Court nixes Watermark approval
(SUBHED) Judge: No
evidence that condo plan complies with height rule
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff
KEY
WEST — A circuit court judge has quashed the Key West City Commission's
approval of a controversial condominium complex proposed for Key West
Bight.
Judge Richard Payne ruled
Monday that evidence presented in the case did not show that two of the
buildings in the design of the Watermark complex complied with the
city's height requirements.
No new buildings in the
city's downtown historic district can exceed 2.5 stories, according to
city code.
"We don't live in a
vacuum. A judge can count stories. Everyone can count stories," attorney
Bob Goldman told the judge during the nearly two-hour hearing.
The City Commission gave
the developers, Caroline Street Partners, approval for the 25-unit Key
West Bight project in April. Two groups of residents filed separate
appeals to the approval.
"At last someone looked
at this with an objective eye," said Shirley Freeman, a neighbor and
former Monroe
County
commissioner who is fighting the project.
Residents have fought the
project for months, saying it was too tall and out of character and
scale with the rest of the neighborhood. Payne moved the hearing from a
small grand jury room to a larger courtroom to accommodate nearly 30
project opponents who attended the hearing.
Goldman made several
arguments, alleging the project does not have vested development rights
and that it violates city floor-area ratio requirements. The judge only
ruled that the City Commission violated city rules dealing with the
number of stories.
The city's Historical
Architectural Review Commission approved the project despite the height
restrictions. Developers and opponents of the project differ on whether
the top floor of the project is a half story or full story.
The appeal pertained only
to the City Commission's final approval of the project, not the HARC
board decision.
Caroline Street Partner's
attorney Jim Hendrick told the judge that the HARC board has separate
and independent jurisdiction from the City Commission, that only the
city's special magistrate, not the City Commission, can overturn a HARC
board decision. The commission has to accept that what HARC approved met
height requirements, he said.
The city and the
developers can appeal the decision to the Third District Court of Appeal
in Miami.
Or Caroline Street Partners could amend its development application.
Neither Tim Koenig, a partner in the development group, nor City
Attorney Bob Tischenkel would say whether the city and the developers
will file appeals.
"There are several
options," Tischenkel said. "Procedurally, it is very complicated. We
have to see what the applicants want to do."
tohara@keysnews.com |
