At Bayfront Park this past August, the fence that holds paddles in peak season was down. The blue and green pickleball courts looked like an unlined parking lot, and the town was partway through a $189,000 rebuild of them. In the first few months of the year, a free court at Bayfront Park was rare. Paddles hung on that fence to hold players' places in line.
That empty court sums up how Longboat Key used its off-season. The town finished most of the street-level repairs left over from Hurricanes Helene and Milton between May and early fall. Grass, medians, roads, pipes and courts are done or close to it. The shoreline is the exception. It lost the most in those storms, and the next island-wide fix is scheduled for 2028.
The summer list was mostly 2024 cleanup
Longboat Key has scheduled visible work for the off-season for years. Project Manager David Kushnir told the Longboat Observer that road repaving and park renovations mostly run from May to October. The town also tries to wrap contractor work before the fiscal year turns over on Oct. 1. Several of this year's jobs trace straight back to the 2024 storms.
| Project | Cost | Status | Connection to 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bicentennial Park sod, in front of Town Hall | $18,550, paid by the Longboat Key Garden Club | Complete | Replaced browning sod that never recovered from the hurricanes |
| Royal Road, second half | $37,500 | Complete | Repaving was split into two phases because many homes on the road were being rebuilt after storm damage |
| General Harris Street | $72,550 | Complete | Largest of the four repaving jobs |
| Cedar Street and Palm Drive | $68,100 | Complete | Short streets around Whitney's Restaurant and Whitney Plaza |
| Bay Isles Road medians, all six | About $500,000 | Complete | Finished in time for the July 4 parade |
| Dream Island Road sewer pipe | $229,105 | Reported complete Aug. 18 | Failed pipe replaced |
The new grass at Bicentennial Park is salt-tolerant paspalum. The Garden Club paid for it and also helps the town maintain the park. Public Works Director Charlie Mopps told the Observer that many of the club's members "know what this used to look like and know what it could look like." At the start of the year, the Bay Isles Road medians were mostly old mulch, browning grass, white shells and overgrown palmettos. The relandscaping started in mid-May so it would be done before the parade.
Longboat Key has no more overhead utility poles
The change you'll notice most along Gulf of Mexico Drive was ten years in the making. A Town finance memo dated Aug. 4, 2026, says the Undergrounding Project is finished. Utility lines are buried, the poles are gone, fiber conduit and fiber are in, and the streetlights and lit street signs have been replaced. Voters approved the Gulf of Mexico Drive bond referendum on Nov. 3, 2015, for $25,250,000. A neighborhood referendum followed on March 15, 2016, for $23,850,000. The memo closes out the project's finances, so this is the formal end of it.
The road under those old poles is a separate project. Repaving the Sarasota County stretch of Gulf of Mexico Drive was not on the 2026 summer list. A May Observer report put it in 2027 or 2028.
Bayfront Park: new courts, and a short-term fix for the seawall
The court rebuild was about what lies under the playing surface. Crews tore out the concrete base under the three dedicated pickleball courts and laid asphalt in its place. Kushnir said the change should extend the courts' life. It should also stop the cracks that appeared when the concrete shifted under the acrylic surface. In June, the Longboat Observer reported Sept. 15 as only a tentative finish date. We haven't found a public reopening notice yet, so check the Town's Bayfront Park page before heading over with paddles. While the courts were closed, the tennis courts stayed open with lines for four pickleball courts.
The rules haven't changed:
- Courts are first-come, first-served, and the Town lists no reservation system.
- When players are waiting, singles get one hour and doubles get an hour and a half.
- The court lights stay off May 1 through Oct. 31 for turtle season. From Nov. 1 through April 30, you can play until 10 p.m.
Behind the courts, the town chose a cheaper repair over a full rebuild. Replacing the Bayfront Park seawall could have cost six figures. Instead, the town signed a $28,978 contract with Groundworks Commercial to inject polyurethane into the soil behind the wall. Kushnir expected the work to start Aug. 17 and take about two days, and estimated it would give the wall 10 to 15 years. The town still describes full replacement as necessary once money is available. A new recreation center at Bayfront Park is also only an idea for now. As of May, the Observer reported that it depended on a conceptual design and fundraising.
