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HARC Steps Back From a Steep Path
by Mark Howell
Following an inconclusive end to the meeting of the
Historic Architectural Review Commission last week (“HARC Grapples With
New Rules,” Solares Hill, Jan. 27), the city attorney has sent the
commission’s chairman a Dear John letter regarding their mutual effort
to redesign its ordinances.
The January 27 letter was sent to chair George Born. Here
is the missive in its entirety:
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Dear George:
Last fall, you and I talked about HARC
undertaking a review and updating of its governing ordinances.
Our discussion stemmed from HARC having some difficulty with its
criteria for deciding applications for demolition permits and
certificates of no contributing value. We started to address
these items at the first public workshop on December 13, 2005,
and had a productive meeting. As we turned into the new year,
however, the ordinance review effort became entangled with
Watermark and its two-and-a-half story guideline issue.
May I recommend that we halt the ordinance review
process and cancel the February 14 workshop? HARC has been
sidetracked down a steep path we had no intention of taking. It
is frustrating and difficult (at least for me) to try to
function in this atmosphere. Perhaps we might try again at a
later time.
Very truly yours,
Robert Tischenkel
City Attorney
P.S. Please address future correspondence for me
to “City Hall Punching Bag.” |
The letter was copied to the mayor and the commissioners;
to the city manager, Julio Avael; to HARC director Diane Silvia; to Mark
Howell of Solares Hill and to Tim O’Hara of The Key West Citizen.
The day after last week’s HARC meeting came news that the
Watermark mentioned in Tischenkel’s letter had hit the wall. On
Wednesday, Jan. 25, the 3rd District Appellate Court in Miami
dismissed two appeals filed by Watermark developer Caroline Street
Partners and by the City of Key West.
That same day, local environmental group Last Stand
presented its Outstanding Activist Award at the group’s annual meeting.
Attorneys Bob Goldman and Eric Dadd were honored for their work in
preventing the Watermark project from overwhelming the Key West Bight
with an illegal number of stories.
The plaintiffs in the case were neighbors who filed a
petition for Writ of Common Law Certiorari against the city, which was
heard in August by Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Richard Payne, who
ruled against the developers. The case was appealed by both the
developers and the city, and the three-judge panel once again ruled with
the neighbors, tossing out the appeals. It was with the help of Last
Stand that the neighbors were able to raise funds for legal expenses in
filing the petition and preparing to fight the appeal; Goldman and Dadd
took only minimal monetary compensation.
Donald Craig, a developer on the Watermark project who
also serves on HARC, has been pushing to amend the 2.5 story limit on
new construction in the Historic District. The meeting to continue that
discussion is the workshop canceled at the request of the city attorney.
Craig is not the only member of the HARC board to have an
interest in real estate. HARC’s staff director, Diane Silvia, is a
licensed realtor at Prudential, where HARC commissioner Marilyn Wild is
a broker.
A resident of Old Town, Janet Hartwell, wrote an open
letter to HARC this week that comes to a heartfelt conclusion: “Members
of HARC, you are the stewards of our Historic District and by default
the stewards of Key West itself. The ongoing assault by developers
threatens the economy of our entire island. I urge you to take a stand
now to ensure that the rules and regulations remain strong and intact.
If possible, strengthen them even further. Close any loopholes and make
sure no other ones appear. Stop, once and for all, this shameless
sellout to the highest, the cleverest, the most devious bidder.”
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