redevelopment.

The Urban Design Studio team deployed a remote controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at various locations identified as potential opportunity locations along the 10 mile Key. Over a two-day period, high resolution video and higher resolution still images were captured in the following areas: Whitney Beach, Longbeach, Twin Shores, Tourist Hotels, Town Center, Harry’s St. Judes Street area, Bayfront Park, Colony, Chart House area, and Gulf of Mexico Drive. The images were taken nominally at an altitude of 300 to 400 feet. A summary video was provided with the media presentation of the work included in this report. Selected images are included in this section of the report that characterize some of the high priority areas on the Key in terms of developing new land use regulations.

The video and imagery greatly influenced the strategies, recommendations and project proposals included in this report. Of particular clarity in these images is the extent of low-density development on the Key with only a few exceptions including the Twin Shores neighborhood. Furthermore, it is quite clear how the landscape extends out into the bay and gulf suggesting opportunities for more civic interaction in some locations and where conservation efforts might be enhanced in others. There are numerous locations clearly visible with high proximity and low connectivity particularly around the town center. This situation greatly limits the opportunity for walking between residential and commercial areas and must be addressed to order to acheive walkability in support a more vibrant town center and perhaps at other locations on the Key such as Whitney Plaza.

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3

Diagnostic Elements Evaluative Geographical Appraisal Longboat Key is an inhabited barrier Island in the West Coast of Central Florida, in need of future strategies toward resiliency and growth. It is a long and narrow island, 10 miles long with a width varying between 1,000 and 5,000 feet along the island’s course. It is bordered on the west side by the Gulf of Mexico seaboard - pristine quality waters overlooking unobstructed views of the sunset with white sand beaches and sea oat dunes. On the East side it faces Sarasota Bay; a body of clean water that is completely refreshed every two days through the tides that communicate between the bay and the sea through the North and South passes. The western areas of the island face the bay in an intricate pattern of tidal ecologies and have been substantially altered by amphibious developments. The island has interesting preserved ecological zones on the Northern and Southern tips, mangrove islands along the center eastern areas, interspersed with tidal marsh areas. Two public parks with native vegetation allow access to bay views. The Key’s residents circulate internally through a central highway - Gulf of Mexico Drive - leading to neighboring islands and bridging Sarasota Bay to reach the mainland.

Perceptual Identity The Key is traversed along all of its 10 miles of development by Gulf of Mexico Drive, which performs as an arterial connection and provides a unified identity, yet devoid of specificity. The downtown and the private developments are separated by green buffers from the road. Both the bay and the beach are mostly concealed from perception, beyond the private realms, with notable exceptions that suggest intervention possibilities. The Key is a sequence of secluded wealthy environments, relying on other areas surrounding Sarasota Bay for entertainment, dining, health management and specialty shopping.

A significant proportion of the population of the Key is seasonal, peaking between November and March, and reflects a high median age of 71 years old. The 55

resulting identity of Longboat Key is perceived as ambiguous and uninviting by visitors.

strategy for creating elevated soil conditions for surface water intrusion protection.

Environmental Assets and Threats

Storm surge in hurricane conditions - a temporary situation - with higher water levels due to sea level rise, would produce significant devastation to all systems.

The environmental assets include - beside the benign climatic conditions that attract northern visitors during their extended winter conditions - the sea qualities, beach, dunes and depths of the Gulf of Mexico on the western side, and the mangroves, tidal marshes, and shallow depths of Sarasota Bay, with natural depth on the northern edge, and the dredged Intracoastal waterway and resulting shallows. These systems are closely connected and support marine and marsh ecosystems, although under threat by changing conditions, at local environmental levels, planetary conditions, and manmade interventions.

The Gulf of Mexico provides warm, pristine waters, excellent beach, navigation and fishing conditions.

But the resulting erosion of the beach from storms is threatening the existing developments and the permanence of the real estate assets. The bay water quality is excellent, renewed on the frequency of the tides, and sustains estuary and marine nursery conditions, in mangroves and marshes that feed species in the Gulf of Mexico. Mangrove islands offshore are under ecological protection. Mangrove enhancement and regrowth are a viable long term

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Settlement Development, Vulnerability

Assets

and

The area is already developed in the majority of its footprint, with the exception of the Northern and Southern conservation areas, golf courses and midisland parks. The residential developments follow a set of basic repeated typologies that were analyzed in Chapter 3 (Residential Morphologies).

They reveal the existence of well-established neighborhoods, low density developments as well as compact multifamily low and high rise examples, with individual ownership, condominiums and hotels.

Many neighborhoods have direct water access for each home, while some provide collective marinas.

The developments are in the upper tiers of wealth, with a virtual absence of any kind of affordable or workforce housing on the Key. The older historic settlement, Longbeach, though providing deep water access and water-view restaurants, will be structurally affected by sea level rise and will need to adapt in

the short term. Each single typology of development will need to conform over time to changing future conditions, either at individual building conditions, or access and infrastructure issues. The age of some constructions already require replacement, or will in the near future. Density has reached the maximum allowable levels currently alotted by regulation, with any growth requiring code alterations.

We have identified through observation, research and stakeholder’s interviews, the existence of an extensive provision of sports infrastructure (parks, marinas, golf courses, tennis courts, boat ramps and beach access points). Each of these presents its own challenges and possibilities.

Existing parks are lacking common facilities, marinas and boating are in growth demand, golf courses are excellent but have a diminishing usage rate, tennis courts are in short supply after the closure of the Colony, kayak and small craft are lacking ample launch opportunities, and beach access points are extremely restricted - in particular their parking possibilities. Collectively these assets constitute great opportunities for enhancing the Key as a whole through their individual enhancement. established commercial The Downtown district is suffering from the technological change in financial and postage systems turned toward digital technologies and a lack of adjacent housing, offering a redevelopment opportunity. It is the site for religious buildings, recreational clubs, City Hall and the main grocery store, with vast areas allocated to surface parking, mostly vacant. The Centre Shops supply the island with specialty stores, while the Whitney Plaza shops have a very limited commercial energy while being located in a site with great potential for increased attractiveness, linked to a bayou, and with the potential to become a gateway to Longbeach. The restaurants at the tip of Longbeach offer a culinary bayside destination.

The

Key

has

three

districts, with uneven vitality.

Mobility and Infrastructure Access to the Key is achieved through Manatee County’s bridge, in the North, and the Sarasota Bridge in the South. In both situations, the route is heavily loaded with low density residential neighborhoods with this route as the only access. In high season, traffic congestion is a recurring feature.

The main internal connector, Gulf of Mexico Drive, a two lane road, possesses a generous right of way capable of accepting increased lanes and expanded modes of mobility. No reliable public transportation

system exists, and separate lanes for cycles are available albeit limited. Many inhabitants transport themselves in electric golf carts through the main highway.

Regarding navigation access, private marinas facing the bay offer limited infrastructure for the private residential areas, and the Key lacks welcoming public quays or marinas, beyond the contested and unequipped mooring available in the northern end at Longbeach. The Intracoastal Waterway traverses Sarasota Bay in proximity to the Key and could potentially host intensified and reliable transportation to the mainland.

Utilities on the island are managed by Sarasota County facilities for refuse disposal, sewage collection and treatment. Water supply is managed through a facility located in the Southern protected area where the Water Storage plant is located, and is vulnerable to sea level rise.

Opportunities and Threats Though the Town of Longboat Key shares the recognized risk factors with the vaster West Florida coast’s urban and natural areas, it offers greater opportunities to transform these risks into positive outcomes. Ecological risk factors include the episodic incidence of hurricane and storm surge, the relentless recurrence of beach erosion, and encroaching sea level rise. These factors, unaddressed, could result in lost natural habitats, impaired natural assets, and dangerous operations of the infrastructural systems. The risk affects also the built environment, in particular the earlier tourist developments and the low lying connective and infrastructural systems. The civic awareness manifested through the consensus on the need for planning ordinance changes and revision of the land use code offers the opportunity of a strategic response to the environmental threats, steering development towards community goals and contributing to create economic prosperity opportunities while providing safe guards against the threats. The proposed strategies of leveraging new opportunities will perform the double purpose of defending the key assets while also guiding the needed revitalization.

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Population and Carrying Capacity

Excerpted from Carrying Capacity of Longboat Key Florida, Josh Berry, PhD candidate.

During the 1970’s, the residents and leaders of Longboat Key were presented with the possibility of growing to a community of 65,000 people – if the town was built out as allowed at that time – during a period of unprecedented rapid growth including single family residences and high/mid rise condominiums. Although communities are rarely built out at the allowable densities, this fear propelled the adoption of a comprehensive plan in 1984 that what was essentially a moratorium on any substantial new development and made much the existing development non-conforming. If new development is to be allowed, what should the limits on that development be and what could be the rationale for establishing those limits. As a diagnostic element, this section addresses those possibilities in a cursory overview and suggests that part of the reconsideration of the land use regulations is to establish a viable target population for Longboat Key and then a method for allowing any additional development to be deployed strategically throughout the Key. For a barrier island, the primary environmental factors limiting population include utility infrastructure (water, waste water), mobility (automobile, boat), and evacuation capacity. As of 2013, Longboat Key’s permanent residential population was 7,082.

However, during peak tourist season the population can rise to as high as 22,000. Due to the drastic difference between peak season and low season populations, the Town calculates the “functional population” for planning purpose. As of 2013 the LBK functional population was 16,344.

The LBK potable water supply is established at a level of service of 120 gallon’s per person per day and supported by a contract with Manatee County to provide 2.5 million gallons per day in reserve for LBK use. The actual LBK water use is only 98.7 gallon’s per person per day leaving a current reserve.

Under the current level of service, without water conservation strategies and without contracting or additional reserves, there is enough water to support a population of 20,833. Additionally, the Town has initiated a highly successful six-point water conservation strategy that has kept the actual use well below the reserved level of service and that trend is projected out to 2025.

Waste water is ported to the mainland for processing in a 20-inch sub-aqueous sewer line with a capacity 58

of 6,000 GPM, or 8.64 MGD. This functionally establishes the maximum limit of waste water that can be carried and processed at the current facility. This number also assumes that the facility can accommodate the capacity of the waste line connected to the facility. Based on the level of service established by the Town of 109 gallons per day per person, the current infrastructure could accommodate 79,266 people.

At the time of this study, Longboat Key is negotiating with Florida Power and Light (FPL) to either replace the existing power poles or to relocate the power lines into an underground configuration that will maintain current capacity or expand capacity. FPL currently has five underground power lines supporting LBK and can add lines or increase voltage to expand power if needed. Additionally, there is the potential so supplement the power during peak load time (the afternoon) with solar power located on the island.

Peak load periods (afternoons) are typically when use approaches the available capacity. If those periods are managed effectively – moving unnecessary loads to off-peak times that could include strategies such as ice storage for cooling, or supplementing peak periods with solar power – then there is ample power for general use during off-peak times. The Town of Longboat Key may consider incentivizing peak power reduction strategies and supplemental power. Power availability is not a limiting factor on the population of Longboat Key. Evacuation is a bit more complicated than utilities as the assumptions are more layered, behavior is more of a factor, emergency events vary, and the distribution of population within automobiles is difficult to predict.

Also, the distribution of the population on the Key through and how they select the two routes available is a difficult factor to estimate with accuracy. For the purposes of this conceptual estimate, the “Clearance time” – by the SWFRPC as “The time necessary to safely evacuate vulnerable residents and visitors to a ‘point of safety’ within the region – of 10 hours is used. Four more critical suppositions were made to derive a conservative estimate of the population that could be safely evacuated: 1) the entire key would need to be evacuated; 2) that there are 1.1 vehicles per household to be evacuated; 3) that evacuees will distribute themselves to the north or south based on the county they live in; and 4) traffic on evacuation routes will remain operating with two way traffic (the normal condition). Calculating the populations that would meet the 10 hour “clearing time” requirement, based on the assumptions above – Manatee County (11,290) and Sarasota County (11,455) – suggests a limit of 22,745 people. Should an acute emergency arise, one-way traffic flow (all lanes flowing to safety)

Population and Carrying Capacity Limits Table 2013 Functional Population

16,344

Potential Population Constraint Potable Water Capacity Wastewater Capacity Clearing Time (Emergency Evacuation) Current Population Excess Capacity on the available routes could substantially reduce the evacuation time to allow higher populations or shorter clearance times. Perhaps this reserve in evacuation capacity is appropriate to provide safe evacuations during the peak season populations.