Where crews are still working this fall
Most of the summer list is done, but Country Club Shores still has trucks. The Town is replacing water mains in Country Club Shores HOAs 1 through 3 by pipe bursting, a trenchless method that needs very little digging. The Town's project notice was last updated Oct. 6. Its street schedule, dated July 29, has these streets left:
- Yawl Lane, through Oct. 19
- Schooner Lane, through Nov. 2
- Ketch Lane, Oct. 12 to Nov. 10, with a bypass water line going in Thursday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Sloop Lane, Oct. 15 to Nov. 17, with its bypass line on Friday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Channel Lane, Oct. 27 to Nov. 24, with crews packing up Nov. 20 to 24
The Town calls these dates best estimates that weather or supply problems could change. Questions go to Kushnir in Public Works at (941) 316-1988.
Expect some delays getting on and off the island, too. As of the week of Oct. 4, the regional traffic update still listed occasional sidewalk and lane closures, including some overnight, on SR 789 at Longboat Pass. Testing is expected to finish in late 2026. On the Sarasota side, the $12.3 million John Ringling Causeway project adds longer bus-only lanes, bike lanes, drainage, resurfacing and new signals. As of Oct. 9, the Observer reported it was expected to finish later this year.
The much larger replacement of the wastewater line under Sarasota Bay has not started. The Observer's August roundup said it would not begin over the summer. Army Corps and state permits were still pending, and there was no final price or timeline.
The beach waits until 2028
Longboat Key's 10-plus miles of beach lost more than 600,000 cubic yards of sand in the 2024 storms, according to estimates from the town's public works department and its environmental consultants. That makes the shoreline the town's biggest storm loss. The town's FEMA claim covers 400,000 cubic yards of that sand, at $12.2 million.
An August Observer summary of the summer work season described sand placement starting in October. The more detailed schedules disagree. The Observer's July 29 report says the town renourishes its beach every seven years, and the next round, about 800,000 cubic yards, is scheduled to begin in 2028. The last one was in 2021. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's August 2026 regional plan also lists the project as in planning for 2028. It notes the town is still looking for a suitable sand source. The town's capital plan estimates the project at $32.9 million.
That leaves the dredge you may have seen in Longboat Pass in September. Dredging the pass started Sept. 9, but the sand went north to Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island. Under an agreement with Manatee County, the two sides of the pass take turns getting its sand. In the 2024–25 dredging, the sand built up the beach along Gulfside Road on Longboat Key. This time it was Anna Maria's turn. "You know how valuable sand is for Florida beaches," Mopps told the Observer. According to the same Observer report, the Coquina project was handled by Sea Hawk Maritime. It placed about 63,450 cubic yards at a cost of $1.9 million to repair erosion from Hurricane Idalia in 2023. Sand placement was finished by Sept. 17.
What's on the calendar before the season starts
The next big decision is about the Town Center Green library. The Planning and Zoning Board recommended the plan 6-0, and staff recommended sending it to the Town Commission on Nov. 2. The Observer reported that Sarasota County planned to apply for building permits in October, with groundbreaking scheduled for March. It also reported that the county would halt construction if Amendment 3 passes. A water taxi to the mainland is further off. The concept was at 30 percent design, and work on it is paused until after November.
The Town calendar has these October events:
- Let's Talk Longboat, Bayfront Park, 4052 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Oct. 13 at 3 p.m.
- Florida City Week ice cream social, Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road, Oct. 21 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
- Suddenly In Command boater course, Town Hall, Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Community cleanup, Town Hall, Oct. 24 from 8 a.m. to noon
The cleanup meets at Town Hall, which faces the newly resodded Bicentennial Park.
If you're weighing how the 2028 renourishment timeline, the Country Club Shores water-main work or the Bayfront Park plans affect a home you own or one you're considering on the island, Monica Verinder can walk you through what's scheduled, what's still being decided and how each could matter for your property. Schedule your private consultation.
