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Last Stand enters fray over Watermark
By Alyson Matley
amatley@keynoter.com
Old Town Key West residents battling what they
call an oversized development in their neighborhood gained the support
this week of one of the county's largest environmental organizations.
Last Stand officials said Monday they would help
raise money to support the neighbors' legal challenge to the Watermark
condominium development slated for the Key West Bight.
"It's an issue that we have followed for some
time," Last Stand President Dennis Henize said. "We have generally been
sympathetic with the neighborhood's claims that it is out of scale with
the neighborhood."
Caroline Street Partners, the developer of the
old Jabour's Trailer Court, recently gained approval from the city's
Historic Architectural Review Commission for changes they made to the
proposed development, downscaling the project. However the neighbors and
their attorney, Robert Goldman, question the approval.
HARC Executive Director Diane Sylvia approved
changes in the project that reduced the roofline height of the planned
luxury condos from 40 feet.
"They changed two of the four buildings," said
Goldman. "One is [now planned to stand at] two stories, one is three
stories. The other two are still four stories."
Last week, Goldman filed two challenges on behalf
of the neighborhood. One challenges Sylvia's right to decide rather than
having the whole HARC board approval. The other appeals Sylvia's
approval.
The developers and neighbors of the development
have been battling since the plan first came forward more than a year
ago.
Caroline Street Partners has already pre-sold
nearly all of the 25 $1 million condos, but with the aid of the fund
sponsored by Last Stand, the challenges could continue.
"We are going to challenge the 55 vested
transient units they claim to have," said Goldman. "In my opinion, they
have the right to 33 for an acre and a half pursuant to density
requirements, and I don't think they're vested."
Last Stand has a history of involvement in legal
battles over development, starting with its founding to fight plans to
fill the Salt Ponds in Key West.
Currently the organization
is involved in a legal challenge to recent state rule-making regarding
countywide development. Last Stand, along with the Florida Keys
Citizens' Coalition, filed the challenge last fall, claiming an
agreement between the state's Department of Community Affairs and Monroe
County over land preservation and building permits violates the state's
own preservation rules. A decision on that challenge is expect in early
summer. |