This conceptual evaluation of carrying capacity suggests Longboat Key could accommodate up to nearly 4,500 new residents based on the general planning assumptions and projections currently inplace. The limiting factor – potable water – could also be extended based on the success of water conservation strategies already in place and this could be reassessed in future years. The peak

Population 20833 79266 22745 4489

season population estimate of 22,000 is quite close to the clearing time allowance however, the peak season does not coincide with the storm season and one-way traffic evacuation would substantially increase the population limit. The current utility

and transportation infrastructure could accommodate up to a 27% increase in the functional population of Longboat Key. How

additional people would be considered in terms of seasonal, permanent residents and the distribution of new dwelling units on the key should be considered and addressed in the new land development regulations.

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5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Center 5. Shops Center and Shops Durant andPark Durant Park Hilton 6.Hotel Hilton SiteHotel Site Bayfront 7. Park Bayfront Park Manufactured 8. Manufactured Homes Village Homes Village The9.

Beach TheHotel Beach Hotel The10.

Diplomat The Diplomat Downtown 11. Downtown Colony 12. Colony South 13.KeySouth Threshold Key Threshold

4 2

5

2 3

5 7

3 1

1

Locations of Opportunity 1. Gulf of Mexico Drive 2. Longbeach Village 3. Whitney Plaza and Ringling Arts Center 4. Harry’s and St. Jude Street 5. Centre Shops and Durante Park 6. Hilton Hotel Site 7. Bayfront Park 8. Manufactured Home Village 9. The Beach Hotel 10. The Diplomat 11. Downtown 12. The Colony 13. South Key Threshold

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4

6

6

4

Locations of Opportunity

13 12 7

8

8

9

11

910

13 12

11

10

The project team identified thirteen locations of opportunity representing the diversity of issues uncovered in the recent ULI and UDS studies.

The observations and recommendations provide the Town of Longboat Key a framework if issues and strategies for future development of the Key that can be translated into the language of the land development code. These sites expand the “Opportunity Focus” recommendations from the ULI Panel Report (Whitney Beach area, Bayfront Park, and the Downtown). Based on the UDS tours of the Key and discussions with Longboat Key planning staff and stakeholders, there are a multiple additional opportunities distributed along the 10-mile length of Longboat Key suggesting a fine grain or district approach underpinning the land development code.

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and long-term redevelopment and development strategies. Sixteen individual project interventions are presented In Chapter 7–Conceptual Design Proposals, representing a range of development and redevelopment strategies – as integrated schematic design proposals – within the ten selected opportunity locations. The information presented in this Locations of Opportunity section summarizes the observations made during field investigations; presents the priority issues revealed through the study; and suggests the preliminary ideas to be tested and expanded through the project interventions. The project interventions are presented in the following sections of Chapter 4.

The diversity of unique conditions suggests a polycentric organizational strategy that nurtures the localized character of these notable places. The project team has selected

ten priority sites that are well suited to represent the diversity of typological conditions on Longboat Key with the potential to demonstrate near, mid 61

Gulf of Mexico Drive Main transportation artery spanning the length of Longboat Key.

Observations: • Gulf of Mexico Drive is also State Route 789 traversing the full length of Longboat Key, giving access through Anna Maria Island to the Manatee County mainland and South to US 41 through Lido Key, St Armands Key, and then bridging to the mainland at the downtown of the City of Sarasota.

GMD is the main island thoroughfare, connecting the residential, commercial, beach access points, public venues, downtown, emergency services, and utilities. It has a 100 feet right of way (ROW).

• During high season months, November to April, GMD experiences substantial congestion along the corridor and along the connecting roads to the mainland. This situation presents risks, associated with GMD’s role as an evacuation route during high tourist season.

• Different modalities of transportation use GMD as the main transportation artery: resident’s cars, visitor’s cars, pass through cars, delivery trucks, utilities and security vehicles, buses, golf carts, bicycles and pedestrians.

• GMD is a single lane road in each direction without a median or physical speed limitation mechanisms. There are turning lanes a high volume interchanges such as the downtown and Longboat Key Club.

• On the east side of the road, there is a narrow pedestrian path that also receives the bus stops, yet there are discontinuities at certain locations and ambiguity when the path meets large parking/ entry areas.

• For most of its length GMD does not allow views to the Sarasota Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, with the notable exception from North of the downtown 62

to Bayfront Park where it borders the Beach for about three quarters of a mile. At other locations, the road is bordered primarily by dense vegetated buffers shielding most of the residential areas from view or allows views to the finely manicured golf courses at the south end of the Key. Responses: • Though the design of GMD was not undertaken directly, the studio developed connecting responses along its length that illustrate important enhancements.

• Enhancements were proposed to the right of way section to make it more inclusive, adding an expanded the facilities for safe and shaded circulation of pedestrians, cyclists and golf carts.

Additionally, many small and lightweight personal electrical vehicles are emerging in the consumer market that could provide safe and efficient mobility for many of the residents on the island other than traditional automobiles. In European contexts, these are allocated to the cycle pedestrian path system rather than with heavy vehicles on the arterial roads.

• Traffic Circles are proposed at the entrance of the most important access points, providing a hierarchical marking to the presently uneventful itinerary. Additionally, this will slow traffic while also providing a more efficient interchange allowing more vehicles to transit in a given period of time – potentially reducing congestion.

• Introduce the concept of golf cart or alternative lightweight vehicle for individual transportation to the Key.

• Consider a pedestrian, bicycle, golf cart, personal vehicle exclusive link to the Sarasota Downtown via a new bridge from City Island to the location of the former Quay (Fruitville Road terminus).

Promote alternative transportation modalities to diminish automobile congestion.

• Propose the implementation of a new vehicular bridge connecting to Bradenton at Southwest 75th Street and at GMD where the Police and Fire stations are located – perhaps between the Police Station and the Centre Shops. This would substantially reduce congestion getting on and off of the Key by providing direct mainland access avoiding the need to transit through the nearby islands. It would significantly improve evacuation options and perhaps improve emergency services to the Key. Lastly, this new infrastructure could catalyze development in the languishing area between Bradenton and Sarasota. Please refer to the master plan alternative Connections and Centralities – page 86.

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Longbeach and Bayside Broad Street acts as a civic way between Gulf of Mexico Drive and bayside restaurants, deepwater mooring and associated existing public dock/ramp infrastructure.

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Observations:

Responses:

• Longbeach has notable historic platting with a viable grid network of streets and alleys.

• There currently exists a grass-roots culture of extended duration mooring in the unique deepwater cove.

• The restaurants on the water enjoy a great reputation for authentic marine dining.

• The area is essentially separated from the rest of the key by marsh and creeks, some navigable, with Broad Street as the only access point.

• The area has a diverse mix of new, period, and perhaps historic residences on 0.2 to 0.25 acre lots with a nominal overall density of 3.5 units per acre.

• Enhance the character of Broad Street as gateway/ connector to the Gulf of Mexico for pedestrians and cyclists. Refer also recommendations for Whitney Beach.

• Explore increased housing density as single family residential on smaller lots.

• Explore row house (0 lot line) housing utilizing street and alley to increase density while maintaining residential fabric.

• Explore potential as formalized mooring community with support infrastructure as part of expanded commercial elements and perhaps condominium housing.

• Consider adding a transit stop at this location (preferably with 15 minute service) • Explore alley and grid structure and mixed demographic housing (in family or family managed second units) – doubling the number of units per site. This could take the form of garage apartments or bungalows with alley access.

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Whitney Beach / Plaza / Arts Center A loosely defined commercial cluster associated with the beach access and the Broad Street and Gulf of Mexico Drive Intersection. This commerce area is in close proximity the Longboat Key Center of the Arts currently located within the Longbeach residential neighborhood.

Observations: • The intersection of Gulf of Mexico Drive and Broad Street is underutilized as commercial gateway (to the Key, Gulf of Mexico, and Longbeach) and the buildings are currently dated.

• There are undeveloped parcels separating the current structures and diffusing any concentration of commercial activity. Approximately 6.3 Acres including the Whitney Plaza, a vacant parcel, office building, vacated gas station and small real estate office.

• Whitney Plaza does not take advantage of the natural beauty of the canal as a destination for fine dining/shopping – this will need careful consideration to be compatible with adjacent residential development.

• Parking, as a large lot without shade, is not compatible with resort-oriented commerce.

• Close proximity to the Longboat Key Center for the Arts is not engaged.

• There is proximity to two public beach access points and the opportunity for more beachoriented commerce.

Responses: • Explore the Broad Street/Gulf of Mexico Drive intersection and adjacent area as landmark entry feature for Longboat Key. Perhaps a pedestrian overpass could achieve this while improving pedestrian use of the beach – reducing the need for parking in the beach neighborhood.

• Land use regulation should promote and incentivize live-work community forms with mixed 66

use and mixed demographic development. High proximity adjacency (horizontal) may be preferred over stacked mixed use or single housing over shops (row typologies).

• A built-up development of three to five stories along Gulf of Mexico Drive can provide an acoustic buffer between the road an the Longbeach neighborhood to the west.

• Add a transit stop at this location (preferably with 15 minute service).

• Explore new physical and social connectivity to the Arts Center. This could occur through pedestrian access south along and then over the canal connecting at Jackson Way. Or, by extending pedestrian access across the canal at Cedar Street by extending the ROW. This connectivity could reinforce the current arts center while diverting traffic to the more commercial oriented plaza.

In addition, the arts center could have galleries in Whitney Plaza and in the Longboat Key town center.

• Commercial/housing regulations should steer development to take advantage of the natural features of the canal as a destination – restaurants and foods shops.

• Encourage a street grid/system that diffuses parking – on-street, head in, diagonal – within the fabric rather than large parting lots.

• Development scale should be consistent with parking structures (also an acoustic buffer opportunity).

• Consider land use that promotes 18 hour activity.

• Allow for a fuel station perhaps with hydrogen or solar rapid charging.

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Mid-Key:

St. Jude’s Drive to Jungle Way Neighborhood with commercial uses on Gulf of Mexico Drive and compact canal neighborhood with channel access.

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Observations:

Responses:

• Lots are approximately 120’x75’ (0.20 acres) with the long side facing the street and canal.

• Density is approximately 4.0 dua.

• Potential for increased density as part of diverse options for market driven redevelopment.

• Commercial area at Gulf of Mexico Drive has ambiguous vehicular circulation logic with repetitive access (curb cuts) leading to multiple pedestrian/automobile conflict points.

• Limited economy housing exists adjacent to the commercial entities.

• Consider designating as an activity node with improved pedestrian crossing and circulation.

• Explore land use regulations to promote reconfiguration of vehicular circulation/parking efficiency within existing fabric at commercial area on Gulf of Mexico Drive (near term).

• Add a transit stop at this location (preferably with 15 minute service) • Provide land use regulations that promote mixed use and hire density residential. This could be apartment/condo in the mixed-use area.

• Explore land use regulations that allow increases in residential units with water access to move from single family home to zero lot line row type housing. Regulations should also require higher levels of resiliency with raised minimum base elevations.

• Consider an open space requirement with small community park/green to provide open area as trade-off for increased residential density.

• Explore slight increases in density (verticality) and improved architectural quality for market rate redevelopment.

• Explore the commercial to residential transect from Gulf of Mexico Drive to the canal homes.

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Mid-Key:

Centre Shops of Longboat Key Existing commercial plaza adjacent to municipal buildings and Durante Park.

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Observations:

Responses:

• Approximately 4,000 sf of commercial space organized around a well-landscaped parking lot with service parking in rear.

• Businesses appear to be well patronized.

• The parcel between the shops and the Police Station seems underutilized.

• There is very limited visibility between the shops and Gulf of Mexico Drive • The municipal buildings do not have visibility to Gulf of Mexico Drive.

• Consider linking the Centre Shops of Longboat Key with Durante Park – pedestrian/bicycle access.

• Improve cycle pedestrian infrastructure along Gulf of Mexico Drive at this location – shade and perhaps a surface crossing with caution lights or paving indicators.

• Add a transit stop – this would also serve Durante Park with better connectivity.

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Mid-Key:

Twin Shores Existing manufactured home community with direct Bay and Gulf access.

Observations:

Responses:

• Residential density of approximately 24 dua.

• Most homes built before 1970 but are kept in very

• Incentivize newer and more resilient construction types. This may even be considered as a complete redevelopment strategy increasing vertical height (protection from storm surge/flood and improved view) and adding additional amenity at the ground.

• Improve cycle pedestrian infrastructure along Gulf of Mexico Drive at this location – shade and perhaps a surface crossing with caution lights or paving indicators.

