Planning Board weighs Watermark
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff
KEY WEST — A vote about a
controversial Key West Bight project by the city Planning Board
deadlocked 2-2 Thursday night. The board is expected to vote on the
proposal again next month.
One Planning Board member
was absent, leaving the board without a clear majority.
Planning Board members
Bill Verge and Paul Tagliaferri voted to deny the project. Richard
Klitenick and Bill Maudlin voted against the denial.
Residents, including
several local architects, packed the city Planning Board meeting at Old
City Hall on Thursday night to voice their objections to the upscale
condominium complex proposed in the Key West Bight.
Caroline Street Partners,
working on behalf of the development firm Cortex Companies, want to turn
the now-closed Jabour's Trailer Court into a condominium complex called
Watermark. Buyers would be able to rent their units out to tourists.
Neighbors and developers
have fought for months about the size and height of the development, the
pitch of the roof and architectural compatibility of the project. The
two sides have packed city meetings, and opponents have filed lawsuits
to stop the development. The developers reduced the number of units,
most recently from 33 to 26 units. The project initially started with 81
much smaller units. The city's Historical Architectural Review Board has
approved the design for the project.
"HARC was wrong when they
approved this," local architect and former HARC board member Matt
Stratton said. "This should have never made it this far along in the
project."
Stratton pointed out that
a city historian and architect that sit on the HARC board voted against
the project and the developers and contractors on the board voted to
approve the project.
Neighbors claim the
project is too massive in scale for the surrounding neighborhood of
historic, wood-frame houses, and that the floor area ratio and height
exceed city guidelines. Key West attorney Bob Goldman says the project
violates city rules that limit new buildings to 2 1/2 stories tall.
Supporters of the project
say the four buildings would be better than the campers and motorhomes
that used to fill the park.
"People forget what used
to be here," Caroline Street Partners' attorney Jim Hendrick said. "We
are getting rid of an eyesore in the middle of town because of this
project."
In addition to reducing
the number of units, the developers have increased the set-backs,
Hendrick said. Hendrick urged the commission to not "appeal to
nostalgia," and told the board that Key West is not the same place it
was in the 1970s.
The developers plan to
build two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominiums. The complex will feature a
day spa and other amenities that give guests a "decadent" and
"luxurious" experience, reads a Watermark sales brochure.
The developers already
have all 26 units reserved, company spokeswoman Bobbi Holland said. The
average price of the units is $2 million, with the price ranging from
$1.5 to $3 million for the three penthouse units.
tohara@keysnews.com
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