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“Lousy Deal”
Leaders say Seahorse proposal has nothing good for Big Pine
BY STEVE
ESTES
News Barometer Editor
The
Board of County Commissioners is expected to hear the proposal that
would remove Seahorse RV Park from the Big Pine landscape at its June 21
meeting in Marathon.
But thus far, the
developer hasn’t put anything on the table that makes the proposed deal
palatable for the community, says County Commissioner George Neugent,
whose district two encompasses all of Big Pine.
The deal as
originally proposed is a “lousy deal” for Big Pine, said Neugent.
“We were told that the county would get 100 units of new affordable
housing at no cost to the county, in return for the 130 market rate
permits the developer wanted for a project at Rowell’s Marina in Key
Largo,” he said. “That’s not what is being proposed.”
Under the agreement negotiated by the late Commissioner Murray Nelson
and County Administrator Tom Willi, Boca Developers, who purchased
Seahorse RV Park for 7.85 million about two months ago, swaps a new
affordable housing development at Seahorse for the market rate units to
be moved to Key Largo.
Boca Developers has said it will take Seahorse to the ground, rebuild
the park into 100 units of affordable housing in studio, one- and
two-bedroom units, and build a park on the unused portion of the land.
In return, Boca gets 130 market rate permits for its Rowell’s Marina
project in Key Largo.
That’s where the details get a little sketchy, says Neugent.
In the original proposal, the developer says it will donate the land to
the county after the affordable units are built. What’s actually on the
table, says Neugent, is that the developer will sell the units back to
the county at cost and donate the unused land.
“That’s no deal
for anybody in the county,” said Neugent.
At April’s county commission meeting, a representative for the developer
said they would be willing to give the park to the county along with a
donation to begin the redevelopment, but again, Neugent said that deal
isn’t what is officially on the table.
“We made an offer to the developer to give us the park and $5 million
toward redevelopment and we would consider approving the transfer of the
130 market rate units to Rowell’s. They pretty much walked away from the
table, so we don’t know if that offer is valid or just a show for the
public,” said Neugent.
“The deal currently on the table still has Boca building 100 units and
selling them back to us at cost. I’m not going to support any deal that
makes us look ludicrous in the process,” said Neugent.
Willi has repeatedly said publicly that the county will get the units at
no cost, but Tom Williams from the Craig Co., a Key West consultant
working the agreement for Boca Developers, has also repeatedly said the
units would be sold by Boca or to the county.
Boca Developers has already begun circulating questionnaires throughout
the RV park asking current residents if they would be interested in an
affordable housing rental at the site in the future. They have also
promised the residents no more than six months remaining at the park,
and two months of that will have already gone by when the commission
hears the matter again in June.
“There was no support from the commission for this proposal in April,
and there is no support for it from the community at all,” said Neugent.
County officials have said that Boca Developers does have rebuild rights
on the property under the existing codes, but not for the style and size
project they are proposing.
Jim Cameron, Big Pine resident and chairman of the Monroe County
Planning Commission, says what Boca is asking for is not allowed under
the current county code, which gives the county a major bargaining chip.
“Under our existing codes, the developer cannot move permanent ROGO
units off site and build. They need county approval for that. They can
move affordable housing ROGO units off site, but not market rate,” he
said. “They can develop probably 60 to 64 units of market rate housing
on the acreage at Seahorse, but they’ve told us that’s not what they
want to do.”
Neugent said the general feeling among those negotiating the proposed
agreement is that Boca Developers will not take the park to the ground
and build inland market rate units on the site, setting aside the
affordable units for use elsewhere.
“The profit from
that type of development just doesn’t justify the scope of the project,”
said Neugent. “In its present form it’s a $150 to $200 million project
in Key Largo. Why would they settle for a $35 to $40 million project in
the heart of Big Pine?”
Cameron said he believes that rather than build market rate units on the
land on Big Pine, the developer will be willing to negotiate a better
deal for the county.
“I believe we can get the developer to donate the park back to the
county at no cost,” said Cameron. “But I believe we can get some cash
thrown in as well. There is a better deal to be had.”
In all this talk of deals, however, the residents of Seahorse wonder
what their fate may be. Some residents own their mobile home and rent
the space. Others rent the mobile home from someone else who rents the
space.
Florida
law requires that the developer pay relocation costs for the displaced
residents, but that payment is usually only a small fraction of what the
unit is worth in the Keys economy. And, as residents vehemently point
out at every opportunity, some units cannot be moved, while those that
can have no place to move to. Trailer parks are disappearing on a
regular basis, and those that are still around either don’t have room to
accept new units, or don’t want to go through the expense of meeting new
flood plain regulations to place new permanent units.
Neugent said he believes that if the county can get the park at no cost,
and a stipend, the park can be redeveloped slowly so that residents are
not displaced.
“We are talking about one of the largest pools of workforce housing that
we have on Big Pine,” said Neugent. “The economic impact of losing all
those people at once could be devastating.”
While commissioners didn’t seem to support the proposal in April, that
meeting was held without Nelson. His replacement has been named, Key
largo businessman Glenn Patton. Patton has already publicly stated his
support for redeveloping what he calls sub-standard housing in trailer
parks with new units that are more hurricane resistant.
Commissioner Dixie Spehar told the developers that she believed it was
the responsibility of the county commission to “sustain what we have in
workforce housing.”
The county has approved some of these types of projects in the very
recent past through the 380 agreement route. A 380 agreement, according
to Neugent, is basically a variance that the county gives a developer to
operate outside the land use regulations if the project has a
substantial public benefit.
“I don’t see a substantial public benefit in this project right now,” he
said.
The county could also be clearing the way for the developer to transfer
the ROGO rights from Seahorse to another location. A proposed ordinance
is wending its way through the system right now that would allow
off-site transfer of ROGO exemptions for affordable housing commitments
from developers.
Such a move might decrease the county’s leverage in any negotiations on
this particular project.
Opponents of the project have also raised the question about where the
county is getting the ROGO allocations for such a project, since it
means a net gain of 100 units when all is said and done.
According to Neugent, the available workforce housing permits, which is
the pool that would be used for the redevelopment of Seahorse, is coming
by borrowing against future year’s allocations, and from a small number
of permits that were returned by the state for lack of progress in
year’s past, and an increase in allocations the county received for
making its first passing grade on its mandated work plan last year. |