• Add a transit stop at this location (preferably with 15 minute service).

good condition.

• Marina with access to Intracoastal Waterway system.

• Direct access and view (across Gulf of Mexico Drive) to Gulf of Mexico.

• Community green space, club house and pool.

• Although there is ample dune and grass, the

residents are highly exposed to storm damage given the dwelling construction, and thinness of the key at that location - a quarter mile (1,300 ft).

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Bayfront Park Currently in redesign phase (master plan concept) as a joint Town of Longboat Key and Sarasota County project with expanded footprint to the South and North.

Observations:

• Current activities include recreation center, youth

Responses:

north and south.

• Consider pedestrian overpass between Bayfront Park and the Beach.

• Explore optimization of design for enhanced and expanded uses – civic events.

• Park proposals reviewed as part of this report could be more expansive in their vision – consider an enhanced civic pavilion and an organizational strategy that optimizes views to the bay. This could include structures on the bay side.

• Renovation priorities include a rebuild of the

• •

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beach access – 4001 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

baseball field, and tennis courts among others.

• Current plans call for substantial expansion to the

•

• Is located across Gulf of Mexico Drive from public

current pavilion, an open pavilion, a kayak launch, lawn sports (bocci, bowling, croquette, putting), expansion of ball field (adults), picnic facilities, children’s playground, dog park, and lap pool.

New programs include community education classes (sailing, boating, fishing, aerobics, tennis), and support for community meetings and events.

Adjacent to commerce plaza – Ace Hardware and others.

Straddles Sarasota/Manatee County line – midkey location.

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Town Center Includes the post office, library, recreational tennis facilities and the Publix/CVS shopping area among other commercial enterprises.

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Observations:

Responses:

• There is a mix of civic, cultural, recreational and commercial uses.

• The town center is nominally 45 acres in area.

• There are two vehicular access points to the main arterial Gulf of Mexico Drive – Bay Isles Parkway and Bay Isles Road providing a ‘loop’ traffic configuration.

• The land use regulations seem to be derived from typical suburban office park models with buildings pulled back from the streets (setbacks), large areas of surface parking and limited landscaped buffer areas.

• The morphology is somewhat ambiguous oscillating between a grid and a curvilinear suburban form.

Ambiguity between streets, driveways, parking lot circulators, and roundabouts.

• The Bay Isles golf course is adjacent to the town center on the east side providing dramatic view opportunities yet limiting the number of residences within walking distance to the downtown.

• The current compliment of uses fits within a 0.20 mile radius – considered ideal for a pedestrian oriented town center.

• Vacant land currently exists in addition to structures that seem to be appropriate for redevelopment.

• Develop clear hierarchy for organizing the entire downtown – main and secondary streets.

• Establish build to lines rather than setbacks.

• Sidewalks should be ample and provided on both sides of the street.

• Take advantage of the ‘loop’ organization to optimize commercial interaction – this avoids end turnarounds and lets people engage from many different points • Designate civic space (plaza and or park) for cultural events and transient markets – farmers, crafts, arts, foods.

• Provide housing alternatives in the regulations to accommodate, condo, apartment, row and mixeduse development. Housing should be strategically located to buffer increased commercial activity from existing adjacent housing.

• Consider a traffic circle at Gulf of Mexico Drive and Bay Isles Parkway.

• Consider a traffic shelf or other calming device at Gulf of Mexico Drive and Bay Isles Road to enhance pedestrian crossing.

• Explore potential as a ‘density receiving area’ from other areas on the Key. • Consider incentivizing a medical facility in the downtown that could range from an urgent care clinic to health care spa/resort.

• Consider land use that promotes extended hours of use (18 hour program).

• Consider out-parcels at the Publix parking lot to establish a pedestrian promenade along Bay Isles Parkway with two story buildings that can take advantage of the golf course view – restaurants, service providers, or mixed use.

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The Colony An abandoned 273-unit beach and tennis resort on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Observations:

Responses:

• The site measures approximately 19 acres with almost 900 feet of beachfront and over 900 feet of depth between Gulf of Mexico Drive and the Beach.

• The existing structures include frame and masonry construction that are quite outdated in terms of code compliance and marketability. They are likely not salvageable given the code issues and degradation since they have not been inhabited for an extended period of time.

• The current density is slightly over 14 dua with 24% of the site covered with occupiable structures (not including tennis courts – 18%).

• Residential occupation with low-rise, compact quality design could achieve 30 to 40 dua. Row type housing could also improve energy use substantially over the current multiple structures model and be much more resilient in storms.

• For resort oriented development, consider site FAR as a measurement criteria rather than density (dua) in terms of residential occupation. For example, one dwelling unit within 3.5 dua (typical Longboat Key residential) could have 4 to 5 bedrooms while resort housing may have only one to three bedrooms. Therefore, the units (dua) do not really reflect the use accurately.

• New and redevelopment on the beach should also supply resources for beach renourishment – this should be codified as a long-term infrastructural cost.

• The notion that redevelopment must take the exact form as the current development is clearly problematic in this precedent case. That notion within Longboat Key and Sarasota County will need to be challenged to avoid a coast of condominium ruins.

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South Key Threshold Charthouse Restaurant and shops, entry to the Longboat Key Club.

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Observations:

Responses:

• This prominent location was selected as the site of Sarasota’s first Ritz Carlton Hotel that unfortunately was abandoned during construction. Even though the project was not completed, it played an important role in establishing Longboat Key as an important luxury vacation site.

• The site is approximately 13 acres south of the Longboat Key Club clubhouse, spa, and driving range – south of Longboat Club Key Drive.

• The existing buildings include masonry structures and currently abandoned tennis courts. The Longboat Key Club seems to have relocated their tennis facilities north within the Bay Isles property.

• The Chart House restaurant has been established as a destination yet the retail businesses in the facility have very little visibility and likely rely heavily on Key residences for commerce.

• The protected lagoon provides ample and perhaps untapped opportunity for boat commerce with excellent access to the Intracoastal Waterway and Gulf of Mexico at New Pass.

• Consider incentivizing an iconic project at this location that could establish an entry marker for the Key. This would likely included a resort/hotel or other destination commerce that could capture boat tourism, recreation tourists and other visitors that could compliment the market served by the Longboat Key Club • The site also provides opportunities for access to the nature walk.

• The site offers the opportunity for panoramic views from an elevated location – a key feature of the original Ritz Carlton hotel design.

• New development could be regulated through floor area ratio (FAR) rather than by dwelling unit per acre (dua) to allow for temporary tourist occupation without compromising limits on dwelling units – typically for permanent residential dwelling.

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5

Possible Futures regarding strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities and threats, as well opportunities identified are briefly described in text form next to their individual proposal drawing. The College of Design Construction and planning expanded team provided insight, as well as technical support for this analytical stage, in particular regarding Sea Level Rise predictions at individual parcel level.

Four students’ teams were formed, involving multiple students, with the task of diagnosing the key physical and activities conditions at the broader territorial scale. The teams were asked to examine the barrier island condition in the context limited by the Gulf of Mexico and the Sarasota Bay and the adjoining mainland, only in their influence to the Key. The scope of this examination was to be focused on determining the main assets to be affirmed, defended and developed towards bringing elements to a land use Master plan. At this stage of the study, the main priorities centered on the natural conditions, the infrastructural concerns, the activities and the developed land potential. The Sea Level Rise issues for the Barrier Island condition became an underlying consideration in the wake of future impact into existing investments and life styles present in the Island.

The four team’s diagnosis is individually partial in their consideration and emphasis, but they are able to identify as a class, the main aspects of the underlying conditions. Their individual visions, and the presentation and discussion of their ideas contributed to raise and complete the class consciousness on the breath of the needed considerations, while bringing depth to certain aspects, selected by the team as determining factors. Their diagnostic findings,

In the light of their selected aspects diagnostics, but incorporating the other team’s analysis, the four teams also individually developed then at territorial scale, their Master plan proposals, that are presented and briefly described in the following pages. The Master Plans include the identification of design exploration sites that would be representative of more generalized strategies and would exemplify and support changes in infrastructure, mobility, residential typologies, density, land use, economic development, public space and conservation of natural aspects .The identified exploration sites then support projects that can perform as testing grounds for code and land use modifications. The projects also include the development of innovative programmatic opportunities, individually later exemplified by the students. The individual Master plans will be described in their diagnostic and prepositive aspects through the lens of and following the sequence of: infrastructure, mobility, urban development, economic and activity systems, and natural systems.

Finally, the teams’ proposals have been combined in a composite Master plan strategy, developed after extensive joint examination and discussion, that is inclusive of the individual plans, but selective towards the main proposals that the whole group prioritizes.

This combined Master plan, displays the identified universe of possibilities, unfiltered by the stakeholders ‘views that will introduce phasing aspects along the XXI Century, priorities and feasibility considerations.

The proposals and projects shown in the Master plans can be associated between themselves in diverse combinations.

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Layered Mobilities Team 1: Jessica Phillips, India Brooks, Lauren Day, Alex Schmidt

Diagnostic Highlights: Endangered water treatment

plant, lack of character of Gulf of Mexico Drive (GMD), incomplete modal split resolution, absence of water borne transportation systems, congested traffic conditions in high season or emergency, difficult access to beaches, identified neignborhoods vulnerable to SLR (Sea Level Rise), presence of opportunity sites for economic redevelopment including Bradenton, need to strengthen commercial locations, identifiable floodable endangered natural areas.

Existing potential for increased water transportation systems implementation.

Proposal

Highlights: Protect jointly Southern tip water plant and natural areas. Fortify aquatic mobility with the creation of multiple public ports/ marinas. Redesign GMD to become multi-modal, demoting car mobility and enhancing alternative modes, promote cross island pedestrian options and connections to mainland urban developments, create new programs. Sites were identified towards the development of these ideas.

Intervention Sites: Longbeach Village, Durante Park, Bayfront Park, The Colony, downtown, southern island tip, Gulf of Mexico Drive.

84

P

Bradenton

P

New Development Manatee County

P

New Development P Manatee County P

Gulf of Mexico

P

Sarasota Bay

P

P P

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P

P

P

P

Ringling Museum

P

Lido Key The Quay P

New Marina Parking

Pedestrian Overcross

Proposed Development

Gulf of Mexico Drive

New Marina

Water Way

Existing Bridge

Parking

Pedestrian Overcross

Proposed Development

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Water Way

Existing Bridge

P

Sara

Bird Key

Lido Key The Quay

Bird Key

Sarasota Siesta Key

85 Siesta Key

Connections and Centralities Team 2: Di Hu, Hsiao-Tung Hung, Jesse Mantohoc, Craig Nightingale, Xuancheng Zhu Diagnostic Highlights: Vulnerability of existing older bridges and insufficient evacuation capacity, lack of water borne transportation systems, insufficient parking capacity on island, lack of links to main land attractors, lack of programs generating opportunities, vulnerable residential typologies, opportunities for linking key to mainland via innovative modalities, high vulnerability of coastal beaches to erosion degradation.

Proposal Highlights: Promote new ports and

marinas, build a new motor vehicle bridge in the North, and a new pedestrian bridge in the South, establishing new connections to mainland. Link the art districts on the mainland (Ringling, Quay) to new venue on the southern tip of key by water transportation. New programs to be established; dense residential, Art Museum, international standards resort, health care resort. Pool based defensive systems for beach erosion.

Intervention Sites: Whitney Plaza, North Key

entrance, Longbeach, downtown, the Colony, South Key entrance, Gulf of Mexico Drive.

86

P

New Developmen Manatee County P

Bradenton

P P

New Development Manatee County P

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P P

Gulf of Mexico

P

Sarasota Bay

P

P

P P

P

Traffic Circle P

New Marina

Pedestrian Overcross

Lido Key

Ringling Museum The Quay

P

Parking

Bird Key

Water Way

New Vehicular Bridge

Cultural Triangle Connection

Existing Bridge

Traffic Circle

Proposed Development

Reef Proposal

New Marina

Pedestrian Overcross

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

P

Lido Key

Siesta Key The Quay

Bird Key

Water Way

Sara

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Sarasota

New Vehicular Bridge

Cultural Triangle Connection

Existing Bridge

Proposed Development

Reef Proposal

87 Siesta Key

Modified Ecologies Team 3: Alexander Thomas, Emily Porter, Shane LaMay, Matt Kaminsky

Diagnostic Highlights: Examined island as a series of diverse, interdependent ecological systems.

