Community impact, housing quality top list of height limit concerns
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff
KEY
WEST -- A proposal to ease or eliminate height restrictions for
affordable housing projects in New Town did not fly with the city
Planning Board or the handful of concerned residents who attended a
Thursday night meeting to discuss the issue.
Mayor Jimmy Weekley asked
the Planning Board to discuss easing height restrictions, as one part of
the solution to the city's complex affordable housing crisis.
However, the board and
many residents spoke in opposition to it. They responded that the answer
is money. The city should go after grants and other funding to build
affordable housing or create subsidies for landlords providing
apartments for workers, they said. They also suggested that the city
should extend and enforce deed restrictions on affordable housing.
"You need to build a war
chest," Planning Board member Bill Verge said. "We need to start
thinking outside the box."
Chamber of Commerce Chair
Charlie Bradford attended the meeting to speak in favor of easing height
restrictions.
"We need to continue this
discussion," Bradford said. "We really need workforce housing. This will
not make people rich. This will just give people a place to live."
"We need to continue this
discussion," Bradford said. "We really need workforce housing. This will
not make people rich. This will just give people a place to live."
However, most who came to
the meeting were concerned about the impacts easing height restrictions
would have on the community. Some also questioned the quality of housing
that would be built if height restrictions were eased.
"We can't house workers
differently than the rest of the community and expect them to have the
same quality of life," local planning and building consultant Don Craig
said. "Changing height is only a small part."
The city height
requirement for buildings in New Town ranges from about 25 feet to 40
feet, depending on zoning district. To exceed the limit, a developer
must ask the city Board of Adjustment for a height variance, according
to a 1998 city charter amendment. The Board of Adjustment would then
have to put it before the voters in a general election, the city charter
states.
A height variance has
never gone before voters since the referendum requirement was put in
place.
The Planning Board
members agreed that the current procedure allows height restrictions
eased for affordable housing projects, if voters approve, and that new
provisions are not needed.
tohara@keysnews.com |
