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City renegotiates number of rooms for planned bight resort
By TIMOTHY O'HARA
keysnews.com
KEY WEST -- The city has
agreed to lower the number of rooms it will allow developers of a Key
West Bight hotel to build, following a lawsuit filed by the state agency
that monitors growth in the Keys.
Caroline Street
Partners received approval from the city in August to build a 101-unit
resort on what now is Jabour's Campground and Trailer Court in Old Town
at 223 Elizabeth St.
The state Department
of Community Affairs then filed a lawsuit challenging the city's
settlement with the campground's owners.
DCA's attorneys stated
that only 33 units are allowed there under the terms of the city's
comprehensive plan. There are currently 80 units on the property, which
exist as a "permissible non-conforming density" under Section 122-26 of
the Key West City Code.
Jabour's owners and
the city have been embroiled in legal battles over the land for years.
The owners plan to sell the property to Caroline Street Partners.
City Attorney Bob
Tischenkel has drafted a new settlement agreement that calls for 80
transient units to be placed at the aging trailer court. The city
commission will discuss the terms of the settlement agreement at its
Tuesday evening meeting at Old City Hall.
Absent from the agenda
packet were documents that show that the Department of Community Affairs
has agreed to the newest settlement. The department's attorney, Timothy
Dennis, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Representatives for
Caroline Street Partners also could not be reached Wednesday.
Two groups of
neighbors have filed legal challenges to the project. The groups filed
separate lawsuits charging that the plan includes too many units and the
city violated the residents' due process by not allowing them or their
attorneys to question the developers, said attorney Lee Rohe, who
represents one of the groups.
Rohe said he believes
that the comprehensive plan supersedes the city code and that, at most,
33 units should be placed there.
"If the comprehensive
plan and the city code are in conflict, the comprehensive plan rules,"
Rohe said. "We have never been shown that there are 80 vested units
there. This whole thing is a hoax."
Tischenkel could not be
reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Jim Hendrick, attorney
for Caroline Street Partners has argued that state permits allow 101
sewer hookups there, an indication of development approval.
tohara@keysnews.com |