Identified Gulf of Mexico Drive as the main axis and its adaptation potential for new infrastructural systems. Identified lack of parking, lack of character and vitality of the island’s established residential systems. Identified potential of natural mangroves to act as protective systems.

Proposal Highlights: Adapted Gulf of Mexico Drive to increased and varied mobility systems including public transportation, bicycle and pedestrian systems. Provides abundant parking in new locations.

Proposed redevelopment of vulnerable residential districts. Introduced innovative programs and novel ideas about recreation and entertainment. Proposes workforce housing.

Intervention Sites: Whitney Plaza, Bayfront Park,

The Colony, “Hotel Row,” Gulf of Mexico Drive.

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P

P

Bradenton

P

P

P

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P

P P

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P P P

P P

Ringling Museum

Traffic Circle

Lido Key The Quay

New Marina

Pedestrian Path

Sara

Bird Key

P

Traffic Circle

P

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Water Way

Existing Bridge

Proposed Development

New Conservation Area

Lido Key The Quay

New Marina

Pedestrian Path Bird Key

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Water Way

Existing Bridge

Proposed Development

New Conservation Area

Sarasota

Siesta Key

89 Siesta Key

Adaptive Morphology Team 4: Silvia Aloisio

Diagnostic Highlights: Identified the areas of increased vulnerability and their reconsideration needs. Identified the lack of East-West coast connections on the Island. Established morphological classification of residential typologies and their vulnerability extent. Mapped natural systems.

Identified threats of permanence of economic activities.

Proposal Highlights: Developed substitutive urban

systems that would grow from historic conditions to incorporate SLR conditions and thrive in them.

Transformation of central areas into active pedestrian friendly and public space desirable areas.

Intervention Sites: Longbeach Village, Durante Park, Twin Shores, downtown and southern island tip.

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P

P

Bradenton

P

P

P

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P

P P

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P P P

P

P

Lido Key

New Marina

Saras

Pedestrian Overcross Bird Key

P

New Marina

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Proposed Development

New Vehicular Bridge

Water Way

Existing Bridge

P

Lido Key

Pedestrian Overcross Bird Key

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Proposed Development

New Vehicular Bridge

Water Way

Existing Bridge

Sarasota

Siesta Key

91 Siesta Key

Longboat Key 2101:

Strategic Priorities for a Longboat Key Masterplan

Taking into consideration the four student team’s Master Plan proposals, feedback from stakeholder responses to preliminary presentations, and after extensive discussion regarding priorities, the team assembled the comprehensive proposal that follows.

Its formulation came after the students had tested their ideas through individual projects; exploring the feasibility of their ideas down to the street and parcel levels. The guiding principles applied prioritize the evolution and adaptation of Longboat Key to changing conditions while increasing environmental protection and resiliency, inclusive of emergency evacuation, residency permanence and enhancement, diversification, and market development.

The Key is currently dependent of the northern bridge in Bradenton and the southern bridge through Lido and Bird Keys, generating traffic congestion and becoming a bottleneck for future evolution. The Master Plan introduces two new links to the mainland, as well as several other infrastructural proposals: • A new vehicular bridge over a narrower portion of Sarasota Bay linking the central portion of the Key to future development on the undeveloped coastal areas of Bradenton, and a new light vehicle and pedestrian bridge linking directly to Sarasota’s Downtown, enhancing tourism and communication.

• New water borne transportation systems can be introduced, supported by new public marinas. Five new marinas on the bayside will help emphasize the aquatic nature of the island’s future, while maintaining its historic character.

They are located relative to the development proposals, and pedestrian crossings.

• Strengthen and recondition the main arterial avenue - Gulf of Mexico Drive - incorporating modal split provisions, with an attractive weather protected pedestrian and light transportation system inclusive of pedestrian overpasses.

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• Introduction of five traffic circles to punctuate and mediate access to main destinations. A last traffic circle is proposed for prioritized access to the downtown.

• Development of increased parking capacity at seven destinations, as well as cross island pedestrian paths linking the gulf and bay and the proposed new public marinas.

Linking the key to the mainland, the plan suggests a strong new attraction located on the South end of the Key. This new facility will take an iconic role for the entrance to Longboat Key, and will host a new array of possible activities ranging from an art museum, aquarium, and restaurant complex. It may become a symbol of renewal on the Key , while providing cultural and commercial destinations.

Multiple areas have been identified as opportunities for redevelopment; this could bring commercial and residential investment opportunities. This is particularly so for the downtown area, which could attract a new pedestrian oriented environment, with new programs like a healthcare center, hotel, and restaurants.

The identification of recurring residential settlement patterns is signaled as a precedent for

the development of specific typological adaptations, which incorporate future sea level rise conditions while preserving the livability and character of the residential sectors.

The natural systems will be protected by artificial reefs and saltwater pools and sea walls along the Gulf to reduce beach erosion, while extensive mangrove restoration will create new soil protections on the bay side.

The adaptation of Longboat Key to future conditions could permit the continuity of the island’s activities, while creating investment opportunities to sustain it through the next century.

P

New Developmen Manatee County P

P

Bradenton

P

Gulf of Mexico

New Development Manatee P County

Match Line

Sarasota Bay

P

P P

P

P

Match Line

Gulf of Mexico

Sarasota Bay

P

P P

Traffic Circle

P

New Marina

Pedestrian Overcross

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

P

Lido Key

P

The Quay Ringling Museum

Associated Development

New Vehicular Bridge

Views

New Pedestrian Bridge

Cultural Triangle Connection

Existing Bridge

Traffic Circle

Reef

Water Way

New Marina

Pedestrian Overcross

Parking

Gulf of Mexico Drive

Associated Development

New Vehicular Bridge

Views

New Pedestrian Bridge

Cultural Triangle Connection

Existing Bridge

Reef

Water Way

Sara

Bird Key

P

Siesta Key

Lido Key

The Quay

Bird Key

Sarasota

93 Siesta Key

North Enlargement

94

South Enlargement

95

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6

Integrated Student Project Proposals Students from the UF School of Architecture’s Master of Architecture program participated in the Longboat Key Urban Design Studio. Students participated in field research, met with staff and stakeholders, conducted precedent and archival research, and made both team and individual planning and design proposals for Longboat Key. Specific ‘Locations of Opportunity’, identified earlier in this report, were selected for detailed study and the development of schematic design proposals. Student proposals integrate master plan strategies, community interests, market forces, ecology, and strategies identified through location observations and responses. A range of project types – appropriate to the varied sites – were derived as part of an integrative process that brings together convergent and divergent priorities into a synthetic conceptual project proposal – integrated design.

Earlier in this report, development opportunities and recommended priorities were presented in coordination with master plan alternatives that present different priorities for optimization. For example, ecology might be favored over market demands or mobility might be optimized rather than new development to test the impacts of the preferences while considering other elements. In all cases, the range of community requirements – healthy environment, infrastructure, resiliency, commerce… – are well considered and balanced.

Prioritization of community fabric is a difficult issue to bring to general consensus within any community and particularly when the language of codes and regulations is used as the basis for citizens and leaders to measure alternatives. The Urban Land Institute Advisory Panel clearly identified the obsolescence of the current 1980’s code and its role in reinforcing a pattern of community infighting.

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Twelve sites in addition to Gulf of Mexico Drive (13 total) comprise the ‘Locations of Opportunity’ identified in Chapter 4. The sixteen individual project proposals presented in this chapter offer diverse and sometimes provocative emergent futures for eleven of the thirteen ‘Locations of Opportunity’ organized as shown in Table 6.1: Conceptual Design Proposals. Student projects also include design alternatives for connecting to and enhancing Gulf of Mexico Drive with improved intersections and pedestrian/bicycle/cart amenities. The project proposals also strategically expand the integration of automobile, bicycle, pedestrian, cart, bus, and watercraft as a network of interchangeable mobility.

Although highly conceptual, emphasizing the broad yet critical issues at stake within the community, there is also ample schematic development to suggest contemporary architectural design, unique to a specific location, while incorporating sustainability through new materials, technology, and improved understanding of coastal construction techniques.

This approach to design as a process, while still evolving, has been in practice in Sarasota since the late 1950’s and has more recently been recognized internationally as the Sarasota School of Architecture.

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The visioning design proposals presented here, although conceptually detailed, are not intended as packaged solutions, but rather to illustrate the incredible potential of the opportunities naturally unlocked during this important tipping point for Longboat Key.

Table 6.1: Conceptual Design Proposals (north to south) Exemplifying guiding principals and master plan strategies through integrated architectural design.

Longbeach Whitney Beach Centre Shops Twin Shores

Jesse Mantohac

Amphi-Bio City: Foreseeing Longterm Development in the Historic Fabric

Silvia Aloisio

Resiliency Through Floating: Permanence of Historic Grid

Alexandria Schmidt

Commerce, Living, and Civic Event on the Lawn

Shane LaMay

Commerce, Living, and Civic Event on the Canal

Silvia Aloisio

Recombinant Canal Living

India Brooks

Civic Marina Resort: Cross Island Pedestrian Experience

Di Hu

Resilient Podium Community: Density and View-Integrated Complex

Hilton Longboat Key

Matthew Kaminsky

Folding Destinations: Sunset Views

Bayfront Park

Alexander Thomas

Modified Confluence: Recreation and Civic Node

Lily Hung

Healthcare Resort and Civic Plaza

Downtown Interventions Colony

Silvia Aloisio

Water Scape and Urban Canal

Emily Porter

Resilient Resort: Flood Resilience

Lauren Day

National Tennis Training Resort and Stadium

Craig Nightingale

Reef Resort: Reconstructing the Beach

Conceptual Design Proposals (north Longboat to south)Key Museum of Modern Art Xuancheng Zhu LokeMoma:

South Key Threshold Exemplifying guiding principals and master plan strategies through integrated architectural design.

Jessica Phillips Jesse Montohok

Aquaponica: Aquarium + Hydroponics Foreseeing long-term development in the historic fabric

Silvia Aloisio

Resiliency through floating fabric

Alexandria Schmidt

Commerce, living, and civic event on the canal

Shane Lemay

Commerce, living, and civic event on the canal

Harry’s & St Jude’s Drive

Silvia Aloisio

Recombinant canal living

Center Shops

India Brooks

Civic marina resort with cross-key boardwalks

Long Beach Whitney Beach

Twin Shores

Di Hu

Resilient podium community

Hilton Longboat Key

Matthew Kaminsky

Folding destinations events center

Bayfront Park

Alexander Thomas

Civic link and recreation - gulf to bay

Lily Hung

Health care resort and civic plaza

Silvia Aloisio

Waterscapes

Emily Porter

Resilient resort

Lauren Day

National tennis training resort and stadium

Craig Nightingale

Reef resort - reconstructing the beach

Xuancheng Zhu

LOKEMOMA - Longboat Key Museum of Modern Art

Jessica Phillips

Aquaponica - new destination diversity

Downtown Interventions Colony South Key Threshold

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100

Longbeach

101

102

Amphi-Bio City

Foreseeing Longterm Development in the Historic Fabric Jesse Mantohac The project is undertaken in three phases, with consideration of three and five foot sea level rise predictions. Considering the programmatic ideas that stakeholders listed, this project selects the introduction of a mixed-use community, kayak launch pad, fishing marina at Longbeach, expanded beach access, art district, recreation facility and residences.

Phase one proposes a new infrastructure with a mixed-use community. A bridge will link the Gulf of Mexico Drive to Jackson Way leading to the art center; a second level of elevated public spaces is introduced at Whitney Plaza for pedestrian, biking and bus service, (leaving the ground level for parking, moving people vertically). The hotel is located on the northern part which leads the visitors to the welcome and historic centers from the north access. The apartments and condos are located on the southern part of the area; a relocation proposal for the rest of the housing of the island affected by environmental resiliency issues. The first level remains allocated for mixed use spaces. Phase two and three consider the five foot sea level rise prediction which puts the selected site underwater. The project is called amphibious because of its permanence and adaptability under the changing sea level conditions.

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Phase 1

Phase 2

• SITEPLAN SKETCH Phase 3

• ELEVATION DIAGRAM

Two Floors: Hotel Rooms Recreation | Ammenities

Three Floors: Hotel Room

Historic Grand | Lobby | Ammenities Mixed - Use

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Mobility | Program | Green Space

• PROGRAM DIAGRAM

Recreation | Ammenities

Three Floors: Apartment | Condo Units Leasing Office | Model Units | Ammenities Mixed - Use

• SECTION

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stayng dry losing soil

floating isolated home

RELOCATION OF THE INHABITANTS IN DIFFERENT TIPOLOGIES (FLOATTING HOMES - FLOATTING ISLANDS)

soft merge STRUCTURE TO REDUCE IMPACT OF RISING SEA LEVELS BY CULTIVATING MANGROVE FORESTS

water connection A SYSTEM OF WATER CONNECTION BY BIOGAS WATER BUSES IS ADDED TO REDUCE THE ROAD TRAFFIC AND CONTRIBU-TES TO CREATE PUBLIC SPACES CAR

plant

crossing the island BUILDING BRIDGE THAT RE-CONNECTS THE TWO PARTS OF THE TOWN AND CONTRIBUTES TO TYE THE ENTIRE URBAN SYSTEM.

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model

section

Resiliency Through Floating Permanence of Historic Grid Silvia Aloisio The project is located in the north area of the island, between Longbeach and Whitney Plaza, where a historic settlement will be effected by sea level rise. This area does not need to be abandoned. Instead, it can strategically grow to provide coastal protection, introducing a new type of resilient settlement that will address sea level rise. The proposed operation implies the relocation of the inhabitants in different residential floating typologies that will form a new piece of the town that extends itself into the canal. This can happen by maintaining the existing road grid and binding it to the urban fabric of the Key while preserving the identity of the place. The new residential typology is designed to simplify the relationship of the residence with the water through the introduction of an open room as a boat ramp for small boats that links the street directly with the canal. To defend the island from the threat of sea level rise, it is also planned to create soft marshes by the mangrove islands that, according to new scientific research, could potentially accumulate and build soil. The new mangroves could be installed as modular structures that, growing, could become a spectacular public waterfront park. This project includes the redesign of Whitney Plaza, as a new public venue with shops, restaurants, an inner square, a multilevel parking structure and a garden bridge that links this leisure and commercial point with the beach and becomes a landmark for the north entrance of the island.

107

108

Whitney Plaza

109

110

Commerce, Living, and Civic Event on the Lawn Introducing Mixed Use to a Scenic Environment Alex Schmidt

The project proposes a mixed-use complex associated with commercial venues, residential units and public spaces.

It incorporates the views of an underutilized but scenic bayou. It contains a multilevel car park covered with vines, providing parking for the residential units and the commercial venues. The residential units are small rental units, located on the second and third levels, intended for use by the peak season care providers. The complex is linked to the beach across Gulf of Mexico Drive. A traffic circle is introduced at GMD to calm traffic by the entrance to the complex and the neighborhood of Longbeach. The civic green space has multiple functions. Under the covered trellis area, public events can be held. These could include antique and art fairs, farmers markets, and more. In another area of the green space, there is a playground for children and beyond that beach volleyball courts. The civic green spaces also have ample vegetation to provide shade and comfort to the users.

111

Single Family Cooperatives Multi-Family Less than 10 units Restaurants One-Story Shops Community Shopping Centers Service Stations Vacant Commericial Vacant Institutional Vacant Residential Parcels with No Vauls Undefined - Reserved for Future Use Rivers, Lakes, & Submerged Lands

Trellis Apartment Cirlculation Commerce Parking Garage Civic Green Space

Commerce

112

Trellis

Commerce | Apartment

Apartment

• SECTION

113

114

Commerce, Living, and Civic Event on the Canal Conceptualizing an Integrated Locus Which Creates Place Shane LaMay

The objective of this proposal is to provide a civic center - a “downtown core” where people are able to gather, shop, relax, dine, and experience all of the natural beauty that Longboat Key has to offer, by combining separate transportation infrastructure and retail and residential space into one. The “living street” that connects all of these functions allows for all modes of transportation to travel simultaneously - vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians all share a common space. Parking for vehicles and bicycles is dispersed throughout the street. The retail shops and restaurants are located along the west side of the street, with the residential units above. The east side of the “living street” is anchored by an eight foot concrete bulkhead to prevent flooding during storm surges and sea level rise. This bulkhead breaks in certain areas allowing people to access a floating wooden boardwalk via a series of ramps. This boardwalk serves as a linear park and buffer to the residences, and meanders through the mangrove forest adjacent to the site.

115

• SITE PLAN SKETCHES

Typology

Existing

Screen Condition (natural vegetation) Seperating Gulf of Mexico Drive from neighborhoods

Proposed

Screen Condition (using vinecovered lattice) Seperating Gulf of Mexico Drive from parking lot

• VEGETATION SCREEN DIAGRAM

Gulf of Mexico Drive

116

Screen

Gulf of Mexico Drive serves as an essential artery for the island.

It runs like a spine up and down a narrow corridor. Neighborhoods are detatched from the spine, seperated by a vegetative “screen,” so that they are not visible from the road. From Gulf of Mexico Drive travelers see mostly tropical vegetation and not much of the buildings that lie beyond the screen. This proposal organizes the essential utilities behind a lattice screen that will allow vegetation to grow - creating a barrier between Gulf of Mexico Drive and the parking lot.

Residential

Retail

Pedestrian Beach Access Boarding Access

Boarding Access Bulkhead

Proposed Parking

Boardwalk

Vegetation Screen West Entrance

Vegetation Screen Proposed Parking Boardwalk Access

Garage Access Proposed Parking

Pedestrian Entrance from Parking Lot Recreation Lawn West Side Exit Wider Cart / Pedestrian Path

Boardwalk Access

Enhanced Whitney Plaza

• SITE PLAN

Living Street

Boardwalk

Canal

• SECTION

117

118

Harry’s and St. Jude’s Drive

119

120

Recombinant Canal Living

Integrating Modular Housing with Vehicular Access and Navigation Silvia Alosia

This project is located in the area of the mobile home park. The site was chosen because this kind of typology is vulnerable not only in respect to the threat of sea level rise but also to the impact of hurricanes and storm surges. The project worked with the existing urban grid and the prefabricated modules, proposing a new high density settlement that recombines the canal living, replacing the industrial homes with a modular urban system that has three layers of circulation: one for cars, one for pedestrian and the last one for boats. The modular system can grow over time, as mixed-use, with some particular public functions located over the garden roof, such as restaurants and bars, or located close to the parking nodes, shops or facilities. The new settlement has a central park that creates an inner space which ends with a leisure point, and allows double views of the canal and the Gulf of Mexico. This area is one of the only points of the island where the view is unobstructed to the gulf and the beach is public. This proposal will improve the public waterfront side by the beach, by the introduction of a pedestrian path, bicycle lane, trees and light weight shade structures as urban equipment. The waterfront is linked to the new residential fabric by two pedestrian bridges that cross over Gulf of Mexico Drive.

121

122

Centre Shops

123

124

Civic Marina Resort

Cross Island Pedestrian Experience India Brooks

The concept is to create a water transportation system, supported also with bike paths and walking paths that will connect public areas in Longboat Key to the mainland, allowing visitors to leave their automobiles in Bradenton. After crossing Sarasota Bay by boat, visitors will be greeted by an equipped landing, with shops, a hotel and outfitters. From that point on, their journey becomes a pedestrian or bicycle experience, through boardwalks on the water or over the mangroves. The new landing development, and its connections will not only protect the privacy of the current residents, but will also provide new revenue, new social opportunities for the residents, and bring new life to Longboat Key. A portion of the boardwalk and bike path will literally take you on a journey inside the bay, opening experiences for pedestrians where only boats could go before. The main segment of the boardwalk is a trans-island crossing that gives the visitors and residents alike unique experiences while moving back and forth across the island towards the beach. At the opposite end of the trans-island crossing will be a magnificent pier that could contain several dining experiences accompanied with the most popular event on the western coast of Florida, the observation of our beautiful sunsets.

125

• •SITE PLAN

Restaurant

126

Boardwalk / Bike Path

Boardwalk / Bike Path

Hotel Resort

• CROSS ISLAND SECTION

127

128

Twin Shores

129

0FT 100FT

130

500FT

• •SITE PLAN

Resilient Podium Community Density and View-Integrated Complex Di Hu The project is located on the site of the Manufactured home community. It proposes its substitution. Houses in this area are vulnerable and crowded. For providing better living conditions and more public space to residents, a new community sense is created. The site is located in the middle portion of Longboat Key. The proposed high rise buildings will give residents a chance to get views of both the gulf side and bay side because the distance between two sides in this area is quite minimal. High rise buildings can achieve a density that helps produce more public space. To deal with sea level rise, the new public ground floor is lifted up to level two. The space on the ground will be used for entertainment, relaxation and parking. The platform will be as new ground after sea level rise. There is a bridge stretched out from the platform that will offer people a way to reach the beach directly crossing over Gulf of Mexico Drive. On the bay side, the project proposes a marina for the residents’ navigation purposes. The high rise components of the project are designed following the “8 queens puzzle� in chess to arrange all 8 buildings to make sure they will not shade each other and get the best views. The number of residential units will depend on market potential for different size typologies, and on code permitting regarding permissible heights. As determined in the project, it is composed by 480 residential units, providing an increase of 50% in residential numbers.

131

Original Road

Highrise Buildings

Sea Route Platform

Ground Floor Green Land Site

Site View

• SITE ANALYSIS

132

• EXPLODED AXO DIAGRAM

0FT

10FT

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Terrace Four Units Type

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• UNIT PLAN DIAGRAM Ground Floor

Ground Floor

Marina

2

1. Living Room 2. Bedroom 3. Kitchen & Dining 4. Bathroom 5. Store N

Second Floor

Marina

Marina Green Space

Marina Boat Club Beach Club & SPA Culture & Gallery Ground-Shop Underground-Parking

Marina Platform

Marina Public Plaza

• SITE PLAN DIAGRAM

• ELEVATION

133

134

Longboat Key Hilton

135

• CIRCULATION DIAGRAM

136

Folding Destination Sunset Views Matt Kaminsky

The focus of the third group’s master plan is resiliency in the prospect of change. Following this premise, the site proximal to the current Hilton resort was chosen to create a node of tourism and civic use that will not only survive itself, but assist the rest of the surrounding community to become more resilient as well. Lifting the ground plane allows pedestrian interaction and avoids issues caused by future inundation. It also prepares the site to benefit from a lifted transportation system that will increase connections not only along the key nodes identified in the master plan along the Gulf of Mexico Drive, but also the mainland – increasing diversity of use and destination – while also creating an island more stable in the face of change. The site also functions as a connection between the different assets of the island – bay and gulf – as well as natural and manmade. This project brings commercial, cultural, and technological resiliency with new art galleries, public beach access, commercial use, a spa and restaurant boardwalk along the gulf beach, and a new event center. The architecture arranges itself to maximize access to the west horizon and sunset views by lifting up near Gulf of Mexico Drive and gradually meeting the beach. This centralized node of tourist destinations will also provide social resiliency as tourist will have a single destination for beach access and restaurants with horizon views, diminishing the need to travel throughout the private areas of the island.

137

Seated Theater Gallery Space Restaurant

Spa

Parking garage / Public Beach Access

Future Site Lifted Transport Station

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5 leveL "0 - '84

4 leveL "0 - '23

3 leveL "0 - '02

2 leveL "0 - '21

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• SECTION

139

140

Bayfront Park

141

142

Modified Confluence Recreation and Civic Node Alexander Thomas

This project examines the island and its culture as an economy of diverse ecologies – not only natural ecologies – but also recreational, civil ecologies and social ecologies. Viewing the island as a series of imbalanced ecologies allowed this peaceful site to become a modified confluence of recreation, nature, and social interaction, in order to ‘balance’ the system. Bayfront Park is unique with its potential to serve as the ligament – to become the connective tissue – joining the bayside to the gulf, giving rise to an architectural folly to carry individuals over Gulf of Mexico Drive to the beach. In addition, a new recreation center provides views directed outward over Sarasota Bay, fronted with a lawn that creates a moment in nature for hosting formal or informal events. The new park design also includes a nature center and a kayak outfitter to provide guided nature tours and small craft rental, and a pavilion and sculpted grass seating area is created for open air concerts. The proposal is developed in two stages, with the first one working around two existing commercial venues and the second phase proposing commercial relocation to some of the other commercial hubs on island, and allowing for park expansion and greater visibility from GMD. 143

• CURRENT SITE

• PRELIMENARY DESIGN

• AXONOMETRIC DIAGRAM

• FINAL DESIGN

144

• SITE PLAN

• SITE DIAGRAMS

• SECTION

145

146

Town Center

147

148

Healthcare Resort and Civic Plaza Urbanizing Downtown Hsiao-Tung Hung

The project is a mixed-used program in the downtown area near a canal at Inner Bay. The program contains a healthcare center, an emergency room, a fifteen story hotel resort, with a roof top restaurant overlooking both bay and gulf views, a shopping center, a waterfront restaurant, and a waterfront coffee shop. The program also contains a multistory shared car parking building over commercial venues that provide a link to the future renovated downtown.

The goal is to add needed programs for the Key and to revitalize the current town center area, bringing it to the full potential of a civic space while providing healthcare to locals and visitors. These varied programs are organized around a central lawn, connecting North to the Marina, and South to the commercial town center, following a weaving pattern of the downtown organization. Both residents and visitors could come to the health resort for vacation while having a checkup or scheduled procedure. It is a combination of healing and enjoyment. The resort also includes an emergency room which provides the emergency health service that is currently lacking on the island. A helicopter is provided to transport patients to the mainland if needed, with the heliport located on the rooftop of the garage.

149

• SITE ANALYSIS

• DOWNTOWN ORGANIZATION - WEAVING

Waterfront Restaurant

150

• RELOCAITION OF SIX HOUSES | EXPANSION OF CANAL

Hotel Resort

1. Parking Garage, Offices & Shops

7

8

2. Plaza 3. Emergency Room

2

4. Healthcare Center 5. Stores 6. Hotel 7. Coffee Shop

6 5

8. Restaruant

9

5

9. Lawn

Pedetrian Circulation

4

3

Vehicle Circulation 2

1

• SITE PLAN

Building

Road

Busline

Canal

Green Space Block Organization

Initial Sketch

• DOWNTOWN ANALYSIS

Shops

Healthcare Center

Parking Garage, Offices & Shops

Hotel Resort

Downtown Center

• ELEVATION

151

WATER SCAPE | URBAN CANAL DOWNTOWN| SILVIA ALOISIO

STRATEGIES

CIRCULATION

public spaces CREATION OF A NEW PEDESTRIAN PUBBLIC CENTER WITH SHOPS, REASTURANTS, PUBLIC UTILITIES, THEATRE AND CINEMA.

circulation THE NEW CENTRE IS CAR FREE, THERE ARE TWO PARKING ON THE OPPOSITE CORNERS. THE CENTER IS REACHING ALSO BY SEA, THANKS THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW SMALL MARINA.

connections ADDING OF A GARDEN BRIDGE THAT CROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO DR. AND LINKS THE NEW DOWTOWN WITH THE BEACH. THE SLOPE IS EXPLOITED FOR CREATING AN AREA FOR OUTDOOR SHOWS.

152

CAR CIRCULATION PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION BOATSCIRCULATION

Water Scape and Urban Canal Creating a New Atmosphere Silvia Aloisio

This proposal refers to the Longboat Key town center, that now is a lifeless aggregation of facilities and parking without urban identity. Proposed is the creation of a new pedestrian center with shops, restaurants, housing, public utilities and a theatre. The center will identify itself as waterscape. The water is extended through canals into the town to redesign the public space, giving an urban quality and identity that is now denied. These canals have two other functions: the first one is contributing to the natural refreshment of the buildings, composing with the green external areas buffer zones; and, the last one, controlling and managing the sea level risethrough elevation and as retention ponds. The core of the new town center is car free and the vehicular circulation surrounds the area and is equipped with multilevel parking facilities at the two opposite corners of the site. The center is reachable also by the sea, through the introduction of a new small marina and the water connections by the water buses. In the south end of the area, the path of the Gulf of Mexico Dr. is modified, dividing the circulation into two streets. Gulf of Mexico Dr. enters a gallery, adding a park bridge that links the town center to the West side of Gulf of Mexico Drive, while the local circulation that goes in parallel to Gulf of Mexico Dr. outside the gallery, gives access to the town center. The slope, created by the bridge can become an area for outdoor shows.

153

154

The Colony

155

156

Resilient Resort Flood Resilience Emily Porter

The Colony will be a new hotel resort on the Park and Ride System from the proposed master plan giving public beach access and amenities. The hotel resort has a total of 475 rooms of varying sizes as well as 20,000 square feet of conference space. The structure is elevated to allow cars to park underneath the structure. The raised structure also provides an elevated public plaza that begins to terrace down to the beach, giving visitors public beach access. The plaza gives a total of 35,000 square feet of public outdoor space. The public can also access a rooftop restaurant with views of the Gulf of Mexico. The raised structure also serves as a sea wall to protect the building and the site from the eventual sea level rise and storm surges that have been predicted. Once Longboat Key has been flooded over decades, the sea wall creates a protected water feature on the bay side of the site. This space can be dredged and used as a small marina that can allow boat access to the site even after the severe conditions in which we could expect the site to be flooded.

157

Phase I

• PLAN

• SECTION

Phase II

• PLAN

• SECTION

P P

158

26-BJ-45

05 01

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26-BJ-45

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26-BJ-45

05 01

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26-BJ-45

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26-BJ-45

05 01

01

• SECTION

159

• FLOOR PLAN - TRAINING CENTER

160

• FLOOR PLAN - HOTEL

National Tennis Training Resort and Stadium Sporting Experience Lauren Day The National Tennis Training Resort and Stadium on the former Colony site seeks to rejuvenate Longboat Key’s affiliation with sporting excellence. Used as a winter training site for many professional tennis players, like Andre Agassi in the 90s, the Colony was a true icon for tennis in Longboat Key. The new training center and stadium will restore the image and excellence, while retaining the historical connection to its origins. The stadium will bring elite players from around the world to the Key, creating new brand recognition for the Key as a place of sporting excellence.

New tourism will be introduced by adding a resort element with a five acre pool, making it a one-of-a-kind destination in the United States. To bring the other residents and visitors of the island to experience the site, the proposed island greenway will move through the site with beach access available. High-end restaurants will also serve the resort and training center guests, as well as the other islanders.

161

Building Interventions •Language of mangrove for struc ture: roots as columns are representative of strength of Longboat Key •Hotel & reception •Tennis traning center and gym •restaurant

Circulation Infrasturcture: Roads & Greenway •Bring residents and visitors to site •Attachment to proposed island greenway Portion of greenway through stie protects low-lying courts from sea-level rise •Beach access •Circulation through tennis courts

Water Infrastrucure: Pools & Canals •5 acre pool •Kayaking, sailing, swimming, scuba diving •Mangrove islands with docks & walkways •Swim up pool bar/ restaurant •Large hot tub •Olympic swimming pool •Canals between tennis courts

•Site Overview •Existing colony site •19 acres •Goal is to promote island connectivity and usher in a new era of sproting excellence while respecting past legacy of site and island • AXOMETRIC DIAGRAM

162

• SITE PLAN

View Through Site

View To Beach

Priorities of View •Preserves views from site to ocean and from ocean to island •Allos passage of seabreeze •Allows connection from center of island to beach • SITE DIAGRAM

• ELEVATION

163

164

Reef Resort at Longboat Key Reconstructing the Beach Craig Nightingale

The Reef Resort will construct a protecting reef that will host marine life and protect the beach from erosion. The Reef Resort at Longboat Key will be defined by three main buildings and several supporting facilities placed throughout the site. Replacing the Colony development, the proposal develops the site with added intensity. The hotel rooms cantilever from the central axis and are designed to provide suites with large outdoor space and private pools. The curved form creates optimal views for guests: the West guest suites looking to the Gulf and the East guest suites watching the sun rise over Sarasota Bay. Careful thought was used while designing the procession from the entrance to achieve views combined with a clear organization and ease of movement. From Gulf of Mexico Drive, there is a clear sight line under the cantilever revealing the horizontal edge of the ocean and the first glimpse of what appears to be an island.

To the right is a parking garage for day visitors, left is for guest parking located under the hotel, and continuing toward the ocean will lead to a turn around, that reveals the largest salt water pool in Florida. The pool will stretch 1000 feet along the coastline acting as a seawall, will provide resistance to future sea-level rise, and will allow for a board walk leading to the beach. If traveling from the island bike trail there is an overpass that moves across Gulf of Mexico Drive and slides into the health spa. 80,000 square feet of indoor meeting space is provided, catering to groups of all scale and type, from executive board meetings to large-scale conventions. Retail shops occupy the ground floor and entrance to a two story 30,000 square foot health spa. Vertical circulation and an atrium is located in main tower that rises above lobby level. Three restaurants are located in the hotel, one on the top level showing off panoramic views of the Key both from indoor and outdoor spaces. A third restaurant is located under the ocean surface nestled in the artificial reef and man-made beach, providing innovative programs to make a world class destination.

165

Sustainable Artificial Reefs to Combat Beach Erosion

Improving recreational & charter fishing, scuba diving & opportunities

2

small boat activity

priority erosion

reef balls placement

1 7

4

6

4

3

3 2

5 3 1

4

5

8

10

9 Ground floor 12 1 Conference Space 2 Day Visit Parking 3 Hotel Parking 4 Retail Shops 5 Casual Dinning

166

First floor

11

6 Health Spa 7 Automotive Circulation 8 Saltwater Pool 9 Sea-wall Edge of Pool 10 Bridge to Reef

11 Underwater Restaurant and Scuba Diving Center 12 Artificial Reef • PLAN

1 Guest Suites 2 Horizontal Circulation 3 Vertical Circulation 4 Balcony 5 Atrium Open to Below

• AXOMETRIC DRAWING

• SECTION

167

168

South Key Threshold

169

1F Gallery 1F Gallery

6F History Museum 6F History Museum + Exterior

11F Cafe + Exterior 1F Cafe + Outdoor Dinning

2F Gallery 2F Gallery

7F History Museum

7F History Museum + Exterior

Artists’ Studio 12F12FArtist’s Studio

Exterior 3F 3FExterior Space

8F Exterior Space 8F Exterior

13F Exterior 13F Exterior Space

• PLAN

170

4F Gallery + Exterior 4F Gallery

9F Education Center 9F Eduacation + Exterior

14F Observation Deck 14F Observation Deck

5F Gallery + Exterior 5F Gallery

10F Education Center 10F Eduacation + Exterior

15F Observation Deck 15F Observation Deck

LokeMoma

Longboat Key Art Center Development Xuancheng Chu

LokeMoma will contain multiple level observation decks as a general attraction to the visitors and an art experience like no place else in the world. This project identified the possible links of Longboat Key to art facilities that give character to Sarasota Bay, such as the Ringling Museum and Quay. The project proposes a new Art Institution, to be an iconic structure located by the southern entrance to the Island providing a first magnitude venue for art in Longboat Key. It will be connected by water transportation to the other two, constituting the triangular Sarasota Bay Arts’ Circuit. The project will provide a multiplicity of interests, from temporary exhibitions galleries, a history museum, cafes, and artists’ studios, with inside venues and open air terraces. The high rise structure will be located over a public park where events and sculpture exhibitions will take place. It is supported by an extensive service plinth, containing parking and services, designed for economy and resilience.

171

• SKETCH

Total: 75750 ft² Total: 75750 ft2 15F Observation Deck 15F Oberservation Deck 14F Observation Deck 14F Oberservation Deck

8000 ft2 8000 ft² 8000 ft2 8000 ft²

13F Exterior 13F Exterior Space 12F Artists’ Studio 12F Artists’ Studio

5500 ft2 5500 ft² 5500 ft2

11F 11FCafe Cafe

2000 2000 ft2 ft²

10F Eduacation 10F Education Center 9F 9FEduacation Education Center

7200 ft² 7200 ft2 7200 7200 ft2 ft²

Exterior Space 8F 8FExterior

8000 ft2

History Museum Museum 7F 7FHistory

1000010000 ft2 ft²

6F 6FHistory History Museum Museum

7750 7750 ft2 ft²

5F 5FGallery Gallery

1570015700 ft2 ft²

4F 4FGallery Gallery

7200 7200 ft2 ft²

3F 2F 1F

172

Exterior 3F Exterior Space Gallery

7750 ft2

2F Gallery

7750 ft² 7750 ft2

Gallery 1F Gallery

5450 ft² 5450 ft2

GF Ground ParkingFloo

Sarasota Bay Quick Point Art Center

Green Land Sculpture Garden Walking Path

Golf Club

Entrance of Longboat Key

Landscape

Parking

Overlook Point Tennis Courts

Swimming Pool

New Pass Water Energy

Boat Shuttle

B Bo oat at

Ringling Museum

Boat Shuttle

Wan Wezel Performing Arts Hall Longboat Key Art Center

LOKEY MOMA LONGBOAT KEY ART CENTER

• CULTURE TRIANGLE

SculptureGarden Gardern Sculpture

or Parking

The Resort at Longboat LongboatKey KeyClub Club

Longboat LongboatKey KeyClub ClubRd Road

• SECTION

173

19 1. Entry 2. Farmers Market 3. Gift Shop 4. Offices 5. Entry Plaza 6. Marine Lab 7. Ornamental Fish Exhibit 8. Insect Research 9. Germination & Seeding 10. Pump Room 11. Alligator Exhibit 12. Edible Fish Exhibit 13. The Chart House Restaurant 14. Restaurant Kitchen 15. Dock Entrance Through Garage 16. Beach Access 17. Picnic Area 18. Boat Ducks 19. To Island Greenway

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• •SITE PLAN

174

Aquaponica

Aquarium + Hydroponics — New Destination Diversity Jessica Phillips The goal is to creatively reinvigorate an underutilized commercial area that offers a unique experience at the south entrance to Longboat Key. Enjoy the expansive views of Sarasota Bay as one browses through an Aquarium and Hydroponic Farm, or enjoy lunch overlooking the water. The project proposal is directly across from Quick Point Nature Preserve, a mangrove lagoon area that was present a hundred years ago and still serves today as a serene natural setting for shore birds and human recreation. This location was chosen to unite the horizontal green of Nature Preserve with the new vertical hydroponic tower proposed. The twenty storied structure is designed to take advantage of natural light as well as tantalizing views. The south facing elevation contains vegetation, where each level is offset from the next for optimal sunlight. Meanwhile the high-rise tower naturally shades the aquarium. To help fund such an endeavor, an aquarium is designed in the base of the tower, where visitors could come and enjoy a variety of beautiful freshwater fish that help feed the growing vegetation above. It provides an iconic entrance marker to the Key, while developing an innovative program that sustains healthy options for the Key. 175

Solar Power|Rainwater Harversting|Reclaimed Water|Wind Power|Tidal Power

• SKETCHES

• •ALTERNATIVE ENERGY RESOURCES DIAGRAM

• ISLAND GREENWAY

Squash, Watermelon, Pumpkin & Cantelope

Corn

Cucumber & Pepper

Tomato

Fancy Greens

Strawberries & Onions

Herbs & Rice

176

Pump Rooms

Germination & Seeding

Marine Labs

• SECTION

177

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7

Recommendations Recommendations Summary The following recommendation summary is drawn from the research, analysis, and speculative design proposals included in the various sections of this report Recharting Longboat Key: Toward Community, Economy, and Resiliency. The recommendations are comprised of objectives, strategies, and suggested regulations that could be implemented through three means of implementation: (1) incentivizing private development, (2) revising/replacing the land development regulations; and (3) through direct action by the Town of Longboat Key. Suggestions include positive steps forward to address the immediate development concerns in concert with ecological enhancement and medium to long-term threats to the Longboat Key community. Longboat Key 2101 introduces the concept of making nearterm decisions that are influenced by and also begin to address futures that are both fairly clear and carry forward into the next century.

A. Longboat Key 2101: Master Plan Priorities and Opportunities 1. Establish a process for bringing the varied and numerous desirable existing developments into regulatory conformance. This will require improvements to existing developments, significant redevelopment, and a substantial re-write of the current regulations. The process will rely on balancing the needs and

expectations of development interests with those of current and future residents

of the community toward an evolving local character with improved resiliency.

2. Establish growth targets and a strategic timeline for those targets for the near and long-term – 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years.

3. Sea level rise impacts must be evaluated on an ongoing basis and mitigation strategies should be incorporated into all land use regulations and municipal investments. This should include impacts of storm surge as sea levels rise.

4. Conceptual analysis suggests that the 179

current infrastructure could support approximately 5,000 more residents. By

making minor improvements in the water supply and/or enhancing the current conservation measures, the population could grow to 7,000 within the capacity of other infrastructure.

5. Substantial changes or a rewrite of the current land development regulations is needed. Civic leaders should work with planning staff to formally establish and prioritize ‘places’ at the “locations of opportunity” identified

in this report. The locations of opportunity or ‘places’ should be developed to enhance the existing heritage and character of the area.

Or, they might be restructured as the case may be to achieve market longevity and enhanced resiliency. Potential ‘places’ are identified in this report and summary recommendations are included in this section.

6. Longboat Key should reconnect with historic achievements and initiatives that may now be languishing or nominally forgotten such as the historic nature of Longbeach, Whitney Beach as a beach destination, the bay at Longbeach, or the potential of the Chart House area as a landmark destination.

7. Improve transportation connections with the mainland through: (1) a primarily pedestrian use bridge that could double as an evacuation route to/through downtown Sarasota via City Island; and (2) a new multi-modal bridge north of the Town Center connecting to south Bradenton. Please refer to the Possible Futures section for more detail.

8. Incentivize a water taxi service to the Key

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through land-use and public policy to support entrepreneurs seeking to provide this service.

It is suggested that a committee of Longboat Key, Sarasota County, and Manatee County staff or stakeholders is formed to develop an outline policy and implementation proposal. For Longboat Key, this issue should be addressed at current and future marina locations and public parks.

9. The primary attraction of Longboat Key – the beautiful southwesterly facing beach – is under continual threat from erosion. Consider a more permanent strategy for protecting the beach than the current temporary beach renourishment cycle. This could include an

artificial reef, reef seeding, or submerged ripcurrent diffusers. This infrastructure could be added in phases over a long timeline do defray costs. It might also attract another tourist market – SCUBA diving. Additionally, this could be subsidized through added tourist and/or residential density along the beach.

10. Consider a municipal policy to support photovoltaic power generation and distribution on the Key. This would involve negotiations with the power company or the establishment of a local power grid for optimal efficiency. A potential nationally recognized model is the solar Feed in Tariff (FIT) implemented in Gainesville, Florida.

As a cellular grid network, it could offer power should the larger infrastructure be damaged in a storm and could largely be funded by individuals or businesses who purchase the equipment and feed power into the grid. This may be difficult to negotiate with a private power provider.

B. Gulf of Mexico Drive 1. Establish Gulf of Mexico Drive (GMD)

as a spatial linkage that connects and ‘presents’ the many notable ‘places’ along Longboat Key. This could be achieved

through design standards that support multimodal use while allowing for enhanced visual identity at existing and future ‘places’ discussed in Chapter 4: Locations of Opportunity.

Enhancements should include improved utilities through the corridor (power, fiber optic, storm water enhancements, etc.).

2. Improve pedestrian, bicycle, and cart and provide designated infrastructure crossing points along GMD. This should include overpasses at strategic locations such as Bayfront Park/Beach access, near the town center, Whitney Beach, and perhaps Twin Shores.

3. Establish tree guidelines standards and minimum standards to provide shaded paths, shaded resting places, and constructed storm shelters as refuge locations during the brief but

intense afternoon thunderstorms.

4. Provide way-finding information appropriate for the pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure.

5. Adopt a policy to prioritize pedestrian/cycles at intersections rather than automobiles down to the level of curb-cuts, crossings, and routes – this is a critical safety issue.

6. Provide traffic circles at GMD and Broad Street, and GMD and Bay Isles Parkway

as opportunities to both mark these important nodes and to improve traffic flow. Careful design of the circles to integrate smooth flow of multi-modal intersections is critical.

7. Enhance the existing transit system to achieve 15 minute or less wait times. This might include a local circulator in addition to improved regional service. Transit stops need to protect riders from the rain and sun and should provide ample seating while waiting for service.

C. Longbeach Recommendations 1. Enhance the character of Broad Street

and Gulf of Mexico Drive as a gateway moment to the Key – this could be in the form

of a traffic circle or other spatial condition.

2. Enhance the intersection of Broadstreet/GMD

as a connector to the Gulf of Mexico for pedestrians, cyclists and patrons of the Whitney Plaza area.

3. Explore alternatives to increase housing density that may include row housing, high-

density low-rise, and vertically mixed use. A compact urban form, requiring integration of the street, parking and development is recommended with ample civic space in addition

to the creek as civic amenities.

4. The bayside offers potential to formalize

and enhance the mooring community

with marina support infrastructure (waste cleanout, potable water, showers, etc.) as part of expanded commercial elements and perhaps condominium housing. Marina Jack in Sarasota may be a good precedent model. Living aboard a sailboat may be an alternative affordable living option for some employees on Longboat.

5. Expand the utilization of the alley and

grid structure with mixed demographic housing such as above garage apartments (in

family or family managed second units) – this could double the number of ‘units’ per site.

In addition, the Town could incentivize owner improvements in order to keep the area more affordable for senior management (houses) and service employees (garage apartment).

6. Improve transit service on Broadstreet.

D. Whitney Beach Plaza and Arts Center 1. Enhance the character of Broad Street and

Gulf of Mexico Drive as a gateway to the Key – this could be in the form of a traffic circle

or other spatial condition.

2. Consider a pedestrian overpass with beach

retail, services and parking in the Whitney Plaza area with amenitized pedestrian access

to the beach side. This would result in a similar walking distance to the water that is currently associated with the Siesta Key beach parking lot/garage.

3. Provide for structured parking facilities to support multi-level activity – retail/housing/ pedestrian overpass within the land development code.

4. Encourage a street grid/system that diffuses parking – on-street, head-in, diagonal – within the fabric rather than large parking lots.

5. Uses should promote and support 18-hour activity – a medical clinic or urgent care clinic for example and a fueling station (gas, elect, hydrogen) with associated convenience store.

6. Housing should be significantly expanded and take advantage of the canal and perhaps act as a buffer between commercial and residential activities along

the canal. Some commercial activities are suitable on the canal – restaurant and lunch cafes. Low to mid-rise housing with structured parking is recommended and it may or may not be over commercial uses.

7. Introduce a new pedestrian connection to the Arts Center. This could occur along and then over the canal connecting at Jackson Way. Or, by extending pedestrian access across the canal at Cedar Street by extending the ROW. This connectivity could reinforce the

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current Center while diverting traffic to the more commercial oriented plaza. In addition, the arts center could have galleries in Whitney Plaza and in the Longboat Key town center – as satellite locations that are more retail oriented.

8. Provide enhanced transit service – 15 minute wait times.

E. Saint Jude’s Drive and Jungle Way – Harry’s 1. This area should be prioritized as an activity node or designated ‘place’ with specific targets for enhancement within the land development code.

2. Develop a plan to reconfigure the traffic interface at Gulf of Mexico Drive – reducing conflict points and enhancing pedestrian cyclist movement.

3. Near GMD, mid-rise development with commercial at grade should be promoted

along with street or civic amenities to promote more interior exterior business.

4. Densify

residences in the canal neighborhood through land use regulations

that allow up to 3 units per existing lot as an alternative to single mega-homes that seem to be replacing the outdated residences in the neighborhood. This could result in nominally three $250,000 to $350,000 homes on a lot rather than one million dollar plus home – perhaps making the area more affordable for year-round residents.

5. Consider requirements that would add a civic park to offset the additional density and promote family investment in the neighborhood.

6. Provide an amenitized transit stop at GMD with 15-minute service.

F. Centre Shops of Longboat Key 1. Improve linkages between the Centre Shops and Durante Park through pedestrian and bicycle access.

2. Expand commercial activities and perhaps allow for residential development within the current development.

3. Improve pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure along GMD at this location including a marked and designated crossing.

This might included an overpass associated with Durante Park.

G. Twin Shores 1. Incentivize

new

and

more

resilient

construction in any redevelopment that go

beyond the minimum code requirements.

2. Consider facilitating a large-scale reconstruction with current stakeholders

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getting improved housing through the redevelopment and additional units – this would be difficult but an opportunity to ensure a more resilient living situation in terms of both storms and sea level rise at this location.

3. Improve

the pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure along GMD – provide marked

paths and shade.

4. Provide an overpass for crossing GMD. 5. Provide an amenitized transit stop with service at 15-minute intervals.

H. Bayfront Park 1. The conceptual proposals for the Bayfront Park redesign were reviewed as part of this work and they represent positive forward progress yet could be even more visionary and expansive in terms of expanding and enhancing uses.

2. Consider linking the park to the public beach with an overpass over Gulf of Mexico

Drive (included as one of the project proposals).

3. The new recreation center should have prominent visibility from GMD and perhaps could host civic as well as recreational events.

4. The recreation center should be a prominent landmark on the bay and perhaps a destination for water access – individual or taxi.

5. Open space should be designated for casual field events and perhaps civic gatherings – concerts, festivals, or markets.

6. Consider, in addition to a smaller parking lot, providing decentralized parking at locations within the park area.

7. Consider procuring the commercial properties along GMD for future park expansion and improved park visibility.

These important businesses could relocate to an area that better supports commerce.

I. Town Center 1. Develop a clearer hierarchy for organizing the entire downtown – main and secondary streets.

2. Establish a pedestrian oriented retail loop organizational structure with structured parking and dining in strategic locations.

3. Establish build to lines to hold the street rather than set-back requirements.

4. Sidewalks should be ample and provided on both sides of the street with structured or vegetative shading or a combination of both.

5. Designate locations for open civic space that can support events and gatherings

– this could include the closing of particular streets.

6. Allow for housing alternatives within the land use regulations to promote diversity as developers respond to market demands.

General targets for minimum densities should be established with 10 – 12 dua as the minimum.

7. Compact housing should be strategically located to buffer existing residential lots from increased commercial activity when

possible.

8. Consider a traffic circle at GMD and Bay Isles Parkway.

9. Consider a traffic shelf or other traffic-calming device at GMD and Bay Isles Road with enhanced pedestrian/Bicycle crossing facilities.

10. Explore the town center as a density receiving area from other areas on the Key. 11. Promote 18-hour activity with new uses such as a hotel or medical facility that

would include an urgent care center. The land use regulations should consider this in terms of flexible uses.

12. Consider ‘out parcels’ of mixed use along Bay Isles parkway that can take advantage of the views to the golf course and provide a commercial/pedestrian edge along Bay Isles Parkway. This would reduce the parking lot and would require structured parking on an adjacent site.

J. The Colony 1. The land use regulations should provide for

flexibility in the support of market viability for redevelopment and the capacity to reach

30 to 40 dwelling units per acre.

2. Row housing may be promoted over midrise and could be a more resilient form in terms of hurricane resistance. The first living level must meet storm requirements and would also ensure against sea level rise.

3. Consider regulations that regulate floor area ratio (FAR) rather than dwelling units

if the development will be tourist oriented rather

than being occupied as a condominium.

4. New development that relies heavily on the beach should require direct participation in beach renourishment.

5. Incentivize an international design competition (in partnership with the developers) to attract innovative and perhaps a winning and buildable solution as this project will likely set the standard for future redevelopment.

6. Consider utilizing the large beach frontage to systemically and paradigmatically integrate a ‘sea walls to pools’ environment as an alternative beach mitigation strategy.

K. South Key Threshold 1. Consider incentivizing an iconic project as an entry maker for the next generation of Longboat Key. This would likely include a resort/hotel with luxury amenities, water access, and high-end retail stores.

2. A mid to high rise project could take advantage of southerly views to the Gulf, Sarasota, and bay while the northerly view captures the golf course, Gulf, and bays suggesting a five star accommodation.

3. Establish an important cultural destination such as museum, marine aquarium, or event center.

4. Enhance the relationship between the

nature area and the commercial entities

through a boardwalk or other connective tissue. This could perhaps be a requirement for additional development rights.

5. This site, as a tourist use, might also be designated as an FAR qualifying with different population limitations that the truly

residential districts.

6. Provide enhanced transit within the commercial elements.

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References 1. Longboat Key Florida: Developing on Success and Envisioning the Future, A ULI Advisory Services Panel Report, October 20–25, 2013.

2. Urban land Use Institute Advisory Panel Briefing Book, Town of Longboat Key, Florida; October, 2013.

3. Amber Parker, Elizabeth Major and David Brain, Historical Development of Longboat Key, Fl., New College of Florida, December 2014.

4. Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Florida, A ULI Advisory Services Panel Report, May 1–6, 2011.

5. New Public Works: Architecture, Planning, and Politics, Mark Robins editor, New City Books, 2013.

6. Robert W. Burchell, Anthony Downs, Barbara McCann, and Sahan Mukherji, Sprawl Costs: Economic Impacts of Unchecked Development, Island Press, 2005.

7. Jonathan Barnett, City Design: Modernist, Traditional, Green, and Systems Perspectives, Routledge, 2011.

8. Land Use and Transport: European Research Towards Integrated Policies, Edited by Stephen Marshall and David Banaster, Elsevier, 2007.

9. Eco Urbanism - Sustainable Human Settlements: 60 Case Studies, Miguel Ruano, editor, GG, Barcelona, 1999.

10. Martin Gold, Tina Gurucharri, Joseli Macedo, Kim Tanzer, Ruth Steiner, Designing the Waldo Road Corricor: Plan East Gainesville Implementation Strategies for the Gateway to Gainesville and the University of Florida, School of Architecture, 2009.

11. Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024, February 2014, page 40.

12. Tatiana Borisova, Norman Breuer, and Roy Carriker, Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Florida: Estimates from Two Studies, EDIS document FE787, a publication of the Food and Resource Economics Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Published December 2008.

13. Joshua Berry, Carrying Capacity Analysis of Longboat Key, Florida, College of Design Construction and Planning, University of Florida, 2015 184

13. Richard Florida, Who’s Your City?, Basic Books, 2008.

14. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success, Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (June 7, 2011).

15. Coastal Change Analysis Program, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2013.

January 2015 http://www.epa.gov/ climatechange/science/indicators/oceans/sea-level.html.

16. Justin Gillis, New Research May Solve Puzzle in Sea Level’s Rise, New York Times and Associated Press, January 14, 2015.

17. Advancing the Science of Climate Change, America’s Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change, National Research Council of the National Academies, The National Academic Press, Washington, D.C., 2010.

18. Caitlin Pomerance, J.D. Candidate, A Case Study on Adapting to Erosion and Sea-Level Rise, UF Law, 2014.

19. Palka, Joe, interview with Mak, Geert, In a Strategic Reversal, Dutch Embrace Floods, Copyright NPR 2008.

20. Tam, Laura, Strategies for Managing Sea Level Rise, The Urbainist, Issue 487, November 2009.

21. José N. Beirão1, Pirouz Nourian2, Bardia Mashhoodi3, Parametric urban design: An interactive sketching system for shaping neighborhoods, Proceedings of eCAADe 29, 2011.

22. Woodbury Robert, Elements of Parametric Design, Routledge, 2010.

23. Florida Tax Watch, Economic Commentary #29, Monthly, WaMu, July 2008.

24. Tormer, A., & Puentes R., Getting Smarter About Smart Cities, Brookings Institute, April, 2014.

25. Michael Pawlukiewicz, Prema Katari Gupta, Carl Koelbel, Ten Principles for Coastal Development, Urban Land Institute, Washington, DC, 2007.

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Coastal Morphology Appendix The barrier island chain of the Florida West Coast is a unique coastal morphology representing only 13% of the world’s coastlines. They result through the unique conditions of small to moderate tidal flows (0 to 4 feet), ample sediment supply, fairly consistent wave activity, a low gradient shelf sea floor condition, and a long period of stable sea level. The resulting bay + estuary + marsh systems between the Gulf of Mexico and the mainland are critically important ecological networks of habitat and storm mitigation.

Refer to page 23 for a detailed description of Coastal Morphologies.

Major Planning Issues Include: 1. Multiple local authorities do not have planning strategies for the future instituted at the public level; 2. The issues of the impact of sea level rise are not yet specifically addressed systemically; 3. Resiliency issues require planning around the road transportation networks, specifically tied to the age and capacity of the bridges, as well as for other infrastructural systems; 4. Navigation conditions may improve, but the modal change nodes will also need impact mitigation work; 5. Naturally and ecologically protected areas – which are in general low lying areas – will suffer significant impacts; 6. Residential settlements are classifiable in 16 identifiable categories that recur periodically in the areas, and for which we can vision similar methods of adaptation, mitigation or replacement.

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Anna Maria Island to Casey Key Team 1: Jessica Phillips, India Brooks, Lauren Day, Alex Schmidt

The analyzed area covers multiple barrier islands separated by inlets or passes, limited by the Gulf of Mexico, and the Sarasota Bay, as well as the coastal areas of Manatee and Sarasota counties facing the Sarasota Bay. It does not contain estuaries or rivers. It is the location of important urban developments like the city of Sarasota, Saint Armand’s Circle and Bradenton. The region is mainly occupied by low density residential developments that interact actively with the water edge condition, with focused areas of high rise development. An analysis of its typologies shows a wide spectrum of urban arrangements that provided the base for the typo-morphological analysis. It contains only small pockets of remaining natural systems in the valuable Sarasota Bay, and supports an extensive suburban development both on the islands and mainland, with nodes of commercial and civic intensity. The area is traversed by the Intracoastal Waterway, with seven bridges linking the barrier islands to the mainland. Sea Level rise will affect mainly Anna Maria Island and Siesta key neighborhoods, as well as some parts of Longboat Key. Sand erosion is manifested in long portions of the beach. Master planning is actively pursued by the Local Authorities.

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Development Typology Low Rise Residential High Rise Residential Commercial Private Green Space Public Green Space Natural Area Mobile/RV 189

Residential Typology Grid Fish Bone Complex Fish Bone Leaf Single Entry Casey Key Type Lowrise Single Home - Beach Front Lowrise Single Home - Bay Front Highrise - Bay Front Highrise - Beach Front Lowrise Condo - Bay Front Lowrise Condo - Beach Front Mobile Home Community RV Park 190

Sea Level Rise 1 Foot Rise 2 Foot Rise 3 Foot Rise Critically Affected Area 191

Coastal Ecology Mangrove Bay/Estuary Developed Land Dune/Beach Coastal Seawall 192

Infrastructure Major/Arterial Road Secondary/Feeder Road FEMA Evacuation Route Railway Major Channel/Designated Waterway Water Treatment Facility Bridge Rail Station Marina Airport Helipad 193

Casey Key to Charlotte Harbor Team 2: Di Hu, Hsiao-Tung Hung, Jesse Mantohac, Craig Nightingale, Xuancheng Zhu The coastal areas of this section encompass parts of Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee Counties. It is limited by the Gulf of Mexico in the West and the extensive Charlotte Harbor, Myakka and Peace River basins in the South East. It is the location of large scale low density residential developments containing canals for navigational access for which the impact has to be assessed. It also contains smaller centers with a degree of resiliency, like Venice, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. It contains the Intra Coastal Waterway threading through urbanized areas and finally reaching Charlotte Harbor. It hosts large public ecological Preservation Areas. It contains multiple short span bridges and five large scale elevated bridges. Sea level rise will affect dramatically the natural areas in the short term of consideration.

The barrier islands will be affected in the short term future as well. Specific strategies will be needed to address the extensive, canal based neighborhoods.

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Development Typology Low Rise Residential High Rise Residential Commercial Private Green Space Public Green Space Natural Area Neighborhood Centralities 195

Average Property Value Higher Property Value

Lower Property Value 196

Sea Level Rise 1 Foot Rise 2 Foot Rise 3 Foot Rise Developed Area Critically Affected Area 197

Coastal Ecology Mangrove Parks/Public Land Golf Course Dune/Beach Coastal Seawall 198

Infrastructure Major/Arterial Road Secondary/Feeder Road Railway Designated Waterway Water Treatment Facility Bridge Marina Airport Helipad 199

Charlotee Harbor to Sanibel Island Team 3: Alexander Thomas, Emily Porter, Shane LaMay, Matt Kaminsky The area includes sections of Lee and Collier Counties. It is limited by the Gulf of Mexico in the West and contains the Pine Island Sound, the San Carlos Bay, as well as Matlacha Pass and the Caloosahatchee River mouth.

It contains a multiplicity of vulnerable small Islands as well as two larger scale islands; Sanibel and Pine Island. Some medium rise developments border the beaches of Sanibel and multiple low density individual developments. It is also the location of very large scale low density residential developments, such as Cape Coral, containing a plethora of canals for navigational access for which the impact of sea level rise will need to be assessed. Multiple islands have only nautical access and the two larger ones are connected to the mainland by only one bridge each. It hosts large areas of ecological preserve, especially on the north side of Sanibel (Ding Darling), the East and West edges of Pine Island and the coastal areas on the Western edge of Cape Coral. These low lying areas will be impacted extensively by the first foot of sea level rise.

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Development Typology Low Rise Residential High Rise Residential Commercial Private Green Space Public Green Space Natural Area 201

Average Property Value Higher Property Value

Lower Property Value 202

Sea Level Rise 1 Foot Rise 2 Foot Rise 3 Foot Rise Critically Affected Area 203

Coastal Ecology Mangrove/Estuary Protected/Preserved Land Dune/Beach Coastal Seawall 204

Infrastructure FEMA Evacuation Route Secondary/Feeder Road Canal Major Channel/Designated Waterway Water Treatment Facility Bridge (Years Constructed, Modified) Marina 205